ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aparna Rao - Artist
A part of the Bangalore-based artist duo Pors & Rao, TED Senior Fellow Aparna Rao works with electro-mechanical systems and interactive installations.

Why you should listen

With the clever use of technology, TED Fellow Aparna Rao creates art installations that let people experience familiar objects and interactions in refreshingly humorous ways. From her sound-sensative "Pygmies" to her 2-person "Uncle Phone," Rao's work encourages participation rather than spectatorship. By combining high-tech and high-art, she imbues her creations with playful expression and quirky behaviors.

Rao studied at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India, and at Interaction Design Institute in Italy. In 2005 she partnered with Soren Pors and they've worked in collaboration ever since as Pors & Rao.

More profile about the speaker
Aparna Rao | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Aparna Rao: High-tech art (with a sense of humor)

Aparna Rai: Arti i teknologjise se larte (me sens humori)

Filmed:
951,514 views

Artistja dhe ndjekësja e Ted-it Aparna Rao ri-imagjinon familjaret e saj ne surprize, shpeshhere në menyr satirike. Me bashkepunimin e Soren Pors, Rao krijon iluzjone në artin e teknologjis se larte. Një shkrues që dërgon imejla, nje kamer e cila përcjell dhomen vetem për t'ju bëre juve të padukshum në ekran --kjo e ben rrotullimin e objekteve dhe interaksionet shume te këndëshme.
- Artist
A part of the Bangalore-based artist duo Pors & Rao, TED Senior Fellow Aparna Rao works with electro-mechanical systems and interactive installations. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
Hi. Today, I'm going to take you through glimpses
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Përshendetje, Sot do t'ju tregoj rreth te kaluares
00:17
of about eight of my projects,
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rreth tetë projekteve te mia,
00:19
done in collaboration with Danish artist Soren Pors.
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te realizuara ne bashkepunim me artisten Daneze Soren Pors.
00:22
We call ourselves Pors and Rao,
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Ne e quajme vetveten Pors dhe Rao,
00:24
and we live and work in India.
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dhe ne jetojmë dhe punojme në Indi.
00:26
I'd like to begin with my very first object,
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Dëshiroj të filloj me objektin tim të parë,
00:29
which I call "The Uncle Phone."
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të cilin e quaj " Telefoni i xhaxhait."
00:31
And it was inspired by my uncle's peculiar habit
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Dhe është i inspiruar nga shprehija e keqe e xhaxhait tim
00:34
of constantly asking me to do things for him,
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i cili vazhdimisht me kerkonte mua për t'ja bërë gjerat atij,
00:36
almost like I were an extension of his body --
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sikurse te ishte nje zgjatje e trupit te tij --
00:38
to turn on the lights or to bring him a glass of water,
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për ti fikur dritat ose për ti sjellur atij një got me uje,
00:40
a pack of cigarettes.
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nje pako me cigare.
00:42
And as I grew up, it became worse and worse,
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Dhe nderkohe qe rritesha, u be keq e më keq,
00:44
And I started to think of it as a form of control.
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dhe fillova të mendoj për ate si nje forme e kontrollit.
00:46
But of course, I could never say anything,
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Sigurisht unë nuk mund të thoja asgjë,
00:48
because the uncle is a respected figure
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sepse xhaxhai është një figure e respektushme
00:50
in the Indian family.
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në një familje Indiane.
00:52
And the situation that irked me and mystified me the most
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Mirepo situata e cila me irritonte mua me se shumti
00:55
was his use of a landline telephone.
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ishte përdorimi i telefonit të shtëpis.
00:57
He would hold on to the receiver and expect me to dial a number for him.
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Ai e mbante receptorin ne pritje dhe priste nga mua qe te shtypja numrat për të.
01:00
And so as a response and as a gift to my uncle,
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Dhe si përgjigje e si një dhurat për xhaxhain tim,
01:03
I made him "The Uncle Phone."
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I bëra atij "Telefonin e xhaxhait."
01:05
It's so long that it requires two people to use it.
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Eshtë aq i gjat saqe i nevojiten dy persona per ta perdorur ate.
01:08
It's exactly the way my uncle uses a phone that's designed for one person.
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Eshte saktesisht menyra qe xhaxhai im perdorte telefonin qe ishte i dizajnuar per nje person.
01:12
But the problem is that, when I left home and went to college,
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PO problemi ishte se kur une e lija shtepine dhe shkoja ne kolegj,
01:15
I started missing his commands.
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fillova te humbja komandat e tij.
01:17
And so I made him a golden typewriter
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Dhe keshtu qe bëra nje shkruarese te artë
01:19
through which he could dispense his commands
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me të cilen ai mundte ti jepte komandat e tij
01:21
to nephews and nieces around the world as an email.
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për nipërit dhe mbesat rreth botes si një e-mail.
01:24
