Theme: Dare to question

TEDxMarrakesh is proud to be part of the global TEDx conversation - this amazing, powerful network of people who believe in spreading ideas can stimulate change!

Our mission at TEDxMarrakesh is to stimulate the exchange and dialogue between cultures. TEDxMarrakesh wants to share and discuss ideas that have the power and potential to make a difference in our lives and in our world.

Our Objectives:
provide some intercultural days of exchange and inspiration
bring together innovators and explorers
encourage people to share knowledge
give the space for people to present their ideas in any field (ex.: Science, Poetry, Philosophy, Technology, Entertainment ...etc )
encourage the responsible use of resources and talents
support the local community

This year we invite our speakers as well as the audience to dare to question what they always wanted to know or what disturbed their minds. Fill in the blank – what do you dare to question? It is a call to stand up and make people think and talk about the questions we face today.
Especially in the place we are – the traditional Medina of Marrakesh – many questions are hidden behind the walls – lets raise and discuss them together!

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

Badr Ben Hirsi

British-Yemeni director Bader Ben Hirsi wrote and directed his first play at the age of 11. He went on to pursue a career as a theatre playwright and director with numerous successes at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at London Fringe theatres where in his early twenties press compared him to Edgar Allan Poe and Jean-Paul Sartre, leading What’s On (London) to write he is a writer and director ‘too bleak and too brilliant to be missed’. After reading for an MA in Drama Production from Goldsmith’s College, London University, Bader turned his attention to projects promoting a different image of the Arab World with his first award-winning feature documentary The English Sheikh & The Yemeni Gentleman generating great international appeal. Soon after, he went on to write and direct Yemen’s first-ever feature film A New Day In Old Sana’a which again won an accolade of awards and global recognition.

Johanna Kühl

Designers Johanna Kühl and Alexandra Fischer-Roehler studied together at Berlin’s ESMOD fashion school and established their label Kaviar Gauche in 2004. The concept “gauche caviar” comes from France and stands for left-liberal salon society. They found the contrasts very exciting and adopted it for their label – it stands for modern lux. In the scene for almost 10 years now, they are an internationally established fashion label that is most known for their flowing dresses and their fascinating bridal couture!

Thomas Willemeit

GRAFT architects has been created in 1998 in Los Angeles by three german architects. Today Graft has offices in Los Angeles, Beijing and Berlin with about 100 employees. They are know as the pop stars of architecture through their relation with Brad Pitt with whom they developed several projects e.g. 150 low-cost sustainable houses in New Orleans. The effort represents one of GraftLab's core principles about urban architecture: acceptance of innovative design by the local community.. "We are passionate about the idea of sustainability. That means we build green, smart, that we want to save energy. But at the same time, it is something that we call social sustainability.“ At the moment they are developing a project called „Solar Kiosk“ that they want to establish in Africa.

Scilla Elworthy

Scilla Elworthy is the founder of the Oxford Research Group, a non-governmental Organisation she set up in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons Policy-makers worldwide and their critics. She served as its executive director from 1982 until 2003, when she left that role in order to set up Peace Direct, a charity supporting local peace builders in conflict areas. From 2005 she was adviser to Peter Gabriel, Desmond Tutu and Richard Branson in setting up „The Elders“. She is a member of the World Future Council and the International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy. She has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Price and in 2003 she was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize for her work with the Oxford Research Group.

Richard Seymour

A formidable public speaker, futurist and food fanatic, Richard Seymour is also one of Europe's most prolific designers -- with a portfolio including Nokia, Samsung, Tefal and Durex. He co-founded Seymour Powell with Dick Powell in 1984, overseeing the company's 1,561 projects to date. The consultancy was instrumental in creating the world's first cordless kettle and early pocket mobile phones, with Seymour receiving the D&AD Award for Outstanding Contribution to Design, the FX Lifetime Achievement Award and a Senior Fellowship of the Royal College of Art.

