July 21-24, 2009
July 21-24, 2009
You’ve said that being a TED Fellow messed with your mind. Why?
Tóxico Cultura — the independent art lab and cultural salon I founded in 2007 — is very much about exploring the unmapped gray areas between artistic disciplines, creating experimental territories and temporal states of exception, since creativity and imagination have a way of becoming unbound in those types of spaces.
But since the TED Fellowship I have come to realize that I was defining “multidisciplinary” within the scope of arts and culture itself — art, design, film, literature, music, and so on. Now, because of TED, it’s become a bit more wild and untamed. Among the Fellows there are writing doctors and filmmaking scientists and space economists and space archeologists and do-it-yourself neurologists, and the list goes on and on — so many inspiring and madly creative people reinventing the edges of their own worlds.
So I’ve become fascinated by what it means to amplify and to make even more complex a multidisciplinary bridge-building platform, and what it could mean to take it further and to help generate a creative ethos in Mexico City that traverses many different territories.
So it’s blown open what art means to you.
Yes. Art at the edge of other things. And it’s blown open what it means to create multidisciplinary projects, and what it means to work in a multidisciplinary manner, what we could learn from each other if we learn to import thought structures from elsewhere, and learn to “speak” in different languages, if you will. As Wittgenstein once put it: the limits of our language are the limits of our world. And the question is how to sometimes untie those languages, limits and boundaries. There is a certain comfort in defining ourselves tightly and safely, but it also stops us from exploring what lies outside of the things we already know and who we already are.
My time with the TED Fellows has also made me become avidly curious about people and projects in Mexico focused on other areas of knowledge. I have started doing in-depth interviews and mapping different fields, and suddenly I’m seeing that there’s so much creative thought outside of arts and culture, and so many links to be made between different disciplines and people, both locally and internationally. So many things could be possible with a nudge here and there.
So that is what Tóxico will focus on: helping certain conversations catch fire by putting the right people in touch and creating meeting points, or building knowledge structures through talks, seminars or workshops around different subjects — human rights and censorship in journalism, to name one upcoming example, an urgent conversation in Mexico nowadays — all on intimate territory because I am a huge believer in the power of small encounters that lead to larger repercussions through chain reactions. I am reworking the way Tóxico functions as a catalyst, an intoxicating agent…
This all happened because of the TED Fellowship?
Oh, definitely. Before the TED Fellowship I was really happy with our projects. It’s already a large world in itself, right, working between the different disciplines that make up the arts, plus also doing my own personal projects, consulting and designing multidisciplinary art programs, guest editing international magazines, curating, writing and now directing film. But it has been so intensely inspiring to see what other Fellows are doing that I have become utterly captivated with what it means to help create an innovative and creative society across disciplines.
It has also made me ponder on the place of culture in the whole scheme of things. I still believe in art for art’s sake, of course, but I also find it really interesting to think both about how art can be provoked by other areas, as well as how other disciplines can benefit from incorporating artistic thought processes into their inner workings. What I find most alluring about the art world — the reason why I got into art in the first place, in fact — is that it manages to create territories composed of a mix between so-called fiction and so-called reality: inject life with imagination and create symbolic narratives that then have the possibility of creating worlds unto themselves. Art can become a blueprint for reality in that way, and a hypothetical playground for minds let loose.
I love your tagline that imagination is not a luxury.
I think many of us who are drawn to the arts are seduced by the notion of how reality gets constructed through imagination, narrative and symbolic structures — all these mysterious intangible things on the other side of reason. It’s humbling to think that most everything we see outside ourselves started at one point in a tiny corner of somebody’s mind: just a tiny electric jolt between one synapse and the next and then: voilá. This.
Take Fellini, for example. He often said that he felt most alive when constructing his big strange sets and picking the people that lived in those sets and imagining scenarios and this or that type of sensation: building an outlandish reality and spinning stories for all to live out together. In fact, he was often quoted saying that this life solely created by his imagination was the only reality that interested him. That might be taking things a bit too far, but I do find it fascinating that in so many ways one invents and sets up the rules of engagement in artistic projects: “I will now write as someone I have never been, or I will make a film that will be one magnificent excuse to get to know another side of life and ask all sorts of questions that would have been too intimate or impertinent in another context, or design an impossible city that maybe one day someone else will make real.” So many doors open up. It’s an exercise in creating adjacent possibilities; it’s a gym for the muscles of the mind and the imagination. And everything from the way we think of ourselves to the way communities engage are very much built upon certain social stories — the drawing of borders, the make-up of religion, politics, identity — we first invented and then collectively decided to be true. Sometimes it’s great, and sometimes it’s tragic. Culture, in its widest definition, is the great a priori.
