Theme: Look on the bright side

The theme of this years TEDx Marrakech is meant to be a little playful, with images of Monty Python’s Eric, suspended on his cross joyfully singing away in the setting sun.

However as a statement it also raises many questions.

Are positive thought always powerful?
Does having a sunny disposition make you live longer or simply drive others mad?
Do we need to balance optimism with realism, light with dark?
Do those in power control with fear and negativity?
Is an overly cautious approach to life ever a force for good?

Riad El Fenn
Derb Moullay Abdullah Ben Hezzian
Marrakech Medina, Marrakech-Medina, 40000
Morocco

Ahmed Ezzarghani & Sara Mouhi

**Story told by Master storyteller Haj Ahmed, and then translated by Apprentice Sara Mouhi** Master storyteller Ahmed Ezzarghani began collecting Morocco’s traditional fables during his youth as a traveling salesman. Selling coffee at souks, he joined the crowds gathering around storytellers until one day he had studied the craft long enough to tell the stories himself. 50 years later he is committed to passing Morocco’s oral tradition to the next generation. Today, Haj Ahmed trains a group of youth apprentices, like Sara Mouni, so that they may keep their rich Moroccan heritage alive. Sara Mouhi is a 24 years old teacher-trainee at the CLC, and a graduate of the English department at the Cadi Ayyad University. Her students say that she can teach vocabulary without using words by relying on her expressive body language.

Nirtán

Beatriz Rodriguez Hornero (Nirtán) est née à Ciudad Real, obtient le grade de licencié en Beaux Arts par l'universitédu Cuenca (Castille la Mancha) en 2000,c’est l’année où elle a reprís sa formation , qu’elle a commencé de jeune avec le ballet classique, c’est le moment où elle a choisi la Danse Orientale, en sentant une grande inclination dans cette dernière. Depuis toujours la danse est présent dans ses créations. Ses peintures reflètent les états de l'âme, transes... de mouvements intérieurs qui sont extériorisés, des voyages, des rêves... et dans ses danses il tient très en compte de la transmission de sentiments et celle de l'esthétique... Sa première rencontre avec la danse Orientale a été realisée grâce au maître Shokry Mohamed, qui lui a fait la connaissances de cet art merveilleux, a continué sa formation avec son épouse Rosa Mártinez (qui lui a suggéré comme le nom artistique "Nirtán", qui danse depuis son âme)

Nirtán

Beatriz Rodriguez Hornero est née à l'Espagne, obtient le grade de licencié en Beaux Arts par l'université du Cuenca (Castille la Mancha) en 2000,c’est l’année où elle a reprís sa formation , qu’elle a commencé de jeune avec le ballet classique, c’est le moment où elle a choisi la Danse Orientale. Elle fait des recherche internes et s’attirant au Sufismo , à partit duquel elle practique la danse derviche. Depuis toujours la danse est présent dans ses créations. Ses peintures reflètent les états de l'âme, transes... de mouvements intérieurs qui sont extériorisés, des voyages, des rêves... et dans ses danses il tient très en compte de la transmission de sentiments et celle de l'esthétique... Sa première rencontre avec la danse Orientale a été realisée grâce au maître Shokry Mohamed, qui lui a fait la connaissances de cet art merveilleux, a continué sa formation avec son épouse Rosa Mártinez (qui lui a suggéré comme le nom artistique "Nirtán", qui danse depuis son âme)

Alia Ali

Alia is an American photographer & visual ​artist, with Yemeni & Bosnian origins. Having grown up among 5 languages, her most comfortable mode of communication is image. Her extensive travels have led her to process the world as such. In today's globalized society, the interpretation of verbal & written language has dis-served particular communities & presents more of a threat than a means of understanding. Alia's aesthetic interests stem from people & place, & the processes which unite & divide us, all at once. Her work concentrates on dissecting the loci of where people & processes fuse, & simultaneously explores different ways in which they could coalesce. Her work reflects on the politics & poetics of contested notions surrounding the topics of physical borders, prisons, indigenous communities, & multi-racial identities. ​Alia ​is a graduate of the UWCAC & holds a BA in Studio Art & Middle Eastern Studies from Wellesley College. She is based in Marrakech. http://alia-ali.com.​

Christoph Santner

Christoph organizes future camps and future-focused conferences like the WeimarerVisionen and the InnovationBoostCamp. With RealMakers.org he provides a platform where people from all walks of life have the opportunity to support each other in realizing their projects, ideas and visions. RealMakers also organises conferences where entrepreneurs have the chance to present their projects in front of a panel of investors, managers, journalists and experts from various fields with the aim of arousing both interest and support. As an innovation consultant he has worked for companies like: Sixt, BMW / BMWi, Audi, VW, European Patent Office, various financial institutions and for organisations with a focus on environmental and social matters. Christoph Santner visited dozens of future labs and innovation centers worldwide. He interviewed more than 2000 inspiring and visionary influencers.

Clive Alderton

Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco and Her Majesty’s non resident Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Mr Clive Alderton has been Ambassador to Morocco since December 2012. His previous appointment was as a Member of The Royal Household from 2006 until 2012, where he served as Deputy Private Secretary to Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall 2006 - 2008. Mr Alderton was promoted to the rank of Private Secretary to Their Royal Highnesses 2009-2012. Mr Alderton joined the FCO in 1986 and has served overseas in Poland, Belgium (European Union), Singapore and France. Clive Alderton is married to Catriona Canning and has two children.

