Sanford Biggers: An artist's unflinching look at racial violence
Sanford Biggers: En artists kompromissløse blikk på rasevold
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.
kan skape interessante utvekslinger.
video and performance.
video og performance.
are history and dialogue.
favorittmaterialer.
of a lotus blossom.
av en lotusblomst.
for transcendence
trancendens
to be the cross-section of a slave ship.
tverrsnitt av et slaveskip.
from a British slaving manual
fra en britisk håndbok i slaveri
the atrocities of slavery.
for å vise slaveriets grusomhet.
to talk about slavery,
som en global industri.
de svartes Amerika universelle
about our shared past.
we carved over 6,000 figures.
skar vi ut over 6000 figurer.
by the City of New York
fra New York by
høy versjon i stål
at the Eagle Academy for Young Men,
ved Eagle Academy for Young Men,
studenter,
by this history.
denne historien.
by a more recent phenomenon,
av et nyere fenomen,
wooden African figures
around the world.
verden rundt.
of them is completely debatable,
diskuteres,
to be imbued with power,
av en kraft
how to use this in my own work.
bruke dette i mitt eget arbeid før nå.
the killings of Trayvon Martin,
drapene på Trayvon Martin,
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice
unarmed black citizens
ubevæpnete svarte innbyggere
with no punishment at all.
at gunpoint by the police.
av politiet,
simply entitled "BAM."
som rett og slett heter "BAM".
the identity of each of these figures,
identiteten til disse figurene,
and easier to disregard.
og lettere å overse.
brown wax
tykk, brun voks
high-speed video cameras.
videokameraer med rask bildefrekvens.
kept me from actually pulling the trigger,
holdt meg fra avtrekkeren,
be shooting myself.
om jeg skjøt mot meg selv.
fired the shots.
Raul, fyrte av skuddene.
and cast them first in wax,
og støpte dem først i voks
like the image you see here,
som bildet du ser her,
of its violent creation
tilblivelse
every gun shot to her soul.
treffe henne i sjelen.
racial violence throughout US history.
gjennom amerikansk historie.
than just US history.
enn bare amerikansk historie.
what prompted these recent killings.
var foranledningen til disse drapene.
of a lynching postcard
postkort av en lynsjing
have been going on for over 500 years.
pågått i mer enn 500 år.
som hans
about history and race
om historie og rase
og samfunn.
to engage one another
hverandre
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