PechaKucha Night Dundee was back and in person during COP26 in November 2021.

We were delighted that PechaKucha Night Dundee came back to the main stage of Dundee Rep Theatre on Thursday 4 November 2021, after a long time away! Coinciding with COP26, we had a big focus on the care and sustainability of our planet.  

Hosted by Creative Dundee in the city since 2011, PKN now runs in over 1,200 cities around the world! It’s a simple quick-fire format – speakers show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. 

Always different, entertaining and inspiring; there is something for everyone at this event which first started in Tokyo in 2003 and has now grown into a global phenomenon. Our regular Pass the Mic section gives anyone the chance to shout out the events and opportunities they have coming up.

A huge thanks to Daisy MacGowan for the excellent illustration. Inspired by the 20×20 format of the night, her design features 20 suggestions to consider for reducing your carbon footprint. To welcome audiences back to PKN in person, we gave the first 100 ticket bookers a print of our PKN28 artwork, printed by Yalla Riso!

Creative Dundee supports creative talent to base, grow and sustain their practice in and around Dundee, by connecting and amplifying the city’s creativity. You can watch all previous presenter talks online and use our randomiser if it’s too hard to choose!

#PKN_DND

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Our speakers included:

Mimi Mwasame is the Community Liaison Manager for MVV Environment Baldovie a subsidiary of MVV Environment UK who’s headquartered in Mannheim, Germany. She’s passionate about ‘giving back’ to the environment and the community. This stemmed from having experienced the negative effects of post-election violence in Kenya while working with WWF in the Masai Mara to alleviate Human/Wildlife conflict. In her current role, she loves educating and sharing her knowledge of Energy from Waste as an alternative to Landfilling after all the 3R’s of waste management have been successfully employed. Some of her other passions include travelling, skydiving, dancing as well as Netflixing in cosy onesies.

Finlay J Hall is an artist, musician and some other things too. He co-founded Wooosh Gallery, Dundee’s premier A4, car park-based art gallery after graduating from DJCAD in 2019. He’s currently expanding his practice through studying Horticulture and Landscape Construction at SRUC. A lot of his creative pursuits involve collaboration, temporary communities, DIY and the audience/performer relationship.

Rebecca Wade is passionate about working with nature to gain benefits for people and the planet. She believes that by collaborating across disciplines, sectors, industry and policy we can deliver multiple benefits, collectively addressing the climate emergency, the biodiversity crisis and the need to create healthier communities for future generations. Based at Abertay University, Rebecca is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and teaches students studying Civil & Environmental Engineering. In addition to teaching, she is active in public engagement, conducts research, runs an international network dedicated to sustainable water management, is a STEM ambassador, an Institution of Civil Engineers Superhero, a gender-equality champion, a landscape champion in SAGES and Scotland’s Landscape Alliance, a Fellow of the RSA, a Director at Dundee Science Centre and a Trustee of the Esk Rivers and Fisheries Trust.

Ewan Imrie is an experienced architect at Collective Architecture, having joined in 2004 after completing Advanced Architectural Design at Strathclyde University, and has recently moved to Dundee. Prior to architectural studies, Ewan completed an honours degree in Fine Art Sculpture at DJCAD in Dundee, was an artist based in Glasgow and ran a small design and build company delivering exhibitions. Ewan’s projects vary dramatically in scope and scale, ranging from bespoke exhibitions and a museum storage facility in Paisley to the delivery of large-scale housing regeneration projects. Ewan’s current projects include a new Central Library for Paisley, a micro-distillery in the Cabrach, a large housing development near Baxter Park in Dundee and a residential home for young adults at Camphill School, Aberdeen. Ewan has been a 5th Year Architecture tutor at Strathclyde University since 2006 and currently co-runs a design unit titled Intervention; Knowing How to Work on the World that takes a global and networked outlook in light of the urgencies of our time. Instagram: @collectivearchitecture Twitter: @Collective_Arch

Rhia Cook is the founder and editor of Potluck Zine, a magazine that publishes emerging creatives and passionate home cooks’ stories of cooking, eating, and sharing food. Graduating from DJCAD in 2018 with a degree in Textile Design, Rhia has spent her time since then in various roles across retail and sales before setting up Potluck. She also works as a Creative Assistant, giving a helping hand to local small businesses with anything from admin to illustrations. She’s passionate about supporting people to share their own stories, buys a lot of books without necessarily reading them, and once had her illustration of Barney the Dinosaur published in his official magazine (she was six). Instagram: @potluckzine and Twitter: @potluckzine.