Someone once said that stories are tools for living. I agree. Narrative is such an important thing. Sometimes even a single word can do the trick: “Give me the right word and I will move the world”, Joseph Conrad wrote. So right now, I’m profoundly interested in deepening my understanding of how narrative plays out and creates a social imagination that then births that thing we call reality, and how to apply fiction to the everyday. Mexico is going through very tough sociopolitical times just now, but, simultaneously, so many interesting things are happening in so many fields, there is so much potential, so much hunger for things different. But what are the prevailing narratives we are focusing on, what could the counter-narratives be, and how do they get constructed and where? How to inspire individuals and back projects so that we engage with the more interesting and imaginative possible scenarios?
So how does Tóxico work?
Tóxico has a fluctuating, liquid structure. It becomes whatever I need it to be month by month. Even the structure itself is thought of as an artistic project, and its main drive is to further creative excellence in Mexico City, and spread the idea that imagination is not a luxury. I change spaces for each project, hosting events in super-sophisticated auditoriums, in a 17-story abandoned hotel in the city center, in state-of-the-art film studios, in a stunning colonial house, in universities, open plazas, in museums.
Besides the workshops and lectures, we have a local mentorship program and an international internship system for young artists, and also create our own content such as collective art, editorial and film projects, curate exhibitions, and so on. And Tóxico extra-officially also functions as an agency: we have connected hundreds of people both locally and internationally. We just got a nice national grant to create a digital platform concentrating and showcasing Mexican creativity to a worldwide audience, helping to build that narrative I mentioned, and helping us visualize and realize how electric our cultural scene is nowadays.
I think one of the biggest strengths of Tóxico — and the reason why a relatively small independent project has been able to have an exponential impact — has come from understanding the power of catalytic points: of finding those precise places that when touched or provoked slightly create a magnified effect, in the same way a tiny tap of the doctor’s triangular hammer on that strategic place of the knee makes the leg jump into the air.
We are continuously trying to identify new creative needs, and then invent ways to help fill the gaps. The workshops and lectures, for example, started as a way of creating concentrated mind-spaces, complementary or even in contrast to more institutionalized academic programs, as well as to create intimate international dialogues. The Días de documental festival and lecture series was born because in 2004 documentary film was greatly under-appreciated in Mexico. Our new mentorship program evolved when I saw that certain needs of young talented artists were not being met. In 2008 I created a multidisciplinary pilot program for the 12 best students of a private university, teaching them the possibility of socially aware creativity; the program was a huge success and continues to this day. Agnès Godard, one of the few women cinematographers to make it into the big leagues, was invited to give a week-long course when we found out about an exciting and growing community of Mexican women photographing in film.
Our relevance is in being a catalyst and a bridge and having a very flexible structure so we can quickly start necessary conversations with the right people at the right time, and move on when those specific conversations have caught a fire of their own. Our relevance then, paradoxically, is our desire to become irrelevant, one issue at a time.
You must have a lot of people around you in support.
That is the most beautiful thing of all. For some mysterious reason Tóxico has become a “strange attracter” for amazing people. I really do feel so fortunate because we’ve got these young, super-talented, energetic, hungry people that want to do things, that are just trying to figure out the world anew. And then on the other hand, I also have a really solid relationship with institutions, embassies, very established artists, designers, filmmakers, museum directors, international projects and so on. It’s exciting to be able to access the best of all worlds, remain independent and bypass bureaucracy.
Also, among the TED Fellows I have found new, grand accomplices and muses. Benji Zusman — scientist and filmmaker — was my most valuable advisor this past year while I was directing my first feature length documentary. Lope Gutierrez-Ruiz and I are in continuous contact to create a Latin American cultural network. Erik Hersman and the rest of the Ushahidis have been a huge inspiration in thinking about the possibilities of re-envisioning national narratives, helping build an innovative society in so-called developing countries, plus breaking international stereotypes. A long conversation I had with Perry Chen, co-founder of Kickstarter, while he was in Mexico made me revise some fundamental ideas and had very palpable repercussions. And the list goes on. TED has been amazing. I feel very fortunate to be part of this nomadic, polymath and slightly crazy community.
