Theme: The Big X

We are celebrating ten years of TEDxAmsterdam, using the X in many ways.

Stadsschouwburg
Leidseplein 26
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, 1017 PT
Netherlands

Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra

The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra performed for the first time in 2011, at De Engelenbak in Amsterdam. A group of young Amsterdam musicians playing alongside Arab-Andalusian musicians from Morocco. This was the beginning of an unforgettable journey with leading international artists, through theaters and concert halls in the Netherlands and Morocco. The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra plays three different Arab-Andalusian repertoires: tarab, chaabi andalusi and sufi andalusi. Tarab, or classical, is the rich style of Al Andalus. Chaabi andalusi focuses on musical crossover and folk music that has been influenced by the Arab-Andalusian tradition. Grand masters such as Abdesadaq Chekara (1933-1998) laid the foundations of the chaabi andalusi. Sufi andalusi is the mystical, spiritual sound of Arab-Andalusian music. It conveys the musical and vocal improvisations handed down from master to student in zawiyas. In addition to these three repertoires, the Amsterdam Andalusisch Orkest is dedicated to broadening musical understanding, and brings other Andalusian-oriented genres to the stage, such as malhun and flamenco

Andalusian Orchestra

The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra started when young Amsterdam musicians met with Arab-Andalusian musicians from Morocco. This was the beginning of an unforgettable journey with leading international artists, through theaters and concert halls in the Netherlands and Morocco. The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra plays three different Arab-Andalusian repertoires: tarab, chaabi andalusi and sufi andalusi. In addition to these three repertoires, the Amsterdam Andalusisch Orkest is dedicated to broadening musical understanding, and brings other Andalusian-oriented genres to the stage, such as malhun and flamenco.The Orchestra also offers a varied talent-development programme for children and teenagers in Amsterdam and Morocco. For more information see http://amsterdamsandalusischorkest.nl/en/

Blackman & Blokland

Yahmani Blackman and Dorothy Blokland are two theatre-makers who like to go to the edge of absurdity. They share what it is like to be a woman with a colorful background. A background that swears, celebrates, which sometimes briefly disappears, but always returns with a story. This not only fuels uncomfortably funny moments, filled with a good dose of black humor, but also moments of silence in which the audience and actors get close – a different manner of listening and watching.

Deborah Reber

Debbie Reber is a parenting activist, New York Times best selling author, and founder of TiLT Parenting. TiLT is a website, top podcast, and global community for parents raising neurologically atypical children. Prior to launching TiLT, she was a teen girl authority and worked in children’s television. After living in Amsterdam for the past five years, Debbie, her husband, and 14-year-old ‘differently wired’ son are returning to the US at the end of this year.

Felipe Villela

Felipe Villela is Co-Founder of reNature, a foundation with the goal of restoring 1.000.000 ha of degraded land worldwide through regenerative agroforestry. He sees himself as a leader within the agricultural sustainability movement, by connecting people and including them in multiple projects. His positive spirit drives him to reach his own goals and to persuade others to believe in themselves, their capability to facility change and be a part of a worldwide movement. Together with local farmers, communities, government authorities, companies & organisations, reNature exchanges knowledge to design and implement an economically viable model farm. Felipe’s credo is: only action leads to change.

Heleen de Coninck

Inger Leemans is Professor of Cultural History at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and director of ACCESS (the Amsterdam Center for Emotion and Sensory Studies). Her research group collaborates with partners from heritage institutes, industry and creative industries. In the project In Search of Scents Lost the VU collaborates with the fragrance industry and heritage institutes to reconstruct lost smell heritage: can we reconstruct the smells of the past – and what happens when we do? They investigate the impact and effectiveness of smell on museum visitors and other audiences. As a member of the National Research Council for Cultural Heritage Leemans helps to set Dutch and European research agenda for tangible and intangible heritage.

