Fine Acts Labs are unique events exploring the intersection of social/environmental issues, art, and technology.
In Labs, multidisciplinary teams of artists and technologists work together over a weekend, to prototype ideas that raise awareness or provide solutions to a specific issue. Teams are supported by a pool of mentors and experts in the respective field. A jury then awards one idea with a grant for further development.
The next edition of Labs (June 10-11, 2023) will focus on climate equity and justice. For this event, we invited a small selected group of TED Fellows artists; and we asked them to team up with a visionary technologist. Each team develops a concept for an art piece on the topic. It can be anything at the intersection of art & tech – as long as it’s awesome.
PARTICIPANTS
Alicia Eggert
Alicia Eggert is an interdisciplinary conceptual artist whose work gives material form to language and time, those powerful but invisible forces that shape our perception of reality. Eggert uses vernacular modes of information delivery such as commercial signage in order to convey complex ideas via accessible and familiar means. Her signs have been installed on rooftops in Russia, on bridges in Amsterdam, and on uninhabited islands in Maine, beckoning people to ponder their place in the world and the role they play in it. Eggert's work has been exhibited at renowned institutions including Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Telfair Museums, CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, Triennale Design Museum in Milan, Everson Museum of Art, Corning Museum of Glass, and Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. She is a TED fellow, a Fulbright specialist, and a tenured professor at the University of North Texas.
Alexander Reben
Alexander Reben is an artist whose work probes the inherently human nature of the artificial through a conceptual and process-driven approach. He investigates our relationships with algorithms, automation, and amplification using experimentation, prototyping, absurdity, humor, mischief, and play. The artwork aims to engage the public with complex ideas in technology in an approachable way. Alexander studied social robotics at MIT where he researched human-machine symbiosis. For over a decade, he has been an artist working closely with cutting-edge technology and companies developing artwork spanning multiple mediums. He has exhibited internationally at cultural institutions, galleries, and museums and is regularly invited to speak at conferences and universities worldwide.
Benjamin Burke
Benjamin Burke is a writer, performer and poet who helps do-gooders find their story and tell it. With a background in DIY theater and large-scale group art projects, Burke has implemented his self-described approach of Applied Poetics for communities in the United States, Italy, Finland, Taiwan and India. In India, he continues to help launch Dhun—a humanist, eco-centered township project outside Jaipur, Rajasthan, that foundationally incorporates traditional construction techniques and seeks to redefine what a built living environment can do for its inhabitants. Currently, he is experimenting with performance as ritual using an immersive sound system, poetry and live generative polyphasic music.
Jascha Ephraim
Jascha Ephraim is a software engineer, multidisciplinary artist, and former Buddhist chaplain. He is currently working on tools that harness and enhance the capabilities of OpenAI's language models.
E Roon Kang
E Roon Kang operates Math Practice — an interdisciplinary design and research studio, with an interest in studying, evaluating, and criticizing everyday systems and their pursuit of efficiency. He is also a co-founder of 908A, a research initiative and consultancy that focuses on constructing new design tools. E Roon is an Assistant Professor of Interaction Design at Parsons School of Design, where he served as the director of the BFA Communication Design from 2017 to 2020. He was appointed as TED Senior Fellow, worked as a research fellow at SENSEable City Laboratory of MIT, and received Young Guns award from Art Director’s Club. His work has been selected as an inaugural project of LACMA’s Art + Technology Lab; received NSF Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge; shown in places including MoMA, Seoul Museum of Art, and Seattle Public Library. E Roon served as visiting critic for schools including Yale School of Art, Cornell Tech, MIT School of Architecture, University of Seoul, and RISD; he gave talks at TED Conferences and Cannes Int’l Festival of Creativity among others. He holds an MFA in graphic design from Yale.
Wonyoung So
Wonyoung So is a Ph.D. candidate in Urban Science at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a Presidential Fellow. He is also working as a research assistant and technical lead at the Data + Feminism Lab at MIT. In 2011, he co-founded the crowdfunding platform Tumblbug and demonstrated an alternative to the sustainability of the DIY movement. He was a research fellow at the Senseable City Lab at MIT, and co-curated Seoul Libre Maps at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism to realize the vision of a citizen-organized data community. He holds a Master’s in City Planning from MIT DUSP, a BFA in Visual Communication Design from Kookmin University, and studied at the School for Poetic Computation in New York City. His work has been recognized by the Information is Beautiful Awards, Adobe, MIT Museum, the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, IEEE, Fast Co. Design, The Atlantic, CNN, The Guardian, Seoul Museum of Art, and Wired, among others.
Matt Kenyon
Matt Kenyon is a new media artist and designer. Kenyon’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in such venues as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, MOCAD Detroit, Science Gallery Dublin, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, and the International Print Center. He is a TED Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and his work has been awarded the FILE Prix Lux. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Wired, and Gizmodo, and has also appeared in edited volumes such as A Touch of Code (Gestalten Press) and Adversarial Design (MIT Press). He lives and works in Buffalo, New York, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the University at Buffalo, and part of PLATFORM, UB's socially engaged design studio.
