TEDxAmsterdam today announced the first set of 8 speakers, 1 host and 3 acts that will grace the stage on November 30 at the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam. Reflecting the overall theme of ‘’Science & Fiction,’’ the line up includes scientists as well as artists, entrepreneurs and actors, and a variety of others who definitely have ‘’ideas worth spreading.” Together they will bring a wonderfully varied perspective on life, our future and the human capacity for change. Stay tuned for more info as we continue updates throughout the next two months!
Nobel Laureate on playing with the planets
Dr Gerardus ‘t Hooft. If you think the future is a mystery, Gerardus ‘t Hooft will make you think again. With a solid foothold in realism and an extraordinary insight into scientific and technological developments, Nobel laureate Professor Gerard ‘t Hooft will separate fact from fiction and show us what our future might really hold, from robots with a sense of irony, space elevators to floating cities. Gerardus ‘t Hooft is a theoretical physicist at Utrecht University, who was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Martinus J. G. Veltman “for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions”. Asteroid 9491 Thooft is named in his honor and he has written a constitution for its future inhabitants!
Golden Globe winner on sources of inspiration
Rutger Hauer is a Dutch stage, television and film actor. His career began in 1969 with the title role in the popular Dutch television series Floris, directed by Paul Verhoeven. Hauer starred in Soldaat van Oranje and other Verhoeven movies, and later moved to Hollywood where he has built a successful career starring in movies such as The Hitcher,
Blade Runner and Sin City. He continues to create a broad range of memorable characters, and has starred in over fifty films to date. He is the winner of a Golden Globe and many other awards for his acting work. He is a dedicated environmentalist, and has also established an AIDS awareness foundation called the Rutger Hauer Starfish Foundation.
Gerontologist on living forever
Dr. Aubrey de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist based in Cambridge and a TED speaker, will discuss ‘’How rejuvenation biotechnologies will defeat aging altogether.’’ De Grey is a scientist based in Cambridge UK, and is the Chief Science Officer of SENS Foundation, a charity dedicated to combating the aging process as well as the Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research. His research breaks aging down into seven major classes of damage and identifies detailed approaches to addressing each one. He previously presented at TED and TED Global and his convinced we can live forever.
Symphony of sound
The young accordion duo Toeac, consisting of Renée Bekkers and Pieternel Berkers show that their unusual instrument harbours a range of colours that is so rich and has such an infinite gamut of possibilities that it is in fact an orchestra all its own.
The accordion duo started the Master Classical Accordion at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in 2009, after studies in the Netherlands. The duo has received many awards, and gives many concerts, during which they perform both solo pieces and pieces together.
Speeding up molecular manufacturing
Luke Nosek is an entrepreneur, and amongst many other things co-founded PayPal. After PayPal went public and was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002, Nosek decided to pursue travel and angel investing. In 2005, Nosek started Founders Fund with Peter Thiel and Ken Howery, a $275m venture capital fund. In 2009, Nosek joined Halcyon Molecular, a Founders Fund portfolio company pursuing a novel approach to ultra fast complete genome sequencing. He currently sits on the boards of SpaceX, Pathway Genomics, and Halcyon Molecular.
Conservationist makes Africa green again
Peter Westerveld, an artist and conservationist, was born in Tanzania, and after a thirty-year climate and nature study on the ground in Eastern Africa, initiated the restoration and renewed use of desert areas through a very basic but highly effective technique called contour trenching. At TEDxAmsterdam he will present the result of his life’s work, and share his dream of bringing back the ice to Mount Kilimanjaro.
Artist goes analog with the Impossible Project
Dr Florian Kaps saved the last Polaroid production plant for Integral Instant film in Enschede (NL) in 2008 and started to re-invent and re-produce a new instant film for traditional Polaroid Cameras. Kaps first dived into the magic of analog photography as leading manager of the Lomographic Society, developing their worldwide online community and shop platform. Since his childhood attracted by the exercise of running into the opposite direction, he reacted to the digital revolution by founding a strictly analog company, establishing what is today’s biggest network of everything correlated to instant photography.
Soprano and music’s timeless emotions
Claron McFadden is a worldclass soprano singer who studied voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Her celebrated operatic roles are numerous and varied. She sings many of the major oratorio works, but is also in demand for her interpretation of modern and contemporary music.
Her many recordings include Birtwistle’s Paul Celan Songs, Haydn’s Orfeo and Handel’s Alexander Balus with the King’s Consort. In August 2007 Claron McFadden was awarded with the Amsterdam Prize of the Arts, winning praise for her brilliant coloratura, her wide repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Bernstein and contemporary composers, and her vivid stage personality.
A mighty wind
Calefax is a reed quintet, based in Amsterdam. Few ensembles can claim to have created a new musical genre, but Calefax, a quintet composed exclusively of reed instruments, has brought a fresh sound to audiences. The Amsterdam-based group’s unusual combination of instruments – clarinet, oboe, saxophone, bassoon and bass clarinet – has resulted in unconventional adaptations of familiar works, and original compositions by an array of living composers.
See the light
Rogier van der Heide is the recently appointed Chief Design Officer for Philips Lighting. In this role he explores the new and unique ways that lighting can meet people’s needs and aspirations, to create meaningful, life-enhancing solutions. Van der Heide is internationally recognized as a leading architectural lighting design specialist. Until recently, he was Director at Arup and Global Business Leader Lighting Design of Arup Lighting. Van der Heide started working as a theater lighting designer in The Netherlands, and on this special occasion, he will not only share his ideas but will also demonstrate some of then: he will act as the light designer for the TEDxAmsterdam stage.
Smooth and painful in the Netherlands
Hans Teeuwen is a Dutch comedian, actor, writer, and singer. His work can be described as absurdist, apolitical and confrontational. In 1991, Teeuwen won the Dutch cabaret festival Cameretten together with Roland Smeenk. Teeuwen developed five hugely successful one man shows. In 2005 Teeuwen announced the end of his theatre career – to resurface two years later with an English language show in British theatres and festivals. Although his work is typically devoid of politics, in real life Teeuwen has repeatedly and openly acted as a fervent supporter of free speech. His 2010 show, nominated for a Chortle Award, is called Smooth and Painful, and his TEDxAmsterdam contribution is based on that show, which until TEDxAmsterdam has not been played in the Netherlands.
and last on this list, but first on stage, meet your host…
Joris Luyendijk returns as the host of TEDxAmsterdam, introducing our speakers and reflecting on the audiences expectations like no one else can. At TEDxAmsterdam 2009, he brought an optimistic, positive feeling to the event, which was felt by all. Luyendijk is a writer and TV host who studied in Kansas, Amsterdam, and Cairo. His first book “Een goede man slaat soms zijn vrouw” (A Good Man Sometimes Hits His Wife, 1998) is about the Egyptian society from a Western observer’s point of view.
He eventually became a news correspondent in the Middle East, based in Egypt, Lebanon, and Israel. He also reported on the Second Gulf War in Iraq. His book Het zijn net mensen (They Are Just Like People, 2006) is about his experiences as a news correspondent in the Middle East and has been translated and published in 10 countries (”They are just like people”/”Fit to Print”/”People like us”), and is about his experiences as a news correspondent in the Middle East.
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