So what he had to do was take a piece of paper, roll it into the carriage,
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Cfare ai duhet te bente ishte te merrte nje cop leter, ta fuste ne makine,
01:27
type his email or command and pull the paper out.
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te shkruante e-mailin ose komandat dhe te nxirrte letren jasht.
01:30
This device would automatically send the intended person
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Paisja automatikisht do te dergonte personin e duhur
01:33
the letter as an email.
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letren si nje e-mail.
01:35
So here you can see, we embedded a lot of electronics
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Kështu që këtu mund të shihni, ne kemi mbledhur shum elektronika
01:38
that understands all of the mechanical actions
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te cilat kuptojne të gjitha proceset mekanike
01:40
and converts it to digital.
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dhe i konverton ato ne digitale.
01:42
So my uncle is only dealing with a mechanical interface.
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Kështu qe xhaxhai im është përsoni i vetem i cili ka nje paisje mekanike.
01:45
And of course, the object had to be very grand and have a sense of ritualism,
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Dhe sigurisht objektet duhet te ishin shume te medha dhe te kishin sens te ritualizmit,
01:48
the way my uncle likes it.
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mënyre të cilen xhaxhai im e pëlqente.
01:50
The next work is a sound-sensitive installation
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Projekti tjeter është një iluzion senzitiv i zërit
01:53
that we affectionately call "The Pygmies."
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e cili do të afilijoj te quajturen "renditje".
01:56
And we wanted to work with a notion of being
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Dhe ne dëshironim të punonim me nocionin e mirqenies
01:58
surrounded by a tribe of very shy, sensitive and sweet creatures.
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rrethuar nga nje fis shum i turpshum, sensitiv dhe krijes te këndëshme.
02:02
So how it works is we have these panels, which we have on the wall,
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Keshtu qe si punon, ne kemi këto panele te cilat i kemi vendosur ne mure,
02:05
and behind them, we have these little creatures which hide.
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dhe mbrapa tyre, i kemi keto krijesa te cilet fshihen.
02:08
And as soon as it's silent, they sort of creep out.
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Dhe per aq shpejt sa behet qetësi ato zhduken.
02:11
And if it's even more silent, they stretch their necks out.
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Dhe nëse është edhe me qetësi ato i ulin krahet e tyre.
02:13
And at the slightest sound, they hide back again.
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Dhe tek kjo qetësi absolute ato fshihen prap mbrapa.
02:16
So we had these panels on three walls of a room.
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Keshtu qe ne i kemi keto panele ne tri muret e dhomes.
02:19
And we had over 500 of these little pygmies hiding behind them.
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Kështu qe kemi mbi 500 pygemija te vogla te fshehura nën to.
02:22
So this is how it works.
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Ja se si punon.
02:24
This is a video prototype.
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Kjo është nje video prototip
02:26
So when it's quiet, it's sort of coming out from behind the panels.
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Kur është qetësi, eshte nje lloj qe vjen mbrapa paneleve.
02:29
And they hear like humans do, or real creatures do.
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Dhe ato dëgjojnë sikurse njerzit dëgjojnë ose krijesat tjera.
02:31
So they get immune to sounds that scare them after awhile.
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Kështu që ato bëhen imune tek zëri i cili i frikson pastaj.
02:34
And they don't react to background sounds.
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Dhe ato nuk reagojn tek zerat ne prapavijë.
02:37
You'll hear a train in moment that they don't react to.
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Ju do të dëgjoni një tren në moment të cilat nuk do të reagojne.
02:40
(Noise)
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(Zhurme)
02:42
But they react to foreground sounds. You'll hear that in a second.
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Mirepo ato reagojn tek zeri ne shkuarje. Do ta dëgjoni në një sekond.
02:45
(Whistling)
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(Fershellima)
02:50
So we worked very hard
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Kemi punuar shum
02:52
to make them as lifelike as possible.
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për ti bër ato sikuse te jene të gjalla
02:56
So each pygmy has its own behavior, psyche,
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Secila pygmij ka sjelljen e saj,
02:58
mood swings, personalities and so on.
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humorin, krahet, personalitetin e saj e keshtu me rradhe.
03:01
So this is a very early prototype.
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Pra ky është nje prototip shum i hershem.
03:03
Of course, it got much better after that.
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Sigurisht u be me i përsosur pastaj.
03:05
And we made them react to people,
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Dhe i bëme ato që të reagojn tek njerëzit,
03:07
but we found that people were being quite playful and childlike with them.
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dhe ne e zbuluam se njerëzit u ben shum te qet dhe fëminorë me to.
03:11
This is a video installation called "The Missing Person."
