Category: culture

TEDxChCh – Sebastian Sylwan – Art, Science and Visual Effects

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock

In this talk, Sebastian Sylwan from Weta Digital shares some of the remarkable technology that goes into creating creatures for films like Avatar and King Kong — and shows us how art, science, and visual effects are combining to create new lenses for storytelling.

Sebastian Sylwan is the CTO of Weta Digital.

Before Weta, Sebastian served as Autodesk’s Senior Film Industry Manager, where he helped set the strategy for Autodesk’s products in the global film market, including the first steps into stereoscopic 3D.

Prior to that, Sylwan was Director of Technology at Digital Domain, an Academy Award-winning VFX facility. He successfully renewed Digital Domain’s technology infrastructure while maintaining the legacy value of over 13 years and helped it venture into new areas like the development of the facility’s first stereoscopic rendition of a CG animated film.

Sylwan has also served as Principal Technology Advisor at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies where he led the Light Stage 6 project. In Italy, where he grew up, Sylwan designed, built, and acted as the CTO of Lumiq Studios, the country’s largest production, post-production and 3D character animation studio. Sylwan serves on numerous advisory boards and industry committees.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

TEDxChCh – Grant Ryan – Some Odd Things About Bold New Ideas

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock

In this talk, Grant Ryan shares some strange, yet surprisingly common, challenges facing bold new ideas.

Grant Ryan is an entrepreneurial veteran and the creator of the YikeBike.
The electric YikeBike weighs just over 10kg, folds into itself in 15 seconds, and goes 25kph; in the words of UK Journalist Simon Usborne, it’s “the extraordinary lovechild of a Segway and a Penny Farthing with dwarfism.”

Grant, who has been featured in Time, Wired, and Unlimited, sold his Internet search company Global Brain to an American news organisation; then, after the dotcom bubble burst, he and several investors bought back the company at a bargain price. They now make $10 million a year in revenue from it.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

TEDxChCh – Peggy Liu – China as the Cleantech Laboratory of the Wor

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock

In this talk, Peggy Liu shares some of the challenges, opportunities and advancements being made in China’s cleantech industry.

Peggy Liu is Chairperson of the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, and a Time Magazine Environmental Hero.

As China emerges as an economic powerhouse, its energy use is shooting through the roof; the country opens a new coal plant every week. The resulting pollution is a global problem — a third of particulate matter pollution in California can be traced back to China.

This “one atmosphere” nature of climate change was the catalyst for the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), a non-profit organization that brings together international expertise and green technologies to visibly change the way China creates and uses energy.

JUCCCE views the challenge of changing the trajectory of energy use through a change management lens, rather than just a technology or policy lens. How do we reach key energy decision makers through scalable channels? How can we facilitate dialogue for mutual understanding?

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

TEDxChCh – James Caygill – The Work of Our Own Hands

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock

In this talk, James Caygill offers a high-speed history of the progressive movement through the Kevin Bacon framework.

James Caygill is a political philosopher who works with local government to coordinate the long-term growth and development of Greater Christchurch over the next 35 years.

Urban environments are where most people around the world spend their lives, and James believes that New Zealand is young enough and flexible enough to create some fantastic cities to go with our outstanding natural beauty.

Prior to returning to Christchurch in 2008, James worked for Prime Minister Helen Clark as a political adviser in her personal office and also as an adviser to a number of Ministers in her administration.

James is especially interested in the successful alignment of principle with pragmatic progress. His most recent thinking centres around the global challenges that Generation X will inherit from the Baby Boomers, and how they might be solved.

James has an MA with Distinction in Political Science from the University of Canterbury.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)