Echo Collins-Egan

Echo spent her childhood both in Barcelona and travelling around the world, paving the way to her love of discovering new cultures and adapting to them, finding our points in common. When she was 18 she travelled to India working in a hospital in rural Tamil Nadu where she worked with people with leprosy and children with AIDS. Since then she has worked on an AIDS project in Tanzania, a feminist performance art piece for Tate Modern, has translated books and directed plays. After she got her Masters from the London School of Economics Echo joined ACCESS Health International (www.accessh.org). She arrived alone in Morocco, with some seed funding and some big ideas. Almost two years later ACCESS Health Morocco is on its way to becoming established. She is also writing a book about how to set up innovative eye care systems in low middle and high income countries based on some extraordinary hospitals in India.

Geraldine Cox

Geraldine Cox is an award winning artist who originally trained in physics before studying painting. Since 2011 she has been working at the Imperial College London, Department of Physics on her project ‘Finding Patterns’ which searches for new ways to communicate our knowledge to more minds. Finding Patterns is a unique experiment that explores the expressive power of art to share so much of Nature that is hidden from the view of everyday life. http://www.findingpatterns.info/ Geraldine is recipient of multiple awards that include two Arts Council Awards and the Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence Award. In 2013 the Imagine Science Film Festival selected two of her short films for screening in New York. Other recent exhibitions include ‘Beyond Ourselves’ ‘Poems about Light’. Geraldine works in varied media: drawing, painting, writing and film through to large scale installations, and illustrated talks...

Giulio Bonazzi

Born in Verona in 1963, he graduated in Business Economics from the University of Venice. In 1987 he started his career, working in a family business. After a year working in the commercial and technical divisions of Aquafil, he attended a six-month training course at Horizon Carpet in the United States. In 1989 he became assistant production manager at the Arco plant, and a year later took over management of the division. He was also involved in the move to Slovenia, assisting with the acquisition of the Kranj factory. In 1994 he returned to Aquafil, working on the acquisition of Julon d.d., an enterprise which was to become a fundamental asset for the Group. Between 1995 and 1998 he held the office of General Manager at Julon, relocating with his family to Slovenia. In 1999 he returned to Italy as Vice Chairman of Aquafil, before becoming Chairman of the group in 2008. At the end of 2011, he was elected as President of CIRFS, the European Association of the man-made fiber producers.

Jesus Greus

Jesus Greus was born in Madrid. He graduated in English from the London Institute of Linguists. He has contributed in the past to several Spanish newspapers, Liberation du Maroc and, now, to several digital literary magazines. He has worked as a translator for various publishing houses in Madrid. As a lecturer, he has been invited by the Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris; the Sorbone University; the association Le Monde Autour du Livre, in Bordeaux; the Center of Arab-Portuguese Studies, in Silves, Portugal; the Fundacion Arte y Cultura in Madrid and many more. He is also a musician who has played in a range of fusion music groups. He has been cultural director of the Cervantes Institute in Marrakech, where he now belongs to different cultural foundations. He has published several novels and short stories, theatre plays and he is the author of two scripts.

Mariana Bozesan

Impact Investor

Dr. Mariana Bozesan is best known as an Integral Impact Investor, a philanthropist, author, and researcher on consciousness leadership. As a philanthropist, she advocates the economic empowerment of women, serves as a strategic advisor to various global organizations, and works tirelessly on advancing the consciousness evolution in finance and economics. She is the Co-Founder and President of AQAL Capital and AQAL Foundation and co-founder of AQAL AG. Educated at Stanford University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Mariana holds a M.S. degree in Artificial Intelligence (KIT) and a Ph.D. in psychology.

Oliver Bienkowski

In 1982, Oliver Bienkowski was born in Kassel, Germany. After finalizing school with focus on business informatics he founded his own company for cyber security. He sold his company in 2006 and realized several different projects, founded his own association and received two awards for his social engagement from «attac» and «stern.de». Beside these activities he startet to work as GuerillaArtist and developed different streetbranding-promotions» on behalf of companies. he also started his first political light projections. In 2008 he irradiated buildings of the Hypo Real Estate in Munich, in relation to the financial crisis, with a quote from an old german music hit „Wer soll das bezahlen, wer hat das bestellt, wer hat so viel Pinke- Pinke, wer hat so viel Geld?“. Bienkowski left all in Germany and decided to start another path, hoping to change the life of millions of people around the world with his «Pixelhepler project».

Richard Reed

Richard Reed is the co-founder of innocent, the No.1 smoothie brand in Europe. The business was started from a market stall in 1999 by Richard and two friends and has grown into a business with a turnover of over £200m. for which Richard and Innocent got many awards. Under the banner ‘taste good and do good’, innocent gives ten percent of profit ts each year to charity. As well as co-founding Innocent, Richard is the co-founder of Jam Jar Investments, a company that backs young entrepreneurs; the co-founder of Art Everywhere, the world’s largest art show; and the co founder of The Reed Page Foundation, a personal charity that funds peace-brokering and environmental protection initiatives across the world. Richard is also Chairman of the innocent foundation, a Patron of Peace One Day and has at various stages in his career been a non-Executive at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, a director of the human rights charity Videre and a government advisor on entrepreneurship.

Vincent Melilli

Vincent Melilli est né et a grandi à Casablanca. A 18 ans, après son bac, il quitte le Maroc et poursuit des études de théâtre, de littérature et de cinéma à Paris.Au début des années 80, avec des amis, il crée, programme et dirige des salles de cinéma à Paris (Escurial et Max Linder).De 1996 à 1998, il occupe le poste de Secrétaire Général de la Maison de la Culture de Bourges.Il a ensuite dirigé l’Institut Français de Marrakech de 1998 à 2002 puis occupé le poste d’Attaché Audiovisuel et de Directeur de l’Institut Français du Royaume-Uni à Londres jusqu’en 2004.Avec Suzanna Biedermann, Il a fondé l’Ecole Supérieure des Arts Visuels de Marrakech dont il assure aujourd’hui la Direction Générale.