Twenty guests from various industries and fields, as well as four hundred people who were selected from the group concerned about the changes of the times, were invited to attend the meeting, by TEDxFactory798, on May 12, 2013, they all experienced an adventure of discovery in individual desire, submerged in the time, search of the truth and touched with complex data, the cohesion of courage and hope to explore the unknown and to change. TEDxFactory798 is officially authorized by TED, a cross-border dialogue platform that originated in the U.S., and an integral part of the more than 100 programs established by TED worldwide over three years. With the effort of the Department of Public Education of CAFAM, TEDxFactory798 initially launched an activity in CAFA. Yan Feng, the teacher in charge of the Studio of Interactive Design of CAFA, was invited to be the curator of the conference, and presided over the second session of “Data and Story”.

The theme of the TEDxFactory798 2013 General Assembly was “The Zeitgeist”. It was divided into three sessions: Inside Out; Data and Story; Dance to Fear”.

Like TEDxFactory798, the speakers were also diverse and straddled various arts. Among the social entrepreneurs were those committed to do charity work by using the theater, pioneering entrepreneurs, robot creators and players, the head of Bertelsmann China, editor in chief of the cultural edition of the Chinese network of the New York Times, professor of Peking University, co-founder of the One Way Street Library, as well as the top Chinese science fiction writer. It was certain that there were a variety of artists.

The best freestyle rapper Little Tiger told the stories of himself and impromptu rap. He said that impromptu rap would never lie. The phonographic Industry had died, CDs were out of date. Lu Tong, promoter of “1 +1 Chinese Children Mitzvah Plan”, also a photographer and a freelance writer said: “There are 20 administrative villages disappearing every day, Yunnan Black Mud Village, I am shooting there today, many have disappeared, the children in my films are central to the stories of the village. This is the power of documentary.”

Xiaoyong of Sangbatang band said that everyone had a sense of rhythm, the movement of the body was completed by the right side of the brain, but Chinese society and education means they are only focused on the stimulation of the left side of the brain, making more than a billion people strikingly similar to each other, to be a group of well-developed left brains. Our imagination was denied, that the only way to save education was the “forgetting me” and “perfect love”.

Zhu Qingsheng, Professor of art history of Peking University, said that if the art was regarded as norm, it was just professional. Art belongs to everyone, with the effort of a motion, to get rid of the limitations of politics, individual, body, intellect, books, and ideas, so that everyone becomes himself/ herself. “Each person is unique, the so-called mental illness is how we find a set of standards to uniform us towards others. Art can help us find ourselves.”

Zhou Yi, a multimedia artist, works and lives in Paris and Shanghai. She’s concerned with the existing contradictions and series of connections between the data, and found a lot of problems.

Zhao Jiaxun, an entrepreneur born after 1985, is known for transforming CPI, tax, etc. into animations, spreading online. During the speech, Zhao repeatedly mentioned the words by Pi: in the film Life of Pi: “Science allows us to recognize external things, instead of taking care of the heart.” Zhao believes that attitude was able to change everything.

Dancer Shi Jingxin taught people how to recognize their own bodies, the most important 25 points in the human body. Everyone was the creator of his/her own body. A body would breathe, be full of energy, and enjoyably. She said the body was the very only thing to be trusted in the world.

British artist Matt Hope, living in Beijing, is keen to design new machines, such as a "breathing” bicycle, which fights against the hazy pollution in Beijing, also designing himself a set of “Metal Jackets”, to block the flooding electromagnetic waves.

Chudi/ Original Land Band, from a blind school in Tibet, finally performed three tracks: “A Painting Tune with a Thrice Repeated Refrain (Yangguansandie)”, “Tibetan Idyll”, and “On the Top of Dongshan Mountain”, all very friendly with each other, honestly and seriously singing.

Translated by Sophia and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Image Courtest TEDxFactory798