Henk Blanken

Henk Blanken is a Dutch author and journalist. He has worked for various newspapers and magazines, written books on the journalistic trade and won several prizes for his work. He currently writes for De Correspondent. Henk was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and at present, he mainly writes about the dilemmas surrounding euthanasia and dementia. He knows that the disease might one day take him past the point at which he wants to carry on. His piece “My death is not my own: the legal limits of euthanasia” appeared as a long read in The Guardian. His book titled “It Won’t Kill You” was met with critical acclaim in both the Netherlands and Germany. Henk says: “That something good has come out of this deterioration, makes up for a lot.”

Inger Leemans

Inger Leemans is Professor of Cultural History at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and director of ACCESS (the Amsterdam Center for Emotion and Sensory Studies). Her research group collaborates with partners from heritage institutes, industry and creative industries. In the project In Search of Scents Lost the VU collaborates with the fragrance industry and heritage institutes to reconstruct lost smell heritage: can we reconstruct the smells of the past – and what happens when we do? They investigate the impact and effectiveness of smell on museum visitors and other audiences. As a member of the National Research Council for Cultural Heritage Leemans helps to set Dutch and European research agenda for tangible and intangible heritage.

Jan Dirk van der Burg

Jan Dirk van der Burg is the current ''Fotograaf des Vaderlands'' (The Photographer of the Nation), and as such the ambassador for Dutch photography. Van der Burg is an Amsterdam based photographer and filmmaker. He also creates books and is a Twitter biographer: compiling the best Twitter accounts in the Netherlands in autobiographical anthologies. Additionally he is the national authority on ‘Olifantenpaadjes’, the Dutch term for desire lines, the shortest route from A to B. Currently, he is working on a documentary and a book in which he tracks a plastic bag trend as a way to decode the complicated human relationships in society.

Laser 3.14

Laser 3.14 is a ‘Visual Poet’ who has been creating poetry on the streets for over 15 years. His distinctive work of visual poetry can be found around Amsterdam, some also in other cities and in galleries. He has exhibited in the Den Haag Museum, Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum and is part of the Amsterdam Historic Museum’s permanent collection. He also collaborated with brands such as Denham and Tommy Hilfiger. His work is known for its bold statements about politics, popular culture and everyday life. In 2017 he was awarded the PAX Peace Prize for raising issues of global stability.

Lavinia Meijer

Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer performs solo concerts in venues worldwide from Carnegie Hall NYC to the Berlin Philharmonie, being one of the most important, pioneering and exciting musicians of our times. Not only does she search for rare classical solo & orchestral repertoire, she is also always on the alert for contemporary music possibilities. Besides performing the classical standard harp repertoire, Ms. Meijer experiments with electronic music, theatrical music, jazz and avant rock and she is the only classical artist to have hit the top 10 in the Dutch rock album charts with three consecutive albums. In 2011 she had the honour to meet composer Philip Glass in person, who gave permission to transcribe his 5-piece Metamorphosis for harp. She has now transcribed several of his compositions and regularly performs with him.

Orville Breeveld

Orville Breeveld is a musician, singer, composer, orchestrator, producer and lecturer. He has worked in the field of international art, entertainment, media and advertising for over a decade. Orville has a long established career of working together with various international ensembles, musicians and entertainment corporations. With his own event production company and talent development organisation Breathing, he has supported hundreds of young talented singers, bands and visual artists on international festivals and events. Besides composing and arranging for his own bands Orville composes music for TV, radio and other artists. He is a proud father and has a strong vision on fatherhood in various communities. He initiated the platform Vitamine V in the Netherlands to inspire other fathers and to contribute to a better upbringing of children through various actions and activities.

Prof. Inger Leemans

Inger Leemans is Professor of Cultural History at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and director of ACCESS (the Amsterdam Center for Emotion and Sensory Studies). Her research group collaborates with partners from heritage institutes, industry and creative industries. In the project In Search of Scents Lost the VU collaborates with the fragrance industry and heritage institutes to reconstruct lost smell heritage: can we reconstruct the smells of the past – and what happens when we do? They investigate the impact and effectiveness of smell on museum visitors and other audiences. As a member of the National Research Council for Cultural Heritage Leemans helps to set Dutch and European research agenda for tangible and intangible heritage.