You were an inaugural TED Senior Fellow, and TEDGlobal 2012 will be your last TED as a Fellow. How are you feeling about this?
Very, very nostalgic. So what I’m doing now is setting up bridges for the future. Besides the ongoing Tóxico workshops and conferences series, I’ll soon be starting seminar-type programs, as well as a residency in Mexico City which will hopefully become a gathering place for Fellows; already we are planning the visit of several TED Fellows for the next year to start several conversations across borders and disciplines. During my six months at Yale as a World Fellow — which coincides beautifully with my last TED conference — I will be gathering ideas and putting everything into motion for my return. Mexico City is one of the most fascinating, complex and layered cities on Earth and I love the idea that it could become, through Tóxico, a meeting ground for bold, playful, imaginative thinkers: TED Fellows, Yale Fellows, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists and more, sinking their hands into the city, spreading their ideas throughout it, and conversing over tacos and tequilas galore.
Photo: James Cameron / Deepsea Challenge
Update: This Storify tells the story of the descent in tweets from around the world …
If all goes as planned, today James Cameron (watch his TEDTalk) begins an epic dive to the deepest point in the ocean — taking the director almost 7 miles down into the Mariana Trench.
Follow the Deepsea Challenge expedition >>
The Mission Blue ocean news site offers context on the expedition:
Cameron spent the last six years researching submersible technology and coming up with solutions to negotiate the Mariana Trench’s crushing 1,086 bars of pressure (roughly 1,000 times the pressure at sea level). He began building his vessel—dubbed the Deepsea Challenger—in secret in Australia. His effort resulted in a 24-foot-long craft that seats only one person and has no amenities. Now, he is ready to put that vessel to the test in a 6-hour solo dive.
On the ocean’s floor, Cameron plans to film what he sees (the sub is designed not to kick up clouds from the ocean floor) and turn his deep dive into a 3D film to share the wonderment of this almost-unknown part of the ocean.
Mission Blue asked ocean legend and TED Prize winner Sylvia Earle for her thoughts on Cameron’s epic exploration:
Earle thinks Cameron should receive the same level of recognition as the pioneering astronauts who returned with images of the Earth from afar. “The ocean is relevant to every breath we take, every drop we drink, and this provides incentive to solve problems and take the ocean seriously,” she said. “There’s a sense of urgency for exploring and gaining knowledge about the ocean so we can take action,” she added.
One other TED-related side note: Only two other humans have ever made this dive, US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh and oceanographer Jacques Piccard, in the Trieste in 1960. And now Piccard’s son, Bertrand Piccard, is attempting to circumnavigate the globe in a solar-powered plane — a plan he shared at TEDGlobal 2009. Watch Bertrand Piccard’s TEDTalk >>
TEDGlobal 2009 Fellow Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has announced his candidacy for president of Nigeria. In his first North American interview since the announcement, the anti-corruption activist spoke with TED’s Emeka Okafor, keeper of the seminal Africa blog Timbuktu Chronicles.
There is a tremendous amount of interest in your run for presidency. What would you attribute this to?
There is a powerful yearning for accountable and transparent leadership in Nigeria today. I am talking of a leadership that is able to address the ordinary peoples’ pressing problems and also reassure them that they really matter, that this country belongs to them.
It is now 11 years since our country returned to democratic rule, but the expected fruits are not visible; the economy is not generating jobs to match the rapidly growing population. Public education at all levels has collapsed. Cholera and other easily preventable diseases are ravaging the countryside, and infrastructure critical to economic development and social regeneration have been neglected over the years.
These are some of the things Nigerians are complaining about, and they are therefore looking for new political leadership, vigorous and purpose-driven leadership, to change the Nigerian story from pain and penury to prosperity and hope.
