If you mention a slideshow to someone – if they even remember what slides are, in this digital age – they will probably start yawning before you have finished the sentence. They think: long drawn-out evenings of auntie’s trip to Wherever and snaps of cousins they have never met. But along comes the Slideluck Potshow, a classy colorful mash-up of slideshow and potluck, and you have a whole different ballgame.
Started several years ago in New York, the not-for-profit event now takes place every month or so in 40 locations as extreme as Seville, Los Angeles, Berlin, and Bogota. Artists from professional to amateur are asked to submit up to five minutes worth of slides or multimedia, and the best are then chosen for the evening’s event. Anyone who wants to come brings some food with them, and after a few hours of mingling, the show begins. And it will take your breath away!
Mesmerized in Chicago
The most recent event in New York, last weekend, was held in a warehouse in Brooklyn, with a wide mix of downtown stiletto-cool and Brooklyn jeans-and-lumberjack-shirts. The first half of the slideshow focused on ‘Upheaval’ and the submissions included Libya, Egypt, the Gulf Oil Spill, and a trip across the Caucasus. More than a dozen SLPS events have taken place in New York, and to get an idea of what you’ll see, click any of the slides here.
(And for anyone in South Africa reading this, there are no events there yet. So someone down there should contact SLPS soon!)