TEDxPatras is the first local, self-organized standard TEDx event organized in Western Greece. It aims to highlight and promote the idea of TED to the regions’ audience, by transmitting, through the speakers, inspiration and motivation for exploring alternative and innovative ideologies. More about TEDxPatras: www.tedxpatras.com Facebook: tedxpatras Twitter: tedx_patras Instagram: tedxpatras Costas Varotsos was born in Athens in 1955. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, and at the Pescara University of Architecture. In 1990, he went to study in New York as a Fulbright scholar. He is currently living in Athens, and works as a professor of visual arts at the University of Thessaloniki. He has performed in more than twenty solo exhibitions in Greece, Cyprus and in Italy, and has participated in more than fifty group exhibitions in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Belgium, and in Germany. In 1987, along with other Greek artists, he represented Greece at the Biennale of Sao Paulo, and participated in two consecutive Biennale of Venice in 1993 and 1995, as part of parallel exhibitions of the central event. In 1999, he represented Greece (along with two young artists, D. Stratou and E. Tandila) at the Biennale of Venice. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx