Finding inspiration for quake-hit Nepal

KATHMANDU: The Club 25 Hours, Tangalwood, Naxal on July 3 was packed with audience to witness Pecha Kucha Night with the theme ‘Inspire Nepal’.

Pecha Kucha is a Japanese term meaning chitchat and artist Sujan Chitrakar organised the event that put forth 17 different presentations. Each presenter had 20 items — that included photos and videos — to display in the presentation, 20 seconds time allotted for each item.

As the earthquake is still the hot topic, most presentations focused on works done after the tremblor and how people did not lose hope and faith to recover from the disaster.

There were presentations on how one can help bring the nation back to normal. Most participants talked about how various forms of art— be it painting, dance, music and more — made a difference in the life of the quake-hit people.

Didgeridoo player, performing artist and writer Salil Subedi shared the story of Barpak — how people there were recovering, how a 100-year-old woman had come forth to help rebuild their community and how the folk culture supported and inspired the community and people to rise.

“I’m already getting inspired. The stories presented today have touched me so much and I feel honoured to be part of this event,” Subedi expressed about the event.

The event was divided in two parts — the first half ended with the performance art ‘Aftershock’

by artist Sundar Lama and his group.

A presentation by Cultural Hacker Mike Zukerman followed the performance art. With a peppy sound effects in the background, Zukerman talked about third space in his refreshing presentation. According to him, a person’s first space is his/her home and second space is the workplace but it’s the third space which is important to people and it’s a space where one can be creative and share their ideas.

About the event Chitrakar shared, “The audience were great, the line-ups had strong contents and speakers got a platform to share their works with the audience and inspire one another other. Meanwhile there was an entry fee to the event — around Rs 47,000 has been collected from it and it will be used for building community art and learning centre at Gairimudi, Dolakha.”