Sanford Biggers: An artist's unflinching look at racial violence
Sanford Biggers: Perspectiva fermă a unui artist asupra violenței rasiale
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.
de a înfiripa conversații incitante.
video and performance.
sculptură, video și spectacole.
are history and dialogue.
sunt istoria și dialogul.
of a lotus blossom.
for transcendence
al transcendenței,
acest lotus dezvăluie
to be the cross-section of a slave ship.
from a British slaving manual
dintr-un manual englez despre sclavagism,
the atrocities of slavery.
pentru a arăta atrocitățile sclaviei.
to talk about slavery,
să vorbim despre sclavie,
ca pe o industrie globală.
about our shared past.
despre trecutul nostru împărtășit.
we carved over 6,000 figures.
am cioplit peste 6.000 de chipuri.
din partea orașului New York
by the City of New York
at the Eagle Academy for Young Men,
Eagle Academy for Young Men,
by this history.
de această parte a istoriei.
by a more recent phenomenon,
de un fenomen mai recent,
wooden African figures
around the world.
și talciocuri din jurul lumii.
of them is completely debatable,
complet discutabile,
to be imbued with power,
că acestea au diferite puteri,
how to use this in my own work.
cum să folosesc asta în munca mea.
the killings of Trayvon Martin,
la uciderea lui Trayvon Martin,
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice
unarmed black citizens
cetățeni negri neînarmați,
with no punishment at all.
în niciun fel.
cu respect pentru lege,
at gunpoint by the police.
și hărțuit cu arma de poliție,
simply entitled "BAM."
simplu intitulată „BAM”.
the identity of each of these figures,
identitatea fiecărei figurine,
and easier to disregard.
și mai ușor de neglijat.
brown wax
într-un poligon de tragere,
folosind gloanțe.
high-speed video cameras.
și aparate video de mare viteză.
kept me from actually pulling the trigger,
nu m-a lăsat să apăs pe trăgaci,
be shooting myself.
în mine însumi.
fired the shots.
cameramanul meu, Raul.
and cast them first in wax,
și le-am făcut mai întâi în ceară,
like the image you see here,
precum imaginea pe care o vedeți,
of its violent creation
pe acestea în Miami,
every gun shot to her soul.
fiecare glonț tras în sufletul ei.
că arta mea
racial violence throughout US history.
din istoria Americii.
than just US history.
doar la istoria Americii.
din Berlin anul trecut,
what prompted these recent killings.
ce a determinat uciderile recente.
of a lynching postcard
have been going on for over 500 years.
iau loc de peste 500 de ani.
about history and race
despre istorie și rasă,
to engage one another
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