Nick Bontrager
Nick Bontrager is an interdisciplinary artist and technologist whose work and research explores the physical and conceptual nature of the moving image, game-based interactions and exchanges, and the idea of replicas or facsimiles as tools of preservation or understanding. He is currently an Associate Professor of New Media Art at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He recently completed the video game Myst after nearly 30 years of failed attempts.
MENTORS
Lauren Agosta
Lauren Agosta is an independent cultural manager, facilitator, performer and artist, dedicated to supporting socially engaged art and creating dynamic spaces for collaboration and global exchange. Lauren was the Senior Culture and Collaborations Lead for Culture and Art at the Open Society Foundations. She organized the Arts Forum: Art, Public Space, and Closing Societies and helped to design and launch the Soros Arts Fellowship.
Eric Berlow
Dr. Eric L. Berlow is ‘data ecologist’. Academically trained in ecology, computational statistics, complexity science, and network theory, Eric works with social mission organizations, investors, and philanthropists to use data for good. He is the CEO of Vibrant Data Labs, an Emerson Collective Climate Fellow, a TED Senior Fellow, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, and a National Science Foundation Fellow.
Peter Schwartzstein
Peter Schwartzstein is an environmental journalist who reports on water, food security, and particularly the conflict-climate nexus across some 30 countries in the Middle East and Africa. His work regularly appears in National Geographic, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, and the BBC. He is a TED Fellow, a Global Fellow at The Wilson Center, and a non-resident research fellow at the Center for Climate & Security.
Hong Hoang
Hong Hoang is one of the key people in Vietnam’s climate movement. She is the founder and leader of CHANGE, a Vietnamese nonprofit that for the past 10 years has worked tirelessly to address the country’s most critical environmental challenges through strategic communications, community empowerment, and cross-sector partnership. Hong is an Obama Foundation Scholar.
Farwiza Farhan
Farwiza Farhan is a marine biologist and forest conservationist seeking to protect and restore the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh, Indonesia. Farwiza’s work ranges from focusing on ground level species protection to high-level advocacy and campaigning. In addition, she and her team also bring the fight for nature into the courtrooms. Farwiza is a 2021 TED Fellow; in 2022, TIME magazine named her a leader in the Time100 list.
Ernestine Leikeki Sevidzem
Ernestine Leikeki Sevidzem is a founding member of the Cameroon Gender and Environment Watch. She builds the capacity of women and youth to protect nature; and also advocates for women’s inclusion and leadership in natural resource management, as well as women's right to education and employment. In 2021, Ernestine was recognized in BBC’s ranking 100 Women of the Year.
Thomas Coombes
Thomas Coombes is the founder of hope-based comms – a new philosophy for social impact communications. As a human rights strategist and communications trainer, he helps civil society groups develop practical narrative change strategies. Thomas used to be Head of Brand and Deputy Communications Director at Amnesty International, but left to form a new collective for people who want to make a positive case for social change.
Yana Buhrer Tavanier
Yana Buhrer Tavanier is the co-founder and Executive Director of Fine Acts. Before, she co-founded TimeHeroes.org; and was an award-winning investigative journalist. Yana has BA in communications and MA in political science from Sofia University, along with executive education at Harvard, Yale, and Oxford Universities, and NTU-Singapore. She is a TED Senior Fellow, a Fulbright Scholar, a WEF Young Global Leader, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Julie Freeman
Julie Freeman is an artist who translates complex processes and data into a variety of art forms. Her work has been exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. Julie has won awards from the Wellcome Trust, Arts Council, and is a TED Senior Fellow. She holds a PhD from Queen Mary University of London and founded the Open Data Institute’s art programme in 2012. Julie is co-founder of Fine Acts, and leads the Translating Nature studio.
Pavel Kounchev
Pavel Kounchev is Fine Acts’ co-founder, Chair of the Board, and special projects advisor. He is a social entrepreneur with a strong background in advertising and marketing. He is also the co-founder and Board Member of TimeHeroes.org, the largest volunteering platform in Bulgaria. Pavel is one of the 12 inaugural Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University. He is a Forbes Bulgaria 30 Under 30 all-time ‘Hall of Fame’ member, a WEF Global Shaper, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Svetla Baeva
Svetla Baeva is Fine Acts’ Campaigns Director. She is a human rights activist with an academic background in communications and political science, who has devoted the last 10+ years to championing issues concerning women's, LGBTI, refugee, minority and children's rights. Svetla is also co-founder and CEO of Power Pops, a company dedicated to supporting social change through popsicles. WEF Global Shaper. Fulbright Scholar at Change.org.
Ana Alexieva
Ana Alexieva is Fine Acts’ Programs Director. She is a cultural and art manager with a background in international documentary film production. A graduate in media and gender studies from Ruhr University Bochum and Utrecht University, Ana is Fellow of Friedrich Ebert Foundation, YTILI and Mercator Stiftung, a WEF Global Shaper, and a G-20 Young Global Changer. Selected for Forbes Bulgaria 30 under 30, and Emerging Producers IDFF Jihlava.