February 25, 2014

TEDxRoma: Innovative ideas and idea-makers in Italy

TedxRoma speakers Peter Lunenfeld, Kristin Jones and Oscar di Montigny with Italian Journal editor Claudia Palmira.

“Father of the Internet” Vinton Cerf with live portraitist, photographer Maurizio Galimberti

Former Tedx speaker Patrizia La Trecchia (right) with Claudia Palmira at the conference.

TEDxRoma presented Out of the Box at the Teatro Olimpico in Rome to an audience of over 1,000 on February 22, 2014. Leaders with diverse expertise in a variety of fields shared their views on Rome, art, media, technology and business – shedding light on the modernity of the Eternal city. The speakers revealed the contemporary side of a town that is often overshadowed by its rich history.

Highlights of the event included professor and author Peter Lunenfeld, artist Kristin Jones, Italian blogger Oscar di Montigny, photographer Maurizio Galimberti and inventor Pasquale Fedele. Talks by the “founder of the internet” Vinton Cerf and the popular foursome from “The Buried Life” were highly anticipated.

Kristin Jones is the founder/artistic director of TEVERETERNO, an ongoing multidisciplinary arts festival on the Tiber River. She presented her vision for “Piazza Tevere”, an outdoor gallery between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini. This gallery will feature renowned artist William Kentridge for a site-specific installation in 2014.

Fascinating inventions are currently being perfected in Italy, such as a machine that communicates using the brain’s neural pulses presented by Pasquale Fedele; vegetable-based plastics manufactured by Athanassia Athanassiou; and a “seeing system” for the blind built by Domenico Prattichizzo.

Two artistic presentations that captured the crowd’s favor were the onstage Polaroid portrait by Maurizio Galimberti of the ‘net legend Vinton Cerf. A musical finale by the Piccola Orchestra di Tor Pignattara ended the day of talks on a non-cerebral vibe.