Kevin Frediani is a Cornishman of distant Italian heritage. He has a wide experience in plant science, arboriculture and education explored over his years of practical adventure as a curator of plants and gardens. As a curator, he has realised a diversity of exhibitions that have enriched zoos, botanic gardens and enriched landscapes in many visitor attractions. He has exhibited at Chelsea and helped realise the world’s first prototype commercial vertical farm. From De Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam to the National Trust’s Inverewe Estate he has been able to form collaborative approaches that explore Art and Sustainable Land use within a visitor experience setting.

Anya Hart Dyke is the Founder of Big Dreams Little Footprints, an online environmental education platform that aims to equip children with the requisite knowledge and skills for an uncertain future. In a previous life, she worked for the United Nations in former Yugoslavia and for a London think tank researching what makes someone turn to political extremism. Anya lives in Fife with her two young children. @AnyaHartDyke and @BigDreamsLittleFootprints.

Paul Higginson is an Associate Architect, responsible for running diverse projects from inception to completion.  Passionate about the historic environment and sustainability, Paul is RIAS Conservation accredited and has delivered several church and historic tenement conservation projects, as well as works to convert historic libraries, monuments and townhouses to contemporary uses. Paul is passionate about sustainable building techniques, materials and operating systems taking a lead role on work valued at over £190M.  His experience of working with new buildings is combined with an understanding of how to deliver sensitive modern interventions into the fabric of existing, often historic structures.  Paul has critiqued architecture at a number of leading architecture schools across the UK including Nottingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Aberdeen and has worked for some of Britain’s leading Architectural practices.

Jillian Elizabeth is the owner and manager of The Little Green Larder, Dundee’s first zero-waste/ sustainable shop. After 13 years in the hair and makeup industry, Jillian was frustrated by the waste she created due to her job and struggled to buy sustainable products in Dundee. Fed up of waiting for someone to open a zero waste shop she took matters into her own hands and opened The Little Green Larder.  Sustainability is at the heart of everything in the store with hundreds of loose items to refill. The concept is to buy only what you need to reduce waste, however, they reduce waste in multiple other ways. Jillian opened The Little Green Larder as she wanted to inspire everyone to shop sustainably so that together we can create a greener future. @thelittlegreenlarder

Chris Iskander is an Edinburgh-based musical comedian, who writes songs about an eclectic range of themes; from love to the discrimination of swans, to… Well, mostly those two things. When Chris isn’t performing comedy, he can be found napping on the couch with his two cats, who would probably eat him if they were bigger than him. “A doubly-talented man” – The Skinny. “He will tickle your ribs while he tinkles the ivories” – Monkey Barrel Comedy.

Jason Oliver is a neurodivergent artist and experimental archaeologist. He is a Royal College of Art graduate and now works at The Scottish Crannog Centre where he focuses on prehistoric textiles – making, understanding and storytelling about the people who lived on Loch Tay 2,500 years ago. He is also the founder of You’re On Mute, an artist collective funded by Future’s Venture Radical Arts Fund, that connects marginalised artists across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Instagram: @youreonmute2 and @scottishcrannogcentre.

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Thursday 4 November 2021, 7:00-10:00pm,
at Dundee Rep Theatre (event start 7:20pm)

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*Find out more about our Amps Network for discount ticket entry. 

*This event was BSL interpreted by Linda Duncan and Leigh Anderson.

*This event was live-streamed, filmed, photographed and eventually shared on Creative Dundee’s social media platforms. If you do not wish to appear in any of the images that are made public, please let us know at news@creativedundee.com

PechaKucha was devised and shared by Klein Dytham architecture. The PKN Dundee event is organised and hosted by Creative Dundee.