Theme: The Zeitgeist

The theme of the upcoming TEDxFactory798 2013: The Zeitgeist

Originally a German word, Zeitgeist means Spirit of the Time. Often attributed to philosopher Georg Hegel, it means intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time.

Session 1. Inside Out
TED Prize winner, street artist JR once made a wish in TED 2011, that people around the world stand up for what they care about by participating in a global art project, and together turn the world INSIDE OUT. Inside Out represents “Self-expression” and “Radical Openness”, and configures individual eagerness under global context with a unique collective narrative.Inspired by JR, we reinterpret Inside Out, to “fascinate the world”. Through the most authentic self-expression, we rediscover the blurred individuals, and redefine our relations with our times.

Session 2. Data and Story
Data and Story dominate the world we inhabit. Data stands up for fact and reasons, Story represents emotion and ideology. Data leads us to regain unobservable truth despite violation of sense and intuition, while Story constructs orders and meanings against complex and chaotic data. Data is story stripping poetry, while Story is data with soul. Are we relying on facts and reasons, or converting to intuition and belief? When technology meets art, when science clashes humanity, are we truly able to embrace the oppositeness?

Session 3. Dance to Fear
In the age of great transformation, future goes nowhere. Can we rebuild fractal value system? Can we solve environmental dilemma? What does technology want? Are we able to survive again from economic and moral crisis? Out of uncertainty, fears grow. Like Don Quixote, we hang swords and turn away from the battle. Yet the other side of fear is the iridescent possibility, allowing us to choose, change and create. We dance with imagination, break the fog of fear, and embrace the dawn of brave new world.

=====Our Speakers and Performers======

J-Fever
Top Freestyle Rap Singer and Versatile Artist in China
J-Fever is one of the best Freestyle Rap singer in China, and won championship of top MC Battle in China twice. In 2007 he released album Organic, which is the first Jazz-Rap album in Chinese music. He formed multi-media band with an animator and a tuner. Whale, the musical he served as both screen playwright and starring actor, won the best reputation in Beijing International Youth Drama Festival. With the identity of a rap artist, he was profiled in international media like BBC and Times. J-Fever is also devoted to spreading street ball culture across China.

Dong Fen
General Manager of “Hua Dan”, transforming community with the Power of Drama and Non-Profit
Dong Fen is the general manager of Hua Dan. She came to Beijing from Yunnan due to economic dilemma, and worked as a waitress and a beautician until she ran into Hua Dan---China’s first non-profit organization dedicated to the interactive and inspiring theatre training. Stepping up from the very first migrant woman participant to General Manager, she has been convicting in the positive power of love. She has been working with her team to help other migrant females and children to unearth their latent talents through theatre, to become an honest, innovative and confident leader in their communities. In 2011, she was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Social Enterprise from British Council and Narada Foundation.

Lu Tong
Initiator and Chief Photographer of “1 Plus 1-Grow Up Together”, Freelancer
Lu Tong is the initiator and Chief Photographer of “1 Plus 1-Grow Up Together”. In 2012, she started to keep track of the growth of an urban child and its rural counterpart with her snapshot, and has been dedicated to do it for 18 years continuously until all turn to adults. As a photographer and a freelance writer, she embraces beauty and elegance diligently with camera lens and words. Meanwhile, she is the art director, photographer and writer of various magazines and E-journals such as interphoto impression, iLook, 17, etc.

Shu Wei
Serial entrepreneur, Investor and veteran Creative Designer
Shu Wei is a serial entrepreneur, investor and veteran creative designer. She started her first company in creative industry at the age of 20 and managed it for 7 years as Creative Director and CEO. From 2007 to 2009, she went to Stanford Graduate School of Business, and after that, she joined Renren Inc as Director of Corporate Development and also started Jingwei, a professional SNS in parallel. In the end of 2011, she started Civo the global life-sharing platform on Mobile. She is a strong believer of "maximization of people's life experiences" and Civo is the gateway for every user to another life. Wei is also a backpacker, photographer, off road traveler and writer.

Zhang Hao
Maker and Robot DIYer
Zhang Hao is well-known as a Maker and Robot DIYer in China. He started to study robot in 2008, and won the 1st prize in Global DIY competition MakerBot Challenge with “GPower”. In 2011, he co-founded Beijing Maker Space and attended international hacker fairs like CCCamp and HOPE as one of few Chinese participants. In 2012, Zhang Hao launched open-source robotics project Dorabot at Noisebridge, the Maker Space in San Francisco, and he joined Puzzlebox as Chief Architect, developing Puzzlebox Orbit, a brainwave-controlled flying machine which was successfully funded at Kickstarter and sold worldwide attracting huge attentions in CES this year. Zhang Hao is now dedicated to research in BCI(Brain Computer Interface) application and robot in Chai Huo Maker Space at Shenzhen.

