Sanford Biggers: An artist's unflinching look at racial violence
Sanford Biggers: Una mirada de repudio de un artista contra la violencia racial
Sanford Biggers creates art that upends traditional narratives about topics ranging from hip hop to Buddhism to American history. Full bio
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to spark challenging conversations.
para iniciar conversaciones difíciles.
pintura, la escultura,
video and performance.
y la actuación en directo.
are history and dialogue.
son la historia y el diálogo.
de 2 m de diámetro
de 272 kg en vidrio.
of a lotus blossom.
for transcendence
un símbolo de trascendencia,
más cercana a este loto
to be the cross-section of a slave ship.
transversal de un barco de esclavos.
from a British slaving manual
de un manual del esclavista británico
the atrocities of slavery.
de la esclavitud.
to talk about slavery,
hablar de la esclavitud
de este símbolo budista,
los limites de la historia
about our shared past.
sobre nuestro pasado compartido.
we carved over 6,000 figures.
tallado más de 6000 figuras
de la ciudad de Nueva York
by the City of New York
at the Eagle Academy for Young Men,
en la Eagle Academy para los jóvenes,
estudiantes negros y latinos,
by this history.
afectados por esta historia.
by a more recent phenomenon,
por un fenómeno más reciente,
figuras africanas de madera
wooden African figures
around the world.
mercadillos de todo el mundo.
of them is completely debatable,
son claramente discutibles,
to be imbued with power,
poderes o incluso que son mágicas.
how to use this in my own work.
como usarlos en mi propio trabajo.
de la muerte de Trayvon Martin,
the killings of Trayvon Martin,
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice,
ciudadanos negros desarmados
unarmed black citizens
with no punishment at all.
de renombre que respeta la ley,
at gunpoint by the police.
a punta de pistola a manos de la policía.
simply entitled "BAM."
titulado simplemente "BAM".
the identity of each of these figures,
de cada una de estas estatuas,
and easier to disregard.
y sean más fácil de pasar por alto.
en una espesa cera de color marrón
brown wax
y cámaras de vídeo de alta velocidad.
high-speed video cameras.
kept me from actually pulling the trigger,
me hizo vacilar al apretar el gatillo,
de dispararme a mí mismo.
be shooting myself.
fired the shots.
and cast them first in wax,
like the image you see here,
como en la imagen que se ve aquí
of its violent creation
de de su violenta creación
recientemente en Miami,
every gun shot to her soul.
cada disparo en su alma.
de estos homicidios
racial violence throughout US history.
racial a lo largo de la historia de EE.UU.
than just US history.
que nuestra historia nacional.
what prompted these recent killings.
que provocó estas muertes recientes.
of a lynching postcard
de un linchamiento de los años 1900
have been going on for over 500 years.
hace más de 500 años.
preguntas como la suya
about history and race
sobre la historia y la raza
individuos y sociedad.
to engage one another
para que la gente inicie
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sanford Biggers - Conceptual artistSanford Biggers creates art that upends traditional narratives about topics ranging from hip hop to Buddhism to American history.
Why you should listen
An LA native working in NYC, Sanford Biggers creates artworks that integrate film, video, installation, sculpture, drawing, original music and performance. He intentionally complicates issues such as hip hop, Buddhism, politics, identity and art history in order to offer new perspectives and associations for established symbols. Through a multi-disciplinary formal process and a syncretic creative approach, he makes works that are as aesthetically pleasing as they are conceptual.
The significance of Biggers' work within contemporary society has been celebrated through solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally, most recently at the Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture Center and Mass MoCA. He has participated in prestigious residencies and fellowships including: Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany; Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland; Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California; ARCUS Project Foundation, Ibaraki, Japan; and the Art in General/ Trafo Gallery Eastern European Exchange in Budapest, Hungary. He has been a fellow of the Creative Time Global Residency, the Socrates Sculpture Park Residency, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council World Views AIR Program, the Eyebeam Atelier Teaching Residency, the Studio Museum AIR Program, the P.S. 1 International Studio Program and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture residency.
Biggers' installations, videos and performances have appeared in venues worldwide including Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, the Whitney Museum and Studio Museum in Harlem, New York and the Yerba Bue a Center for the Arts in San Francisco, as well as institutions in China, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Poland and Russia. The artist's works have been included in notable exhibitions such as: Prospect 1 New Orleans Biennial, Illuminations at the Tate Modern, Performa 07 in NY, the Whitney Biennial and Freestyle at the Studio Museum in Harlem. His works are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Center, Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum and Bronx Museum.
Biggers has won awards including: the American Academy in Berlin Prize, Greenfield Prize, New York City Art Teachers Association Artist-of-the-Year, Creative Time Travel Grant, Creative Capital Project Grant, New York Percent for the Arts Commission, Art Matters Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts Award, the Lambent Fellowship in the Arts, the Pennies From Heaven/ New York Community Trust Award, Tanne Foundation Award and Rema Hort Mann Foundation Award Grant.
Biggers is Assistant Professor at Columbia University's Visual Arts program and a board member of Sculpture Center, Soho House and the CUE Foundation. He has also taught at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Sculpture and Expanded Media program and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University's VES Department in 2009.
Sanford Biggers | Speaker | TED.com