TED Talks
TED: every piece of art you've ever wanted to see -- up close and searchable | Amit Sood
What does a cultural Big Bang look like? For Amit Sood, director of Google's Cultural Institute and Art Project, it's an online platform where anyone can explore the world's greatest collections of art and artifacts in vivid, lifelike...
TED Talks
Dessa: Can we choose to fall out of love?
What's the best way to get over heartbreak? Rapper and writer Dessa came up with an unconventional approach after a chance viewing of Helen Fisher's TED Talk about the brains of the lovestruck. In a wryly funny talk, she describes how...
TED Talks
Uldus Bakhtiozina: Wry photos that turn stereotypes upside down
Artist Uldus Bakhtiozina uses photographs to poke fun at societal norms in her native Russia. A glimpse into Russian youth culture and a short, fun reminder not to take ourselves too seriously.
TED Talks
Hasan Elahi: FBI, here I am!
After he ended up on a watch list by accident, Hasan Elahi was advised by his local FBI agents to let them know when he was traveling. He did that and more ... much more.
Crash Course
Modern Thought and Culture in 1900: Crash Course European History
Europe was in transition politically and culturally at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, we're looking at the dawn of modern science, and the rise of Modernism in the arts, especially in music, dance, and visual arts. We'll look...
Crash Course
Florence and the Renaissance: Crash Course European History
The Renaissance was a cultural revitalization that spread across Europe, and had repercussions across the globe, but one smallish city-state in Italy was in many ways the epicenter of the thing. Florence, or as Italians might say,...
TED Talks
How theater weathers wars, outlasts empires and survives pandemics | Cara Greene Epstein
When catastrophe strikes, art prevails -- and has done so for centuries. In this fascinating talk, writer and director Cara Greene Epstein places the closing of theaters during the coronavirus pandemic in a historical context, exploring...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Dissecting Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi - James Earle
The scene of the three wise men offering gifts to a newborn Jesus was widely painted during the Renaissance era, so how did painter Sandro Botticelli create a version that's still well known today? James Earle describes who and what set...
TED Talks
Phil Borges: Photos of endangered cultures
Photographer Phil Borges shows rarely seen images of people from the mountains of Dharamsala, India, and the jungles of the Ecuadorean Amazon. In documenting these endangered cultures, he intends to help preserve them.
TED Talks
Yana Buhrer Tavanier: How to recover from activism burnout
When you're feeling burned out as an activist, what's the best way to bounce back? TED Senior Fellow Yana Buhrer Tavanier explores the power of "playtivism" -- the incorporation of play and creativity into movements for social change....
TED Talks
TED: Why are these 32 symbols found in ancient caves all over europe? | Genevieve von Petzinger
Written language, the hallmark of human civilization, didn't just suddenly appear one day. Thousands of years before the first fully developed writing systems, our ancestors scrawled geometric signs across the walls of the caves they...
Crash Course
Aesthetics: Crash Course Philosophy
How do art and morality intersect? Today we look at an ethically questionable work of art and discuss R. G. Collingwood’s view that art is best when it helps us live better lives. We’ll go over Aristotle’s concept of catharsis and how it...
TED Talks
TED: An artist's unflinching look at racial violence | Sanford Biggers
Conceptual artist and TED Fellow Sanford Biggers uses painting, sculpture, video and performance to spark challenging conversations about the history and trauma of black America. Join him as he details two compelling works and shares the...
TED Talks
Tom Shannon: Anti-gravity sculpture
Tom Shannon shows off his gravity-defying, otherworldly sculpture -- made of simple, earthly materials -- that floats and spins like planets on magnets and suspension wire. It's science-inspired art at its most heavenly.
TED Talks
TED: How we'll find life on other planets | Aomawa Shields
Astronomer Aomawa Shields searches for clues that life might exist elsewhere in the universe by examining the atmospheres of distant exoplanets. When she isn't exploring the heavens, the classically trained actor (and TED Fellow) looks...
TED Talks
Marc Pachter: The art of the interview
Marc Pachter has conducted live interviews with some of the most intriguing characters in recent American history as part of a remarkable series created for the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. He reveals the secret to a great...
TED Talks
Manuel Lima: A visual history of human knowledge
How does knowledge grow? Sometimes it begins with one insight and grows into many branches; other times it grows as a complex and interconnected network. Infographics expert Manuel Lima explores the thousand-year history of mapping data...
TED Talks
TED: The playful wonderland behind great inventions | Steven Johnson
Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Well, not always. Steven Johnson shows us how some of the most transformative ideas and technologies, like the computer, didn't emerge out of necessity at all but instead from the strange...
TED Talks
Béatrice Coron: Stories cut from paper
With scissors and paper, artist Béatrice Coron creates intricate worlds, cities and countries, heavens and hells. Striding onstage in a glorious cape cut from Tyvek, she describes her creative process and the way her stories develop from...
TED Talks
TED: What it feels like to see earth from space | Benjamin Grant
What the astronauts felt when they saw earth from space changed them forever. Author and artist Benjamin Grant aims to provoke this same feeling of overwhelming scale and beauty in each of us through a series of stunning satellite images...
TED Talks
TED: The art of paying attention | Wendy MacNaughton
In an invitation to slow down and look at the world around you, graphic journalist Wendy MacNaughton illustrates how drawing can spark deeply human, authentic connections. Ready to try? Grab a pencil and join MacNaughton for this...
TED Talks
TED: A photographic journey through the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan | Kiana Hayeri
Exposing what life looks like in Afghanistan after a 20-year US occupation and the Taliban's stunning and rapid takeover, TED Fellow and documentary photographer Kiana Hayeri captures harrowing glimpses and multifaceted realities of a...
TED Talks
TED: An art made of trust, vulnerability and connection | Marina Abramovic
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Marina Abramovi's art pushes the boundary between audience and artist in pursuit of heightened consciousness and...
TED Talks
TED: Live drawings of the human experience | Jarrett J. Krosoczka
In this live drawing performance and poignant autobiographical journey, author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka sketches some life-shaping moments, showing us how drawing and storytelling can help us honor and remain close to those...