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Kjo është nje video instalacioni i quajtur "Përsoni i humbur".
03:14
And we were quite intrigued
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Kemi qen mjaftë intrigues
03:16
with playing with the notion of invisibility.
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duke luajtur me nocionin e zhdukshmëris.
03:18
How would it be possible to experience a sense of invisibility?
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Si do të ishte e mundur të eksperimentonim me një sens të zhdukshmëris?
03:21
So we worked with a company
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Punuam me një kompani
03:23
that specializes in camera surveillance,
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e cilia është e specializuar ne mbulueshmeri te aparateve,
03:25
and we asked them to develop a piece of software with us,
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dhe i kerkuam atyre të zhvillonin nje cop programi per ne,
03:28
using a camera
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duke përdorue një aparat
03:30
that could look at people in the room, track them
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e cila mund ti shikonte njerëzit në dhome, ti përcillte ata
03:32
and replace one person with the background, rendering them invisible.
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dhe te zevendësonte një përson me prapavijen, ti renderonte ata dhe ti zhdukte.
03:35
So I'm just going to show you a very early prototype.
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Pra une do 'ju shfaq tani një show shum të hershem.
03:38
On the right side you can see my colleague Soren,
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Ne krahun e djathtë timin mund të shihni kolegun tim Soren,
03:40
who's actually in the space.
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i cili është ne hapsir.
03:42
And on the left side, you'll see the processed video
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Dhe ne krahun e majte ju do të shihni vidion e perpunuar
03:44
where the camera has made him invisible.
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ku aparati e ka bërë atë të zhdukshem.
03:47
Soren enters the room. Pop! He goes invisible.
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Soren hyn në dhom. Paf ! Ai u bë i padukshum.
03:50
And you can see that the camera is tracking him and erasing.
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Ju mundeni ta shihni ate se kamera eshte duke e perciellur dhe shlyer ate.
03:53
It's a very early video,
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Eshtë video shum e hershme,
03:55
so we haven't yet dealt with the overlap and all of that,
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kështu që akoma nuk e kemi persosur te gjithe atë,
03:57
but that got refined pretty soon, later.
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mirepo u përmisua shum shpejt më vone.
04:00
So how we used it was in a room where we had a camera looking into the space,
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Keshtu qe kur e perdorem ate në një dhome ku kishte nje aparat e cila shikonte në hapesir,
04:03
and we had one monitor, one on each wall.
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dhe kishim një ekran ne secilin mur.
04:06
And as people walked into the room,
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dhe kur njerëzit sapo futeshin në dhome,
04:08
they would see themselves in the monitor, except with one difference:
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shihnin veten ne ekran, vetem me nje diferenc:
04:11
one person was constantly invisible
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një person ishte vazhdimisht i zhdukur
04:13
wherever they moved in the room.
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kudo që lëviznin nëpër dhom.
04:15
So this is a work called "The Sun Shadow."
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Pra kjo eshte nje pune e quajtur " Hija e diellit".
04:17
And it was almost like a sheet of paper,
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Dhe ishte sikurse nje cop leter,
04:20
like a cutout of a childlike drawing
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si nje copez leter e nje femije duke vizatuar
04:22
of an oil spill or a sun.
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ose nje rrotullim i diellit.
04:24
And from the front, this object appeared to be very strong and robust,
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Dhe nga përpara ky objekt u shfaq te jet shum i fort,
04:27
and from the side, it almost seemed very weak.
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dhe nga anash, u duk shume i dobet.
04:30
So people would walking into the room and they'd almost ignore it,
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Kështu qe nejrëzit do hynin në dhom dhe pothuajse do ta injoronin atë,
04:33
thinking it was some crap laying around.
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sikurse te ishte nje gje e parendesishme rreth tyre.
04:35
But as soon as they passed by,
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Por sa me shpejt te kishin kaluar,
04:37
it would start to climb up the wall in jerky fashion.
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do të fillon të ngjiteshin nëpër muri ne nje menu të cuditshme.
04:39
And it would get exhausted, and it would collapse every time.
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Do të lodhej dhe do te binte posht cdohere.
04:42
(Laughter)
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(Te qeshura)
04:44
So this work
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Pra kjo punë
04:46
is a caricature of an upside-down man.
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është një karikatur e një njeriu posht-lart.
04:48
His head is so heavy, full of heavy thoughts,
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koka e tij është shume e rënde, e mbushur me mendime te rënda,
04:50
that it's sort of fallen into his hat,