But we must be careful not to personalize the story and say the huge interest in my bid for the presidency is Nuhu Ribadu’s doing alone. I am running on the platform of a political party that stands for excellence in public service, a party that puts the needs of ordinary Nigerians first. Yet to talk of party is only, if I may use the expression, a tip of the iceberg. We are working within a broad canvass, a canvass which is indeed a coalition of progressive elements in the country. I also have an able and dedicated team working with me on my campaign. Some of these people are house-hold names in my country; they stand out because of their commitment to justice and the welfare of the ordinary people over the years. Nigerians know this, and they are rallying to our platform because they feel that this is a group whose promises they can rely on; a team that will go to any length to ensure their welfare. Above all, Nigerians are sick and tired of the problem of corruption, a problem that has eaten up their resources to the extent of eating up their future. They know we have proven record to reverse this problem. That is why we are here today, in the hearts and minds of our people.
So I think these are some of the reasons why Nigerians are now standing up to be part of history, to be part of the new movement to make this country work for all again, big and small, poor and rich.
From a career in law enforcement to politics. What has this change been like?
People tend to forget that prior to my law enforcement career I was a qualified lawyer who then became a prosecutor. Besides, my take on matters like this is more philosophical. Look at it this way, change is a constant in life, more so here in Africa that is now going through great political, economic and social flux. African countries are shaking off the authoritarianism of the past four decades that kept ordinary people down, reducing them to silent spectators in the great drama of economic development and social reconstruction. Taking it together, my law enforcement work over the past two decades, and also as member of the Nigerian economic management team that turned the nation’s economy round in the mid nineties into the early years of the new millennium, as well as my stint at our nation’s highest policy college, the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, the interesting thing I discovered as I began to make the transition to politics this past one year or so is that at the heart of law enforcement, economic management, policy development, and principled politics are the same motive: to make the life of the ordinary people more secure; to make institutions to work better so that they can serve the public interest the more effectively. Viewed this way, the transition from law enforcement to politics is not an abrupt disruption but rather a continuum on the road of public service, service to the Nigerian people.
How important an election is this? And why should Nigerians vote for you? Why should Americans pay attention?
I say the 2011 elections is important, very important because it will determine whether Nigeria will settle down into one-party rule, which is only one step to full-blown dictatorship and the economic inefficiency and social inertia that come with it, or break free and return to the path of multi-party democracy which all our people desired when they trooped out in the millions and ended military rule in 1999. The People’s Democratic Party has been in government for 11 years, and the people of Nigeria have gained nothing for it. Nigerians are angry and they feel cheated. They are disappointed with the PDP; they are disappointed with the politicians. This is why I am running for presidency: to restore the faith of ordinary Nigerians in the political process; in a government that truly cares for their welfare, that exerts itself to meet their daily needs. I have thought deeply about the problems of Nigerians; I have thought carefully about how to overcome the nation’s present challenges, and my team and I have worked out properly thought-through policies to speak to these daunting problems. We will urgently tackle the growing feeling of insecurity all over the country. We will create new paying jobs. The power sector will be overhauled to generate regular and affordable electricity. The health and education sectors will be given a new lease of life. But above all, yes, above all, we will wage an unrelenting war against poverty in this country. The welfare of the ordinary people of Nigeria will be at the heart of all our efforts as a government. This, put simply, is why I am running for president – to bring real and workable solutions to real problems. And that is why I ask Nigerians to come out massively and vote for me, and having voted, to stand firm and defend their votes. Americans and the people of other Western countries should pay close attention to political events in Nigeria presently because it is Africa’s most populous nation and one of the world’s leading oil producers. Nigeria also plays a very important role in stabilizing the strategic Gulf of Guinea oil states and also contributes generously to peace-keeping operations all over the world. A stable, prosperous and democratic Nigeria will more effectively partner the United States as the world’s peoples pull together to address the emerging challenges of the 21st century: climate change, failing states, terrorism, poverty and transnational diseases.
As president if you were to win how would you address the issue of corruption and weak institutions?
