5 x 5 Q & A: Patter Scatter
As part of Art Week Exeter, artists Gary Winter and Sophie Clist are hosting Patter Scatter – a playful, short-form presentation format where visuals take centre stage. We spoke to Gary and Sophie to find out more…
Q: What is Patter Scatter?
It’s a few things: first, it’s an exciting and playful way to deliver a short presentation on your arts practice, a particular project or just something you are interested in or passionate about. And it’s also the name we’ve given to a live event hosting a bunch of these presentations, leading to an engaging and eclectic night of fascinating creative activity.
Q: How did you come up with the idea?
We’ve been influenced by the PechaKucha (PK) format – a neat way of giving presentations where speakers are limited to 20 images with 20 seconds per slide – and having participated in PK events, thought it was a challenging and spirited way to organise an artist’s talk. However, we bend these rules a little bit (artists enjoy breaking rules) and allow different kinds of media to be used and encourage the speakers to explore the potential of the ‘live moment’. We also wanted to create an event for artists to meet and share their work; we think it’s an important way of keeping in touch and to hear about the wealth of inspiring projects that happen across the region.
Q: Why is Patter Scatter a good way for artists to talk about their work?
Working with the limitations of time and materials is a real challenge – just 6 minutes and 40 seconds to deliver your talk! It’s a good challenge though and one that necessitates a keen editing process and emphasis on composition. It drives the speaker to be concise and injects a fresh energy into the talk, which we think was one of the intentions of the originators of the PK format. For the event at Art Week the speakers are going to spend the day together sharing their work and fine-tuning the presentations, teasing out potential links and themes that might exist across their practices.
Q: What can audiences expect from a Patter Scatter evening?
The evening will feature up to nine artists or creatives giving these short-form presentations. We can’t say exactly yet what they will contain but it aims to be an entertaining and stimulating experience, celebrating the wide-ranging practices and projects from the city and region, and the individuals’ response to the challenge of the format. There’s a chance to speak, and mingle with the speakers, and maybe get involved in some of their projects or, if you are inspired by what you see, future Patter Scatter events…
Q: What else are you looking forward to as part of June Boom?
There’s so many great things happening during Art Week, both in the city centre and further afield. We’re excited to see the outcomes of the social practice commissions at the three community spaces in Heavitree, Pennsylvania and St Thomas. Yara El-Sherbini’s ‘Pub Quiz’ will be great fun and ‘Lost and Found’ at Exeter Central Library sounds intriguing. Additionally from the Patter Scatter team, Sophia is one of the artists working at the 5 Paris Street site, making a participatory sculpture and performances with Jane Mason over the week and Gary is at the Art Car Boot on Sunday 15th.
Patter Scatter is taking place on Friday 13th June, 5.30pm, at Exeter Phoenix, tickets £5.
Would you like to be one of the presenters at this event? The workshop for presenters is also on Friday 13th June, 10.30am-4.30pm, at the Phoenix. Head to the website to find out more and register your interest.