How to Look at Strangers - The Bumbys

The Bumbys are anonymous performance artists who provide "A Fair and Honest Appraisal of Your Appearance" using nothing more than analog typewriters and charming wit. They first performed in a Brooklyn subway station as a social experiment in 2008; since then, they've performed nationally and internationally on behalf of Whitney Museum of American Art, Microsoft, Bad Robot, Art of Elysium, Vogue, MTV and Berklee College of Music, to name a few.

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The Bumbys

The Bumbys are anonymous performance artists who provide "A Fair and Honest Appraisal of Your Appearance" using nothing more than analog typewriters and charming wit. They first performed in a Brooklyn subway station as a social experiment in 2008; since then, they've performed nationally and internationally on behalf of Whitney Museum of American Art, Microsoft, Bad Robot, Art of Elysium, Vogue, MTV and Berklee College of Music, to name a few. They've written for New York Magazine, been commissioned for multiple art residencies, and been profiled by publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The LA Times, CBS News, ELLE and Vogue Italia.

Experiencing a performance by The Bumbys is as simple as it sounds: participants stand in front of The Bumbys while they type out a personalized narrative that playfully describes how each individual's appearance is read by the world. Instead of snarky takedowns, appraisals by The Bumbys are warm and funny; they believe it's most interesting to look for the good in people, and then to help them see it too.

Founded on an outlandish idea, The Bumbys are all about living in the present, letting go and taking creative risks; they are champions of the idea that you can find an authentic and sustainable meeting point between art and commerce.

While The Bumby's will be taking the stage at TEDxTeen for an exclusive performance, as they are anonymous and do not speak in public, their creative director, Viranda Tantula will be bringing their talk to life.