Terry Yu
Founder and General Manager of LohaoCity Organic Health Store
Terry Yu is the founder and General Manager of LohaoCity Organic Health Store. When married in 2004, he decided to give his family a comfortable home, and then moved to Beijing and helped his boss to take care of his private farm. After being nurtured in nature for a while, he decided to establish an organic food company and founded LohaoCity Organic Health Store with friends in 2006. As a 40-year-old, non-smoking, non-drinking Taiwanese businessman who has a happy family of four, Terry hopes to influence more people with healthy lifestyle.

Xiao Yong
Art director of Brazilian Percussion Society “Templo Do Samba”
Xiao Yong is art director of Templo Do Samba, the only performance and teaching team of Brazilian Samba percussion music in China. He was the former drummer of "Good Drugstore", and a devoted Buddhist craving for monastic life. Dedicated to bring others passion and happiness through Samba, he arouses people's inner music genius with unique teaching mode, thus breaking mental and physical limits and gaining enlightenment. Not only happiness from rhythm can be enjoyed by oneself, but also share with others.

Zhu Qingsheng
Contemporary Artist, Curator and Art Professor
Zhu Qingsheng is the most significant figure in Chinese contemporary art and critic, as both an artist and curator. He is also professor in School of Art at Peking University, the director of the Institute of Han Arts and Center for Visual Studies in Peking University, and the chief editor of journal Art of Han Dynasty. Wandering at the edges of avant-garde and classics, west and east, he advocates creating and understanding art with “Chinese perspective and Modern standpoint”. He teaches the most popular course “Art History” in Peking University, created jointly documentary When the Louvre Meets the Forbidden City, founded the first research institution of Han Painting, and conducted Red Hill Paintings to revolutionize experimental art. His other major works include Nineteen Letters to Students, Annual of Contemporary Art of China and Research of Chinese Han Art.etc.

Zhou Yi
Multi-Media Artist residing in both Paris and Shanghai
Zhou Yi is a multi-media artist residing in both Paris and Shanghai. She creates large multimedia installation artworks that blend film, digital animation, photography, sculpture, painting, drawing, and contemporary music composition, and held many exhibitions and biennales in the world and many of her video works have also been consecutively selected by the Venice Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival. She was once profiled by Vogue China as a modern-day Chinese Hitchcock, Yoko Ono and Cindy Sherman. She studied between London and Paris and has earned degrees in Political Science and Economics.

Wang Hao
Vice President and CTO of Esri China Information Technology
As a map obsessor, Wang Hao has been working in in geographic information field after graduating from Peking University with a GIS-related degree. In 2003, he joined Esri, the international geographic information giant. Immersed in massive space-related information accordingly, he gradually embraces a sharp technological perspective as well as a humanitarian mind with the map, which helps him record the footprint, observe the world and tell the story. Currently Wang serves as Vice President and CTO of Esri China,leading technology strategy and execution, and has been actively involved in Map world and digital city solution, online map service and geographic business intelligence platform, etc.

Roy Zhao
Founder & CEO of Main Media, a Post-85s Entrepreneur using Visualization to Unveil the Truth
Zhao Jiaxu is the founder and CEO of Main Media, a company aiming to produce short videos to interpret familiar but obscure terms with visualized data and humorous words. After graduating from Beijing Contemporary Music Academy, Zhao started his business with two friends, and the team produced Where is Taxpayers’ Money, Who Moves Our CPI independently and revealed joint works including Immigration Map for Elite, About Laws, Justify Love. These short clips became a massive hit across Internet immediately. They made sharp and sarcastic remarks of the society, and promote the "scarce" common sense at the mean time, spreading truth with its unbearable weight in the time of great transformation.

Thomas Luo
Entrepreneur in Media and Technology crossing over Silicon Valley and China
Thomas Luo is an entrepreneur in media and technology, crossing over Silicon Valley and China. He founded PingWest and PingEast, covering the most cutting-edge tech companies and startups both in US and China, and constructing a Chinese tech media in a global mindset. Before this, he is Chief Correspondent in Silicon Valley for CBN Weekly. As a born storyteller, Thomas bridges among entrepreneurs, investors and observers between Silicon Valley and China with powerful narrative and bold visions. Thomas graduated from School of Humanities, Tsinghua University.

Annabelle Long
Member of Bertelsmann Group Management Committee, Head of Bertelsmann China
Annabelle Long is a member of Bertelsmann Group Management Committee (GMC) , CEO of Bertelsmann China Corporate Center, who also leads Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI) as Managing Director. She holds a bachelor degree of Electronic Engineering but later became an excellent TV presenter and producer. After finishing her Stanford MBA program, she joined Bertelsmann and realigned its strategy in China. Under her steering, BAI currently invests in start-ups and fast growing businesses in China with a portfolio including Douban, Mogujie and Innovation works, etc. In 2011, Annabelle had become a member of GMC, rewriting the Group’s history of being dominant by white males in past 180 years. Soon, Annabelle was named as Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum. She was elected by CBN Weekly as one of the 50 best investors in China in 2012.