Jan Becker

Jan Becker is an internationally acclaimed mentalist, mind-reader or what ever you might want to call him. He finds a needle hidden in Berlin, he runs with blindfolded eyes through the forest without hitting a tree, he knows your bankcard‘s PINcode... It seems like he does miracles, but he says it is all about empathy, psychology and intuition – everybody can learn it – that is his credo! He won the German TV show „The next Uri Geller“ in 2009 and since then he Is one of the most sought after mentalists in Europe - he even explains how he finds his puzzling results on stage – and suddenly we feel very transparent and our behavious so obvious. He just published a book called – „I know your secrets“.

Faouzi Bensaidi

Faouzi Bensaïdi is a Moroccan film director, actor, screen writer and artist. His film A Thousand Months was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. In 2007 and 2009 he has taken part in the Arts in Marrakech Biennale showing and Discussing his films and installations. In 2011, his film Death for Sale premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Jeanno Gaussi

Born in Kabul, jeanno is a Berlin based mixed media artist. Gaussi is one of the exhibiting artists at dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel and Kabul and had a solo show at the Cultuurcentrum Bruegge in Belium in March 2012. Her short film were shown in many international festivals - she won the first prize in the Short Film Festival in Oberhausen in 2007 and was also listed as one of the 100 Best German short films in 2008. In 2007, Gaussi has extended her art practice to also include photography and installations. In 20120 Gaussi participated in the Jerusalem Show IV curated by Jack Persekian, and was invited by ARTEEAST to present her worl at the Sharjah March meetings. Gaussi is now a member of the Arghan Contemporary Art research team initiated by the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhovem that is documenting the contemporary art scene in Afghanistan.

Nabil Hamdaoui

Nadil was born of Morrocan parents in Strasbourg, France. Growing up studying in a private French school in Marrakesh, he moved to USA in September 2001. He got his high school diploma in 2003 and started studying Industrial Design at Purdue University in Indiana. after going to Florida for spring break in 2004, Nabil ended up extending his stay there to 3 years. Back in Morocco in 2006, Nabil has since earned a Bachelor in Web Development while freelancing as an interpret and PR agent in events ranging from the Marrakesh party scene to more corporate and official events. Today, and through his maltifaceted experience, Nabil is striving at adding a fresh and different impulse to the Moroccan cultural landscape, mainly by being an active member of the collective DC7 'The Urban Lab' (DC7 meaning Dir Chi 7aja or Di Something). He currently works with the Foundation for the Marrakesh Festivals as a communication manager.

Steve Sabella

Steve Sabella was born in Jerusalem. The Berlin-based artist uses photography and photography installations as his principle modes of expression. He is the holder of the Ellen auerbach Award (2008) granted be the Akademie der Künste (Berlin) and he was one of the commissioned artists for the inauguration of MATHHAF Arab Museum of Modern art in Doha. Steve Sabella's artworks have been collected by numerous international museums like the British Museum in London, the MATHAF in Doha, The Ars Aevi in srajevo etc. Moreover he did many international shows e.g. NOW - contemporary Art of the 21st century, Neighbours in Dialogue (Istanbul, Sarajevo), in New York, Dubai, London, Paris, Turin and many more.

Ulrich Dietz

Ulrich Dietz, born in 1958, founded the internationally leading IT service provider GFT in 1987 and has been Chairman of the Executive Board of GFT Technologies AG since its IPO in 1999. Ulrich Dietz studied mechanical engineering and product engineering at the university of Reutlingen and Furtwangen and graduated as a certified engineer. He is the co-founder of the Transfer Centre for Information Technology (TZI) at the Steinbeis Foundation for business development, initiator of the global innovation initiative CODE_n, and has been awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year 2011”. Apart from his function as CEO of GFT Technologies AG, Ulrich Dietz is active as a member in international boards. In 2003, Ulrich Dietz became a member of the Presiding Committee of BITKOM (the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media). In this role, he is particularly committed to the promotion and the expansion of international relations in the German IT industry. Furthermore, he is a member of the task force which represents “ICT country Germany and innovative business applications” within the scope of the federal government’s National IT Summit. Within the framework of his activities it is Mr Dietz’s main aim to improve Germany’s position as an innovative country, as well as to promote entrepreneurship in the area of ICT. Ulrich Dietz is initiator of the innovation programme CODE_n.