Sanford Biggers: An artist's unflinching look at racial violence
סטאנפורד ביגרס: מבטו התקיף של אמן באלימות הגזענית
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.
להצית שיחות מאתגרות.
video and performance.
פיסול, וידאו והופעה.
are history and dialogue.
הם היסטוריה ודיאלוג.
of a lotus blossom.
ובמשקל של 300 קילו.
for transcendence
to be the cross-section of a slave ship.
הוא חתך רוחב של ספינת עבדים.
from a British slaving manual
ממדריך עבדים בריטי
the atrocities of slavery.
ביד התנועה לביטול העבדות כהוכחה לזוועות.
to talk about slavery,
לאוניברסאלית ונעלה
about our shared past.
we carved over 6,000 figures.
גילפנו מעל 6,000 דמויות.
by the City of New York
at the Eagle Academy for Young Men,
by this history.
מההיסטוריה הזו.
by a more recent phenomenon,
גם מתופעה עכשווית יותר,
wooden African figures
around the world.
of them is completely debatable,
לחלוטין ניתנים לוויכוח,
to be imbued with power,
how to use this in my own work.
כיצד להשתמש בהן בעבודותי.
the killings of Trayvon Martin,
להריגתם של טרייבון מרטין,
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice
סנדרה בלנד, תמיר רייס
unarmed black citizens
with no punishment at all.
at gunpoint by the police.
והוטרדתי באיומי אקדח ע"י שוטרים.
simply entitled "BAM."
שנקראת בפשטות "באם"
the identity of each of these figures,
של כל אחת מהדמויות הללו,
and easier to disregard.
brown wax
טבלתי אותן בשעווה חומה סמיכה
high-speed video cameras.
ומצלמות וידאו מהירות.
kept me from actually pulling the trigger,
מנעה ממני מללחוץ על ההדק,
be shooting myself.
fired the shots.
and cast them first in wax,
like the image you see here,
of its violent creation
every gun shot to her soul.
racial violence throughout US history.
לאורך ההיסטוריה האמריקאית.
than just US history.
מההיסטוריה האמריקאית בלבד.
what prompted these recent killings.
מה הניע את הרציחות הטריות האלו.
of a lynching postcard
have been going on for over 500 years.
כבר מעל ל-500 שנים.
about history and race
יוצרות מקום מבטחים
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