Corruption and weak institutions are linked in the sense that the presence of the latter provides fertile ground for the unscrupulous to break the law and divert public funds to private ends with impunity. It is a known fact that where there are strong institutions that function in a transparent and accountable manner the incident of corruption is drastically reduced. To this extent I will run a transparent government; a government that will be accountable to the two other arms – the legislature and the judiciary – and ultimately also accountable to Nigerian citizens who put us in power. Immediately on taking office, I will work strategically with the National Assembly to pass and ultimately sign into law the Freedom of Information Bill that, for one reason or the other has been vegetating on the executive foyer for several years now. Our journalists will be encouraged and empowered to serve as whistle-blowers, beaming a searchlight on the processes of government, particularly budgeting and execution of government contracts. I will also open the strategic sectors like oil and other extractive revenue earners to greater transparent and accountable oversight. Related to this is the need to publish what we earn and what all tiers of government get in allocation, in a way to help Nigerians appreciate what is earned and how it is spent. Our work at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was abruptly terminated, but on assuming office I will see that this very important organ is given a new lease of life, to continue its important work. The judiciary will be strengthened to speedily treat cases of corruption with the dispatch they deserve. The best way to strengthen public institutions at all levels is to give them the leeway to go ahead and do their work unimpeded, and also provide them with the resources they require to perform at the optimum. All the enabling laws they require to perform will be put in place. But most importantly, I will lead from the front. I will lead by example, insisting that the moral tone of government be such as will make ordinary Nigerians to see that change has come and emulate us.
What are the chances of building an Obama-type grassroots campaign within Nigeria what can people do to help? Have you looked at the community building efforts of the Obama campaign as a guide of sorts for your campaign?
President Obama and the people behind his campaign did a wonderful job. But it is important that we remember that Nigeria is not America and that the circumstances that threw up Obama and made his success at the polls possible are different. Having said that, there are certainly lessons to be learnt here, particularly the way in which the Obama team fired up the young and other social groups generally considered to be at the margins of American society to stand up and be counted. Here in Nigeria, the average voter has become cynical after seeing election riggers hijack polling boxes and inflating vote figures out of all proportion these past 11 years. We are now working on a strategy of replacing despair with hope and confidence in the electoral process. We are also working with young people in the 36 states of the federation to come and join us and seize their moment because the coming election is really a plebiscite on their future. And they are responding in large numbers. We have Team Ribadu, our young Nigerians platform driving this important process. They are working in small networks in towns and cities and villages, galvanizing the grassroots and readying ordinary folk to troop out en masse to vote and having voted, to stand firm and peacefully defend their vote. This is what we are doing, and in this we are drawing from indigenous village civic organizations in this country as our model, the way in which they self-mobilise to execute projects. We are also drawing inspiration from other lands, including the Obama story.
What message would you have for the TED community in particular and the Americans in general regarding your candidacy?
Integrity, commitment to excellence, and openness to dialogue about what best will serve the public interest are the core values I am bringing to this election process and beyond; values that I know the TED community and Americans in general also hold dear. I am running for President because I am convinced that a new Nigeria is possible, that I and those who are with me can change our story from failure and despair to achievement and unbounded possibilities. America has always renewed and revitalized herself just when all appeared lost. Nigeria can do so too, and I urge Americans to rally behind true democrats in Nigeria whose only request is that the coming elections be free, fair and credible. Ultimately, it will be up to Nigerians to vote and protect their votes, but the world, and this includes the TED community and all Americans, can help by sending out the word that there is really no alternative to free elections in Nigeria. The only other option is anarchy and violence, and I am sure no one really wants that.
How viable is your campaign? Do you realistically feel that you can win?
I am running to win, no doubt about that. I am running on a record of dedicated service to my country. I am running on a record of achievement in the public service; a record of 25 years of public service. My team and I have thought about Nigeria’s problems, and our policy proposals are clear and sensible and speak directly to the pressing problems of the overwhelming majority of our country men and women. My campaign machinery is firm and extends to all parts of the country, taking precisely this message to Nigerians. I will win with a clear majority as long as the polling is free and fair and there is no intimidation of voters at the polling stations. On a jocular level, I want to say also I never failed at anything I ever set out to accomplish.
How can we move Nigeria/Africa’s culture from one of extraction to one of production?