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është sikurse eshte duke rënë në kapelen e tij,
04:52
and his body's grown out of him almost like a plant.
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dhe trupi i tij eshte i rritur jashte sikurse te jet një planet.
04:54
Well what he does is he moves around
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Ajo cfare ai bënë është qe leviz rreth e qark
04:56
in a very drunken fashion on his head
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sikurse një pijanec i kohes
04:58
in a very unpredictable and extremely slow movement.
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në një mënyr shum të papredikuar dhe ekstreme të lëvizjeve të ngadalshme
05:01
And it's kind of constrained by that circle.
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Dhe është një lloj konstanteje ne qarkullim.
05:04
Because if that circle weren't there, and the floor was very even,
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Sepse ai rrotullim nuk do te ishte atje dhe dyshemeja ishte shume e afte,
05:07
it would start to wander about in the space.
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do të fillonte të endej diku në hapesire.
05:09
And there's no wires.
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Dhe nuk ka ndonje tel.
05:11
So I'll just show you an instance --
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Kështu që une do t'ju shfaq një shembull --
05:13
so when people enter the room, it activates this object.
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keshtu qe kur njerëzit hynë në dhom, e aktivizojne objektin.
05:15
And it very slowly, over a few minutes,
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Dhe është shume e ngadalte, pas disa minutave,
05:17
sort of painfully goes up,
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ngadal ngadal ngjitet lart,
05:19
and then it gains momentum
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dhe pas ca momenteve
05:21
and it looks like it's almost about to fall.
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dhe duket se po bie posht.
05:23
And this is an important moment,
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Dhe ky është një moment i rëndësishem,
05:25
because we wanted to instill in the viewer
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sepse ne dëshironim qe kur shikuesi te ishte ne ate drejtim
05:27
an instinct to almost go and help, or save the subject.
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instiktivisht do të shkonte ta ndihmonte ose ruante subjektin.
05:29
But it doesn't really need it,
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Por ne fakt nuk ka nevoje per ndihme,
05:31
because it, again, sort of manages to pull itself up.
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sepse prap vet e menaxhonte ngritjen pa nevojen e ndonjë njeriu.
05:34
So this work was a real technical challenge for us,
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Pra kjo pune me të vertet ka qen shume e vështir për ne,
05:37
and we worked very hard, like most of our works, over years
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dhe ne punuam shume, gati shumicen e punes tone për disa vjet
05:40
to get the mechanics right and the equilibrium and the dynamics.
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për të bërë punen mekanike ne rregull dhe për të mbajtur ekuilibrimin dhe dinamiken.
05:43
And it was very important for us
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Dhe ka qene shume e rëndësishme për ne
05:45
to establish the exact moment that it would fall,
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për të zhvilluar momentin ekzakt në të cilin dëshiron të rrëzohet,
05:48
because if we made it in a way that it would topple over,
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sepse po e mbajtem në një mënyr të cilen të binte posht,
05:51
then it would damage itself,
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do të dëmtonte vetveten,
05:53
and if it didn't fall enough, it wouldn't instill that fatalism,
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dhe po te mos binte mjaftueshum, nuk do te rrenjosnin ate fanatizem,
05:56
or that sense of wanting to go and help it.
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ose sensin qe i ben njërezit për të shkuar dhe per ti ndihmuar.
05:58
So I'm going to show you a very quick video
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Keshtu qe do t'ju shfaq juve një video te shkurter
06:00
where we are doing a test scenario -- it's much faster.
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ku ne jemi duke bere një testim -- është shum me e shpejte.
06:02
That's my colleague. He's let it go.
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Ky është kolegu im. Do te le te bie.
06:04
Now he's getting nervous, so he's going to go catch it.
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Tani po behet nervoz, pra do te shkoj dhe ta kap atë.
06:06
But he doesn't need to,
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Por ai nuk ka nevoj,
06:08
because it manages to lift itself up on its own.
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sepse ja arrin vete të ngrihet pa nevojen e askujt.
06:10
So this is a work that we were very intrigued with,
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Kjo është punë e cila është shum intriguese per ne,
06:13
working with the aesthetic of fur
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te punosh me estetiken e katert
06:15
embedded with thousands of tiny different sizes
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te mbuluar me mijra madhësi të ndryshme
06:18
of fiber optics, which twinkle like the night sky.
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te fijeve optike, te cilat jan te lidhura sikurse nyjet e qiellit.
06:21
And it's at the scale of the night sky.
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Dhe e tera eshte sikurse madhësia e nje nate të kaltert.
06:23
So we wrapped this around a blob-like form,
