Google's Art Project Launches Art Talk with The Museum of Modern Art

Google's Art Project kicks off their Art Talk series of Google+ Hangouts at The Museum of Modern Art. In this talk learn how to teach art online from MoMA's experts. Guest speakers include Deborah Howes, Director of Digital Learning, Pablo Helguera, Director of Adult and Academic Programs, Doug Brannon, artist and Corey D'Augustine, online course student and artist and MoMA educator.

​The next talk is from London. On March 20, Caroline Campbell and Arnika Schmidt from the National Gallery will discuss depictions of the female nude. Details are available on the Art Project’s event page. In April they’ll host a panel examining one of the Google Art Project’s popular gigapixel works, Bruegel’s “Tower of Babel,” featuring Peter Parshall, curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Additional talks are planned by curators from high-profile institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico and the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar. 

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Storytelling Across Platforms: J.J. Abrams And Gabe Newell

In a fun back-and-forth conversation two of my favorite producers, J.J. Abrams, film and Gabe Newell, games, give the keynote speech at the 2013 D.I.C.E. SUMMIT and discuss how different platforms change storytelling. 

Jad Abumrad: How Did Radiolab Happen? Gut Churn

What's gut churn? At the 99U Conference, Radiolab creator and host Jad Abumrad describes it as the radical uncertainty that's a core part of any creative process that really pushes the envelope. You're entering unknown territory, and working without a map.

Using examples from Radiolab's own evolution, Jad shares the benefits of negative feedback and how we can look out for "pointing arrows" that can help guide our work (even when it hurts).

Jad Abumrad is the host and creator of Radiolab, which reaches roughly 2 million people per month. He's been called a "master of the radio craft" for his unique ability to combine cutting edge sound-design, cinematic storytelling and a personal approach to explaining complex topics, from the stochasticity of tumor cells to musical languages to the mathematics of morality. Jad studied creative writing and music composition at Oberlin College in Ohio. He composes much of the music for Radiolab, and in the past has composed music for film, theater and dance.

In 2011, Radiolab received a Peabody Award, the highest honor in broadcasting, and Jad received the prestigious MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship.

The School of Life: Mark Earls on Copying and Originality

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation", said Oscar Wilde. Today we too prize individuality and originality almost above everything else. We lionise the solitary genius or the promethean hero who overcomes all the odds to force their unique vision on the world. We fetishize the unique, the one-off – in art and music, politics and every aspect of our lives.

But this cult of the original is very recent in human history, and a minority one at that. Even today most cultures don’t share it. It also happens to be very one-eyed: it's increasingly clear that much of our success as a species stems from the heartily unoriginal, and much of our lives as individuals depends on learning or stealing ideas from others. We are Homo mimicus.

Mark Earls, at a The School of Life's Secular Sunday Sermon, will explore the lie of originality in all its aspects and show the value of "social learning" (copying, to you and me) to help us put unoriginality back in its rightful place. And of course most of what he says will be other people's ideas.

Keith Yamashita: Greatness And Creativity

When your team is faced with adversity does it stand strong and act boldly or does it crumble under pressure? Based on his work with over 1000 teams, Keith Yamashita shares his insights about great collaborative environments including: have an awareness beyond your day-to-day, respect the unique talents of your team members, and actively cultivate meaningful one-on-one relationships.  

For the past two decades Yamashita, the most influential consultant you've never heard of, has worked alongside CEOs and their leadership teams to define — and then attain — greatness for their institutions. He has worked with leaders at Apple, IBM, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, eBay, Nike, and Gap, among others.