We found ourselves out in Palm Springs during Modernism Week for a short bit. Caught up with our friends at de LaB and visited a few new spots…. Workshop Kitchen + Bar, The Dwell Pop Up at The Raymond Lawrence Gallery, and the highlight of our trip, a night at The Saguaro Hotel Palm Springs. The colors tell it all.

We are settling back in to LA after a great week out in the desert for TEDActive. What an amazing invitation it was to spend the week out in Palm Springs setting up the Poketo Shop for TED. Not only that, but to have the opportunity to listen and dive in to all of the TED 2011 talks while mixing in a little fun at the same time… it doesn’t get much better.

After three days of mind blowing talks, everyone was ready to bust out… and just in time for the TEDActive party out in the desert. We hopped on a bus, drove about 30 minutes out to the middle of nowhere, to a strange, old western town. This was not a genuine relic of the past, but, rather a town built like it was back in the dusty, saloon days. Although, with music by Dublab, a dance performance by Ryan Heffington and his crew, a karaoke RV truck on standby, jeep rides in the moonlit desert, and food galore… we experienced a world far from the wild west.

photo: Michael Brands/TED

photo: Michael Brands/TED

photo: Michael Brands/TED

photo: Michael Brands/TED

By the way, the last two days of TED and TEDActive were amazing… highlights included talks from Roger Ebert, John Hunter, Kathryn Schulz, Stanley McChrystal, Kate Hartman, Eli Pariser, Janet Echelman, and more. Last but not least, a finale that captured the attention of just about everyone… a water ballet by Aqualillies. This is probably what it was like in Palm Spring 1950. Take me back… now.

We’re here in Palm Springs this whole week for TEDActive, taking in all of the 2011 TED Talks. It has been non stop talks since yesterday and we are now taking in Day 2. As I write this, Bill Gates is introducing innovators for the Knowledge Revolution. More on that later, but, first want to give a few of our favorite, most inspiring talks from yesterday.

Designer Thomas Heatherwick shared some amazing projects, mostly focusing on his green architecture projects. This piece really stood out. Those are living plants growing out of this building!

Music conductor Eric Whitacre creates virtual choirs via YouTube. Through auditions via the web, he is currently working on a future choir of over 2000 singers which he previewed for the first time. It’s amazing to see the submissions-people young, old, amateur- all sitting in their home contributing to this project.

Polar photographer, Paul Nicklen photographs creatures of the Arctic and Antarctic, generating awareness of these isolated lands. “I am cold + I am miserable + Big animals with sharp protruding parts are staring at me” – 3 ways Nicklen knows he’s in the right spot.

You may have noticed all of the TED talks I posted last week. We were getting inspired and preparing for TED2011 and the talks that start today! We are honored to have been invited to set up a Poketo shop for all of the TEDsters in Palm Springs for TEDActive.

TEDActive happens simultaneously with the talks that happen at TED in Long Beach. TEDActive is a more “active” TED filled with interactive art installations, workshops, parties, the sun, pool, and for the first time, a Poketo shop! This year theme, The Rediscovery of Wonder, brings together global innovators – the doers of the world making a difference in their communities and their professions – to interact and learn from one another in an amazing Palm Springs environment while absorbing TED2011.

The proceeds from the Poketo shop at TEDActive go directly to the TED Fellows program which supports world-changing innovators making an impact around the globe. TED 2011 Fellows include, Sey Min, an interactive designer that is reimagining how humans relate to technologies, to societies and cities, and to environments. She founded Randomwalks.org, a media art studio that takes real visitor feedback on cities and redefines cities in real time. Another is Suzanne Lee, a British artist and fashion designer who is making fabric and clothes out of bacteria she cultivates. She is literally growing her own clothes! Surely unconventional, but, this is what makes TED Fellows unique.

What everyone is excited about is the annual TED Prize winner. The TED Prize is $100,000 awarded to an exceptional individual, but, more importantly, the winner poses one wish for all of us to act on, a wish to change the world. TED Prize recipients in the past have included Bill Clinton, Dave Eggers, Jamie Oliver, Jehane Noujaim, Karen Armstrong, Bono, and more.

The 2011 prize winner is “street” artist, JR. JR employs large scale photography and street art methods of wheat pasting to tell stories and change landscapes around the world. JR has has traveled and put up his huge installations in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya, Cambodia, China, Israel/Palestine, Brazil, the US and more. When you see the images, they are arresting, it’s like looking into yourself.

The TED talks are all this week, we are excited to be part of this intimate experience at TEDActive. There is still an opportunity to get a group together and watch the talks live via the internet. Below are some of our top picks, ones we can’t wait to watch. The drawings below comes straight from the TED conference book!

Artist: JR… Kenya, Liberia, Brazil, India, and Cambodia are 5 countries that JR visited for Women Are Heroes.

Philanthropist: Bill Gates… no introductions needed.

Explorer: Sarah Marquis…. she has wandered 510 days through Australia alone.

Artist, curator, architectural designer, and activist: Ai Weiwei… 100,000,000 is the number of hand-painted porcelain “sunflower seeds” in one of his sculptures exhibited at Tate Modern.

Data Artist: Aaron Koblin … was part of Arcade Fire’s The Wilderness Downtown.