There is nothing intrinsic in Nigerian and African culture that yokes them eternally to a culture of extraction. When academics talk about the ‘resource curse’ and point to African countries as the quintessential example of this pathology, they forget that Africa’s present mono-cultural economy is linked to the continent’s peculiar political history. Colonial rule imposed an authoritarian model of politics and economic development on the continent. Our colonial overlords were only interested in forcing local people to plant cash crops which were then shipped to Europe to feed her rapidly-expanding industries. Little or no investment was made in developing manufacturing capacity on the continent. The modest efforts that were made by our post-independence leaders were quickly reversed with the advent of military coups and dictatorship beginning in the mid-1960s. With the return of multi-party democracy in Nigeria and other African countries in the past decade or so, effort is now being made to invest in industry and manufacture, to commercialise underperforming state-owned enterprises; to put in place the vital social and physical infrastructure that will drive economic diversification and shared prosperity. Stock markets are opening up all over the continent; incentives are being put in place to strengthen the private sector and also attract foreign direct investment. The public sector is also being retooled to serve as an effective and responsible partner, providing the political stability, security, legal framework and regulatory mechanism that are so vital for private and public enterprise to thrive and prosper. Nigeria’s telecommunication sector is one of the most vibrant in the world today. I will further deepen and accelerate these processes with policies my team and I will unfurl immediately on taking office. There is now talk of the ‘African Lion;’ of Africa emerging as the next economic miracle after the Asian tigers. I take this talk seriously and we will make this happen, beginning with Nigeria.
Some might say that you are unsuited for the rough and tumble of Nigerian politics that you run the risk of being compromised, how would you address those concerns?
Politics is public service and ought to and should attract selfless and honest people. If this has not always been so, then we are challenged to make it so. That is why I am running for President, to tell ordinary Nigerians and indeed the whole world that people of integrity can step up to the plate and take back their country and make it work again. You will be thrilled to know that this same question was posed to me when I joined the police some quarter of a century ago. People said, “look the police is too corrupt it is going to remake you in a way you will hate…it will corrupt you.” Today the same institution is where I and a number of my colleagues who formed the core of the EFCC came from. I think we must work with the mindset that people can positively affect even the most corrupt institution. Our mission is to save our country from the rot that is taking it down. We dare not fail in this mission, the alternative is less inviting to even contemplate.
John Githongo, a fellow anti-corruption crusader, said “the struggle for a fair, just and equitable humanity risks losing direction if it relies primarily on individual initiative at the expense of collective action.” What are your thoughts on this?
My good friend, John Githongo, surely makes a nice point here. However, individual example is important, very important; in fact individuals matter a lot, for good or for ill…imagine South African history without Mandela, the civil rights movement without Martin Luther King Jr, or a world without Ghandi. Yet, for social reform to be sustained, and indeed made irreversible, the people themselves must be the primary drivers of change. Civic organizations and political parties are good vehicles to bring this about, and that is why I recently joined a political party here in Nigeria, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN); a new party that I think has a record of integrity and public service and has also been mobilizing the energies of the ordinary people to bring about the changes at the local and national levels that we all desire.
Would you invite a former colleague like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to join you in government if you were to win?
My government will be inclusive; a government of ‘all the talents.’ I was privileged to work with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and several other accomplished Nigerians at the highest levels of government in my country from 2003-2007. We achieved results in so short a space of time because ability and hard work and patriotism were the vital ingredients that brought this team together. You could say this was Nigeria’s version of ‘Camelot’ of the Kennedy presidency. The light has not altogether been extinguished. My government will rekindle the flame; attract the finest and the best in Nigeria, including Nigerians resident abroad and other friends of the country wherever they might reside in the world, to come and join us in the great task of national reconstruction.
Unconventional astronomer Garki Israelian is known to TEDsters for his talk at TEDGlobal 2009 on studying the spectrum emitted by stars. Now Israelian is inviting anyone with an interest in astronomy and the space sciences to travel to the Canary Islands, in Spain, home of the world’s largest telescope, to participate on June 20-25, 2011 in a five-days festival of science, art and music structured around the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first man in space, legendary cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who in April 1961 became the first human in outer space and to orbit the Earth.
The event, dubbed StarmusFestival, will take place in Tenerife, with special events at the telescope itself (photo below). Israelian has gathered an incredible cast of world famous scientists and artists – from astronaut Buzz Aldrin to TEDPrize winner Jill Tarter of SETI, to Brian May, guitarist of the legendary rock band Queen, who’s an astrophysicist, and a number of other top scientists. “We want this to be a popular festival of astronomy and discovery, taking place at the Spring equinox”, says Israelian. There will be (see the preliminary program) space-art and photography exhibitions, observatory visits and experiences, documentaries, talks and debates and conferences, concerts (including a special appearance by Tangerine Dream) and “star parties”. Info and registration here.
