Epress.am News from Armenia
It was evident that PechaKucha Night vol. 8 in Yerevan, taking place on Apr. 2, was a popular and much-anticipated event. People were still coming in even after the event began, and there being no more seats left, sat on the floor and spilled out into the adjacent rooms of The Club. After the organizer’s brief introduction and plea to not forget our friends in Japan, the event began.
According to the official PechaKucha Night website, “Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of ‘chit chat’, PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.” Though initially an event featuring designers and architects and their work, the 8th PechaKucha Night in Yerevan, organized in partnership with Internews Media Support NGO, featured an eclectic mix of presentations and presenters under the theme “I Am a Newspaper.”
Local photojournalist Anahit Hayrapetyan began her presentation by showing an example of an email she sends out almost daily to local press asking said publication to either remove the photo she’s taken which they’ve unlawfully displayed on their site (without so much as a credit to the photographer) or pay for it. Hayrapetyan, directing her message to representatives of the media, asked us to reconsider the value of having an on-staff photojournalist and suggested Armenian media would do better if they replaced one of their in-house journalists with an in-house photojournalist.
Vahan Stepanyan of PanArmenian Photo also spoke of the power of the photograph in media, particularly highlighting the work his news agency does in featuring photography and coming up with creative ideas for new projects.
Artush Melkonyan’s presentation titled the “25th shot” addressed the hidden subliminal — notably sexual — messages found in some of our favorite Disney movies and the harm that this might cause our children. Though this was nothing new, what was new was Melkonyan’s use of the derogatory term “hamaseramol” (in Armenian) to refer to lesbians and gay men and his homophobia presented through his findings of hidden gay content in a couple of Disney movies.
A couple of the more memorable — and not so hatred-inciting — presentations of the evening were Narek Manukyan’s “I Don’t Need a Remote Control: Outside of Ratings, Advertisements and Glamor” and Gnel Nalbandyan’s “The TV-State in the Digital-Mark Era.” Both presenters addressed the prominence of television in Armenian society, but while Manukyan’s alternative was WebTV, an online platform where viewers can watch what they want when they want, Nalbandyan’s alternative was Web 2.0 and 3.0, with the focus being on the disconnect between Armenian TV airwaves and Armenian audiences.
Each slide in Nalbandyan’s presentation featured events in the digital era in a given year — beginning with 2011, when the Armenian presidential office broadcasts 60–70% of its news on analog television and a hypothetical young student named Khachik likes to go on social networking sites. Over the years, Khachik starts his own blog, teaches his father to start his own blog, joins Microsoft, in short, becomes a technical whiz, while the Armenian government continues to broadcast its news on analog channels and A1+ is yet again denied a broadcasting license (despite not having applied — 10 years later). The humorous take on the discord between the “TV-state” and Armenian audiences drew many laughs from the crowd and made the night’s focus on the media all the more relevant to local audiences.
Upcoming PechaKucha Night events in Yerevan include a night dedicated to all things Yerevan and childhood in Armenia. Interested participants and audience members can find out more information on the group’s Facebook or Twitter account, or on the official PechaKucha Night website (under Yerevan).