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Last night we were at Pecha Kucha Dubai, the second episode of the hugely successful event that made its debut in the emirate in December last year. Once again the creative community of Dubai gathered in full force at The Third Line Gallery to watch 10 presenters from various disciplines talk about their trade.

The recent surge in the local arts scene should not be seen as an overnight phenomenon, but rather a manifestation of the region’s rich culture and heritage in forms and places that are accessible to a lot more people. Of course there are always trend setters involved in any such endeavours and in this case it’s traffic design gallery, S*uce, Architecture Association UAE(aaUAE), 9714 creative communications agency and The Third Line gallery.

Few of the presenters from last night are already a familiar face on Dubai art and culture scene such as Hind Mezaina, Dubai’s Lomography Ambassador; Haig Aivazian, artitst and curator; Katrin Greiling, architect and designer. Pecha Kucha is about sharing a new perspective on old, routine subjects that we see around us all the time. For example, Aivazian’s concept of disenfranchised sportsmen, some of who might be refugees, beautifully portrays how such a spirited activity can become a political and social agenda. The graphic illustrations and photographs, enveloped with satire and brutal honesty convey the socio-political message with a punch.

Swedish designer Greiling presented her in interpretations of nature as seen in her products. “It’s about creating an artificial nature around us with the help of functional products,” says Greiling. Hind Mezaina talked about the roll swapping technique in Lomography that produces some very interesting results.

But the event wasn’t just all serious esoteric topics for the intelligentsia, there were musical and dance performances by Dubai-based hip-hop group Diligent Thought and Nadine Thouin’s dance troupe. Other participants included Maja Ciric, a Serbian art curator now based in Dubai; James Clar, a light artist from New York; Mandi Kingsbury, fashion stylist and designer and Vinay Kumar and Vivek Premachandran, two brothers who run an art/design studio called Whitespace Designs.

Here’re a few snapshots of the event.