Shi Jingxin
Choreographist, Contemporary Artist, Founder and Artist Director of XIN-ART-LAB, Faculty at Beijing Dancing Academy
Shi Jingxin is artistic director of XIN-ART-LAB. She was the youngest director of Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony director group, and created XIN-ART-LAB afterward, opening a prelude to contemporary dance and multimedia convergence and being invited to numerous Art Festivals around the world, with major works including NOTHING IS REAL, Yuan Ming Yuan, Empty City, Memory-Time-Debris, etc. She was successively under tutelage of French choreographs Susan Buirge, as well as master of American Pioneer Drama, NYU tenured professor Richard Schechter. Shi received her bachelor master degree of Choreography from Beijing Dance Academy, and then stayed on to teach today.

Kun Kun
Writer, New York Times China Culture Editor
Kun Kun is a Writer and currently works at New York Times China, leading the newspaper’s Culture deck. Her writing focus on the field of culture, mainly engaged in non-fiction writing. Kun Kun's published works include Upper-class girls went like this, Wan Wu Shang Zhi, Not the Upper-class, not the Lower-class. She was once journalist of Life Week, chief writer for GQ China, and had a column in Esquire China, Modern Weekly and other publications. She graduated from China University of Political Science and Law, as well as University of Sheffield at UK.

Matt Hope
British Artist known for reinventing bicycle to combat Beijing pollution
Matt Hope is a British artist residing in Beijing currently, earned his MFA at University of California, San Diego. He is known for elaborate kinetic art and sound art, and has works exhibited in Shanghai Biennial and Chengdu Biennial. He spent recent years combining industrial objects into electromechanical sculpture. He built a bike "Breath" combining various found objects, as an artistic and theoretical response to Beijing's pollution problem.

Zhang Wei
Associate Professor of Applied Economics, Ph.D degree from both Clinical Medicine and Health Policy
Zhang Wei is associate professor of applied economics and the assistant of Dean in Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. He also founded the CEIBS Center of Health Care Policy and Management. Holding double Ph.D degrees from both Clinical Medicine in Peking Union Medical College and Health Policy in Harvard, he has devoted himself in integrating disciplines of both health care and business management. He has lectured in top international business schools including HBS and INSEAD. He has also witnessed the growth of Chinese hospital administrators, and encouraged doctors to steer their own destinies with management training. With authenticity and confidence towards the future challenges on health care industry, he is a pioneer in research and value recreation.

Zhang Fan
Co-founder and CEO of One Way Street Library
Zhang fan is the co-founder and CEO of One Way Street Library, the well-known independent bookstore in Beijing. In the past 7 years, He has been in charge of operation management and worked hard with his team to make One way street a free realm for brilliant minds as well as a fresh and independent public space in this fast-pacing city. He is also an media guru and worked as associate chief editor at Sohu.com and Economic Observer. Now he is the associate publisher of Modern Media Digital Department and the associate chief editor at Bloomberg Businessweek Digital section.

Han Song
Renowned sci-fi writer in China, Journalist of Xinhua News Agency
Han Song is a journalist of Xinhua News Agency and previously worked as executive editor of Oriental Outlook. He is also a part-time sci-fi writer and a six-time winner of Chinese Sci-fi Galaxy Award. Depicted by Newsweek as “working daytime as a journalist for the state-run Xinhua News Agency and spending night crafting dark, allegorical vignettes”. Han Song is distinguished by his unique view of sci-fi and uncanny style of writing. His works include Red Star Over America, Gravestone of the Universe, Red Ocean, and Subway, etc.

PURELAND
A Musical Band comprised of Tibetan Blind and Multi-Ethnic Sighted to Experiment Blended Music
PURELAND band is comprised of Tibetan blind and multi-ethnic sighted to "SEE" the beauty of music, distinguished by blending experimentally traditional folk genre and modern elements. Members include: Shen
Genming, owner of the private library Scent of Book and a jurisprudent drifting across 4 continents, previous Chief Representative of multinational corporation; Yu Zhen, a blind singer from Lhasa; Wu Zhu, a blind Tibetan six-string guitar player from Shigatse and his three blind students; Gen Gong, Tibetan resident singer at Makye-ame restaurant from Qinghai Province; as well as Zhang Xin, Zhou Mengmeng and Zhao Jinyang, professional musicians with numerous international award records.

Art Museum, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Central Academy of Fine Arts, Hua Jia Di South Street No.8
Chaoyang District, Beijing
Beijing, 100102
China