Lewis Pugh, the epic cold-water swimmer and climate-change activist, has announced his next swim: a kilometer-long lap across a glacial lake at the top of Everest, in a pond of meltwater 17,000 feet up. He told me the swim will highlight climate-change issues in two massive countries bordering Everest, China and India. With their large populations and messy industries, the two giants have long been called on to act (see our Q&A with Parag Khanna for Khanna’s take on this). Realizing the effects of climate change on the pristine environment of Everest shocked him, Pugh said. The lake he’ll swim in, atop Khumbu Glacier, “shouldn’t even be there.”
The swim is set for April 2010. Get more details >>
Watch Lewis Pugh’s TEDTalk from Oxford this summer >>
Fields Wicker-Miurin, co-founder of Leaders’ Quest in London, trains business leaders by connecting them to other leaders. Yes, it sounds rather common – but her leaders live in the Amazon forest or are advocates of HIV education in India or collect and display artifacts related to uneasy periods in Chinese history: they are leaders that face the real challenges of our time.
Wicker-Miurin (in the photo at right) was one of the featured speakers on Monday at a TED Salon in London. She spoke forcefully and inspiringly about Benki, a young tribesman from deep in the Amazon, facing the threat of deforestation, which not only has an impact on climate change, but also, much more immediately, on the existence of his people. Becoming a leader very early in life, he recognized that the environment, the animals, the rivers, the air he breathes and his tribe’s existence were in danger. That’s when he took a step out of the Amazon and traveled 3000 km to the Earth Summit in Rio — to tell the world outside about the world inside the forest, and connect the two worlds. He spoke, but he also learned a lot, and brought those learnings home. Almost 20 years have past and the Ashaninkas (Benki’s tribe) have reforested 25% of their territory, created schools, brought satellite Internet to the village, and more.
After describing other profiles from around the world, Wicker-Miurin summarized the seven characteristics of the “new leaders”: they go away from what they know; build bridges and walk across them ; have a sense of the great arc of time; know that they depend on others ; remember that “it’s not about them, but it starts with them”; and have humility.
The TEDSalon was organized around the release of a special edition of design mind, the magazine published by TEDGlobal partner frog design — who also created the awesome TEDGlobal program guide. design mind is fully devoted to the recent TEDGlobal2009 (the mag, 100 pages of great coverage, interviews, original essays and photos, is available here). Hosted by TED European director Bruno Giussani and by the magazine’s editor-in-chief Sam Martin, the event was attended by 125 people (Flickr photostream) including many of those featured in the magazine, together with TEDsters past and new, speakers and TED Fellows.
Another speaker was Fabio Sergio, the creative director at frog, who explored the possibilities of using data produced by the human body to educate the human mind. His main proposition goes like this: We live in a world of data. From keeping track of our household expenses to sharing our running data with the community at Nike+: What would happen if we extend this to more areas? He sees four intersecting opportunities: Access to our own data streams and services to accrue and store our bitcrumbs forever; individual and collective aggregations to reveal hidden patterns; well-designed interactive tools of self-reflection to visualize, manipulate, and shape raw data into meaningful information; and social networks that encourage and sustain virtuous behavior by treating it as social currency.
The evening also featured an interview of Misha Glenny, the underworld investigator (author of “McMafia“) who sat down with Giussani for a follow-up to his remarkable TEDGlobal speech. Glenny discussed very openly, and with genuine humour, his research methods, the encounters with his sources, and some behind-the-scenes episodes. Andreas Raptopoulos, founder of FutureAcoustic, gave an exclusive technology demo of reactive soundscapes. And singer/songwriter Lou Rhodes concluded the program with a stunning “unplugged” live performance.
(Photos: Robert Leslie)
Photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from the Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, England. Duration: 19:22)
Recommended: Download and watch this talk in high-def >>
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At his day job, Steve Truglia flips cars, walks through fire and falls out of buildings — pushing technology to make stunts bigger, safer, more awesome. He talks us through his next stunt: the highest jump ever attempted, from the very edge of space. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, England. Duration: 14:36)
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Evan Grant demonstrates the science and art of cymatics, a process for making soundwaves visible. Useful for analyzing complex sounds (like dolphin calls), it also makes complex and beautiful designs. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, England. Duration: 4:40)
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From last month’s TEDGlobal 2009: Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 18:36)
Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/2U
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