Short and sweet

How to talk about anything and not look like an idiot? Pecha-kucha started as a conversation with an employer, but turned into a social game

In the center of a small hall of a bookstore, a young woman is standing on a chair, dressed in a bright purple tunic, a most enthusiastic expression on her face. Her name is Shasha. From a chair, she says that she is fluent in the technique of escapism - escape from reality into a world of illusions - and is ready to share it. Shasha usually escapes reality on foot: “Last year, my classmate and I passed through the capital from north to south, and ten years ago, as schoolchildren, from west to east. They left at eight in the morning and came back at eight in the evening. Shasha emphasizes that this is not enough - you still need to be in love. The audience applauds.

Fashionable all over the world fun called “pecha-kucha” (emphasis on the last syllable, the Japanese equivalent of “bla-bla-bla”) is quickly taking root in Russia. The essence of the heap oven, which is also called intellectual karaoke, is this: anyone can talk about what hurts, and thereby attract the attention of like-minded people and partners. The speech can be about anything - from Nabokov's creativity to options for decorating wedding cakes.

The organizers look at the applications in advance, but the meaning of “censorship” is only to cut off frankly boring topics. It turns out something like a flash mob in half with an artistic picket. Credibility is not required. "The strangest theories, the most deceitful statements - yes, please!" - says Anna Gileva, one of those who launched the imported fun in Russia.

The only condition is strict observance of the time limit: the speaker must select 20 slides for his presentation, 20 seconds are given for comments on each, in total - six minutes 40 seconds for everything about everything. Oven-heaps are usually held in an informal setting: in bars, cafes, shops, on rooftops, in squats and galleries.

This entertainment was invented by Astrid Klein and Mark Daytham, European architects living in Japan. Initially, the stove-heap was conceived as a kind of presentation - novice designers and architects presented their own projects in order to find customers. Rigid time frames were set in order not to let a potential investor get bored and lose interest in the idea. Over time, the organizers began to approach the audience, who asked to give them the opportunity to speak - "honestly, I have something to say." As a result, a highly professional event has turned into a game where everyone can speak on any topic of concern.

“Recently, people have been actively looking for new forms of real communication,” says Denis Rubin, organizer of the St. Petersburg furnace-heap. “They are tired of sitting in LiveJournal and social networks - they want live communication, direct contact.”

In Russia, the first heap ovens were built in St. Petersburg. The organizers have been trying for three years to obtain a license from the creators of the game. “There are thousands of questions that people can't find answers to, and life keeps asking more and more,” says Rubin. - How to cure swine flu in ten minutes? How to return home if the bridges were lit? To be or not to be? Someone has already found a solution and is ready to share it - others are ready to listen.”

Now heap ovens are regularly held in 225 cities around the world. Famous writers, musicians, artists, as well as ordinary people take part in them. “Each person has something to tell, the main thing is to be able to make it interesting, so that they listen,” says Anna Gileva.

Indeed, the performers do their best to keep the audience's attention. In St. Petersburg, there were cases when participants shared their thoughts while sitting in the bathroom or dancing a striptease. The youngest participant was five years old, the oldest was 69.

On the first Moscow stove-heap, there were no such exotics, but the audience had fun from the heart. After Shasha, a researcher of escapism, Sergei Evdokimov, producer of NTV television programs, took the floor. He spoke on the topic “Short course of Russian television for 20 USD. e.".

Slides appeared on the screen, which Evdokimov commented with the most serious expression on his face: “This is Ostankino, in our opinion -“ a glass ”; and this is Ernst, he is also called Eprst; "Directorate of a single customer" - the Kremlin. Elderly women appear on the screen at home. “These are “onion heads” - the expression was coined by Andrei Borisovich Loshak - those who watch TV. As a rule, women are forty-five years old, with a drunken husband, idiot children and low incomes, so they paint their heads not with expensive paint, but with henna, ”Evdokimov broadcasts.

A portrait of Alexander Maslyakov appears. “As you know, you can get on television in two ways - through bed or through KVN,” Evdokimov continues.

“Very informative,” a young man sitting next to him in funny glasses comments on the TV broadcaster's speech. The others nod too. However, the author never received $20 for his speech - the project is fundamentally non-commercial.

The next one is Katya Andreas, a short fair-haired girl. She adjusts her glasses on her nose and in a well-trained voice says that you need to go to the dentist regularly for check-ups, eat right, you need to communicate only with nice people, and then everything will be fine. Slides from the speaker's life are shown on the screen: her paintings, her cat, her friends.

“Some nonsense, the girl just wanted to tell about herself. Maybe no one listens to her at home, ”says one of the viewers. Katya Andreas did not conquer the audience, but she is still applauded. “It is very important that the atmosphere is as friendly as possible,” says Gileva, “no rotten tomatoes.”

Yana Shakhnazarova has a mini-report on the topic "How to do charity work alone and without money." "Let's do good. Everything that you give is returned,” Yana persuades, standing on a stool. The guy with glasses agrees: “Not just interesting, but also useful. I also have an idea how to help children from orphanages, I will have to talk to Yana.”

Literary critic Lev Danilkin proposed to promote Eduard Limonov to power - so that he, in turn, would popularize reading. This idea caused quite a stir. He says that he came to the game because sometimes you want to chat with people, and he is not a walker at social events.

Child psychologist Svetlana Fedosova has the same motives: “Where can I find new interesting people? Not in the subway to get acquainted? You can, of course, in the subway, but how do you understand what kind of person is in front of you. And here, after six minutes, it is already clear whether this person is interesting to you or not.

“I have a lot of things in my head from this stove,” one of the listeners summed up. “But I realized that I also have something to say.” He is a physics student and plans to tell the world about a quasi-3D electronic crystal. Surely there will be someone to listen to.