Prof.dr.ir. Arjan van Timmeren

Prof.dr.ir. Arjan van Timmeren is a Professor of Environmental Technology & Design – Urbanism at the TU Delft and Scientific Director of the Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan Solutions (AMS). His research focuses on environmental technology (urban metabolism), industrial ecology, sustainable area development and self-sufficiency. Within both his role at AMS Institute and his office and research group at the TU Delft, he is involved in many projects in and outside the Netherlands – varying from individual (clusters of) buildings, to large “climate neutral’” city districts and infrastructures.

The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra

The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra started when young Amsterdam musicians met with Arab-Andalusian musicians from Morocco. This was the beginning of an unforgettable journey with leading international artists, through theaters and concert halls in the Netherlands and Morocco. The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra plays three different Arab-Andalusian repertoires: tarab, chaabi andalusi and sufi andalusi. In addition to these three repertoires, the Amsterdam Andalusisch Orkest is dedicated to broadening musical understanding, and brings other Andalusian-oriented genres to the stage, such as malhun and flamenco.The Orchestra also offers a varied talent-development programme for children and teenagers in Amsterdam and Morocco. For more information see http://amsterdamsandalusischorkest.nl/en/

Timon Krause

Timon Krause was born in Germany, trained in New Zealand and is now based in Amsterdam. He studied theatre at the Paul van Vliet Academy and is currently studying for his Master of Philosophy in Leiden. Timon published his first book on mind reading at the age of 16. He is the current holder of the title 'Best European Mentalist' and the youngest mind reader to ever have been awarded this title. Currently, Timon is touring the Netherlands with Henning Neidhardt and Kevin Wolf. Together, they perform their show “MINDGAMES” – a mix of mind reading, music and live hypnosis.

Toufic El-Rjula

Toufic "Tey" El-Rjula is CEO and co-founder of Tykn.tech, a start-up that is working with the International Red Cross to solve the identity problem in disaster areas. After experiencing the financial crash in Dubai in 2008, Tey moved to The Hague, where he became a Blockchain Senior Analyst for wikistrat.com, as well as a Bitcoin miner. Born in Kuwait, during the gulf war, when birth registries were destroyed, Tey does not have a birth certificate. He is an “invisible man”, who has met more 1000 more “invisible humans”. In 2014 he was forced to move into a refugee camp in the Netherlands, after his work permit was terminated. Living in the camp for two years, he came in touch with Syrian refugees who were unable to verify the authenticity of their documents, or had lost important ones such as land titles or academic certificates while fleeing their homelands. With Tykn and project Zinc (Zero INvisible Children) Tey has the goal to solve the paper-based identity problem. He is active as a public speaker and educator on digital currencies and Blockchain technology, a global moderator at Bitcoin.com, and candidate for an MSc Digital Currencies at the University of Nicosia.

Yahmani Blackman and Dorothy Blokland

Yahmani Blackman and Dorothy Blokland are two theatre-makers who like to go to the edge of absurdity. They share what it is like to be a woman with a colorful background. A background that swears, celebrates, which sometimes briefly disappears, but always returns with a story. This not only fuels uncomfortably funny moments, filled with a good dose of black humor, but also moments of silence in which the audience and actors get close – a different manner of listening and watching.

Zohra Moosa

Zohra Moosa is a feminist activist and currently the Executive Director of Mama Cash, the first international women's fund in the world. Based in Amsterdam and operating globally, the smallish but bold fund supports social justice and human rights groups, organizations, networks and movements led by women, girls, and trans and intersex people by providing financial grants and other non-financial resources. The fund was started 35 years ago as a solidarity fund by a group of women in Amsterdam, and continues today to collect resources from where it can to channel back to courageous feminist activists all around the world.