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Kështu që ne u mblodhem se bashku ne nje forme
06:25
which is in the shape of a teddy bear,
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në formen e nje ariu,
06:27
which was hanging from the ceiling.
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te cilen ishte duke e mbajtur nga koka
06:29
And the idea was to sort of contrast
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Dhe ideja ishte te konstruktonim
06:31
something very cold and distant and abstract like the universe
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dicka shum te ftohte dhe abstrakte sikurse universi
06:34
into the familiar form of a teddy bear,
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në një forme familjare te ariut te butë,
06:36
which is very comforting and intimate.
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i cili është shumë i ngrohte dhe intim.
06:38
And the idea was that at some point
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Dhe ideja ishte që në atë pike
06:40
you would stop looking at the form of a teddy bear
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ju do te ndalonit se shikuari formen e ariut te bute
06:42
and you would almost perceive it to be a hole in the space,
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dhe ju do te perfytyroni sikurse te jet nje gjithësi,
06:45
and as if you were looking out into the twinkling night sky.
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dhe po te jeni duke shiquar jasht në qiellin e qiltert
06:49
So this is the last work, and a work in progress,
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pra ky ishte puna e fundit dhe puna ne vazhdueshmeri
06:51
and it's called "Space Filler."
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dhe e quajtem " Filtrimi hapsinor"
06:53
Well imagine a small cube that's about this big
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Pra imagjinon nje kub te vogel po te kësaj madhësie
06:55
standing in front of you in the middle of the room,
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te qendroj para teje në mes të nje dhome
06:57
and as you approached it, it tried to intimidate you
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dhe ju sapo te ju afroheni , ai provon t'ju tremb juve
07:00
by growing into a cube
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duke u rritur në një kub
07:02
that's twice its height and [eight] times its volume.
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sa dyfishi i peshes dhe kater fishi i volumit.
07:05
And so this object is constantly expanding and contracting
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Dhe objekti vazhdimisht duket i zgjeruar dhe i konstruktuar
07:08
to create a dynamic with people moving around it --
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per te krijuar nje dinamik me njerzit te cilet levizin rreth tij --
07:10
almost like it were trying
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sikurse te ishte duke provuar
07:12
to conceal a secret within its seams or something.
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fshehjen e nje sekreti me nje tegull apo dicka.
07:14
So we work with a lot of technology,
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Pra punuam me shum teknologji,
07:17
but we don't really love technology,
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po ne nuk e duam me te vertet teknologjin,
07:19
because it gives us a lot of pain in our work over years and years.
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sepse na jep shum dhimbje ne punen tone nëper vite dhe vite.
07:22
But we use it because we're interested
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Por ne e perdorim ate sepse ne jemi te interesuar
07:24
in the way that it can help us
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ne menyren te cilen na ndihmon neve
07:26
to express the emotions and behavioral patterns
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te shfaqim emocionet dhe sjelljet
07:29
in these creatures that we create.
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ne keto krijesa te cilet ne i krijojmë.
07:31
And once a creature pops into our minds,
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Dhe sapo nje krijes te shfaqet ne koken tonë,
07:33
it's almost like the process of creation
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është sikurse një proces i krijeses
07:35
is to discover the way this creature really wants to exist
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është sikurse te zbulosh menyren se si ato krijesa dëshirojn të eksistojnë
07:38
and what form it wants to take and what way it wants to move.
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dhe cfare forme dëshirojnë të marrin dhe cfare menyre dëshirojne të lëvizin.
07:40
Thank you.
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Faliminderit
07:42
(Applause)
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(Duartrokitje)
Translated by Liridon Shala
Reviewed by Amantia Gjikondi

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aparna Rao - Artist
A part of the Bangalore-based artist duo Pors & Rao, TED Senior Fellow Aparna Rao works with electro-mechanical systems and interactive installations.

Why you should listen

With the clever use of technology, TED Fellow Aparna Rao creates art installations that let people experience familiar objects and interactions in refreshingly humorous ways. From her sound-sensative "Pygmies" to her 2-person "Uncle Phone," Rao's work encourages participation rather than spectatorship. By combining high-tech and high-art, she imbues her creations with playful expression and quirky behaviors.

Rao studied at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India, and at Interaction Design Institute in Italy. In 2005 she partnered with Soren Pors and they've worked in collaboration ever since as Pors & Rao.

More profile about the speaker
Aparna Rao | Speaker | TED.com

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