Finding the Magic in the Machine & Earth Calling Basingstoke

Artistic expression that involves technology can be a quite challenging affair. Is building tools just an exhausting necessity or an essential part of the artistic process? What is the relationship between intuition and engineering? How to judge the artistic outcome? Robert Henke, a Berlin based composer and audiovisual artist presents a selection of recent works and talks about his ideas, concepts and struggles. Henke has been involved with Ableton LIVE software development since it's inception. He is currently teaching a course in computer music at Stanford University. 

Speaker: Robert Henke

At 8:00 PM:

Join filmmaker and TED Senior Fellow Taghi Amirani in this special presentation of Earth Calling Basingstoke ( 50min ), an affectionate film exploring the lives and extraterrestrial activities of British amateur astronomers. Made for the UK Channel 4 science series Equinox, Basingstoke is Taghi's debut as director. He has since made 40 films, including the 1994 BBC series The Jupiter Collisionabout the historic crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into planet Jupiter.

The event will kick off with a brief talk by Taghi about how his time as a physics undergraduate led to switching from physics to filmmaking and the production of Earth Calling Basingstoke.

Taghi is a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of B612 Foundation. In February 2013 he was the first recipient of the TED Fellows Hero Award.

After the film, Taghi will answer questions from the audience.