Pecha Kucha goes down Friday night and it’s sounding like a sweet one, as Volume #38 is a joint presentation between the good folks at Cause + Affect and Emily Carr University. Grab a ticket (here) and expect to be inspired by an impressive line-up of curators, artists, architects and designers.

Among the creatives taking the stage is talented artist Ben Skinner, a Vancouverite who grew up in the small, Southern Ontario oil town of Petrolia. He moved to our city in 2006, after earning a BFA in Interdisciplinary Fine Art from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design and an MFA in Art & Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is currently working on new, upcoming exhibitions in Paris, New York, and Toronto.

As long time fans of Skinner’s work, Scout was thrilled to catch up with him in advance of Friday’s event to ask a few questions about what it is that makes him tick…

Language clearly interests you. How do you keep track of sayings, quotes, clips and words that resonate with you? I’m not very good at keeping them organized. I have a document that is just a long list of texts and various other ideas in the Pages app on my phone. But I also have many little notebooks and index cards, random scraps of paper, e-mailed lists and Facebook status posts. Whenever I think of something that has potential I try to remember to put it that long Pages doc. Some become art works, some become titles to art works, and some never see the light of day.

Let’s pretend that the new Vancouver Art Gallery has an empty external wall and you were commissioned to create a large scale, neon, 3-5 word saying, motto or slogan speaking directly to the people of Vancouver. What words would you choose? GETS YOU RIGHT HERE.

Now let’s pretend that the neon is invisible to the public and you are the only one who can see it. What words would you choose now? DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME.

Shoe of choice? Campers.

Three films you would gladly watch again? Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? The Grand Budapest Hotel. The Blues Brothers.

Your favourite curse word? Fack.

Favourite piece of public art in Vancouver at the moment? Tough one. I think it would have to be Toni Latour’s neon text piece on the side of the VCC downtown campus that reads “let’s heal the divide” in lowercase, yellow letters overlooking Victory Square.

An artist whose work currently inspires you? Can’t name just one: Kay Rosen, Olafur Eliasson, Tomas Saraceno, Jim Hodges, Christian Bok, Urs Fischer.

Have you ever been to Pecha Kucha before? If yes, do you remember being blown away by any one particular speaker and can you tell us a bit about how their talk inspired you? If you’ve never been before, who would you like to see get up and talk, and why? I have not been to a Pecha Kucha yet. Only watched a few videos online. Locally, I’d like to see Vancouver artist Ron Terada give a talk. I’m a fan of his work and would like to hear him talk about his process. I think there might be some interesting overlap in the way we both work and I would like to hear some first hand “behind the scenes” stories behind some of his works.

Check out more of Ben Skinner’s work at www.benskinner.com and see him on the stage at the Vogue Theatre on Friday October 16. Get moving and grab a few seats while there are still tickets to be had!

Fri, Oct 16 | 6:30pm | The Vogue Theatre (918 Granville) | $10.50 | DETAILS

OTHER INTERESTING VANCOUVERITES