Sanford Biggers: An artist's unflinching look at racial violence
Sanford Biggers: O olhar resoluto de um artista sobre a violência racial
Sanford Biggers creates art that upends traditional narratives about topics ranging from hip hop to Buddhism to American history. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
to spark challenging conversations.
para provocar conversas desafiadoras.
escultura, de vídeos e apresentações.
video and performance.
are history and dialogue.
são a história e o diálogo.
de diâmetro e 270 kg de vidro,
of a lotus blossom.
for transcendence
e pureza de mente e espírito.
transversal de um navio negreiro.
to be the cross-section of a slave ship.
de um manual britânico de escravos
from a British slaving manual
para mostrar as atrocidades da escravidão.
the atrocities of slavery.
de falar sobre a escravidão,
to talk about slavery,
como uma indústria global.
espero universalizar e transcender
about our shared past.
sobre nosso passado em comum.
we carved over 6,000 figures.
entalhamos mais de 6 mil figuras.
by the City of New York
da cidade de Nova York
de mais de oito metros
at the Eagle Academy for Young Men,
na Eagle Academy for Young Men,
by this history.
por essa história.
by a more recent phenomenon,
por um fenômeno mais recente,
ídolos de madeira africanos
wooden African figures
de pulgas ao redor do mundo.
around the world.
of them is completely debatable,
é totalmente questionável,
to be imbued with power,
que eles estejam imbuídos com poder
how to use this in my own work.
como usar isso em meu trabalho.
the killings of Trayvon Martin,
a morte de Travyon Martin,
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice,
Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice
cidadãos negros desarmados
unarmed black citizens
sem qualquer tipo de punição.
with no punishment at all.
at gunpoint by the police.
pela mão armada da polícia,
simply entitled "BAM."
the identity of each of these figures,
de cada uma dessas figuras,
e fáceis de ignorar.
and easier to disregard.
brown wax
esculpindo-as novamente usando projéteis.
high-speed video cameras.
e câmeras de alta velocidade.
kept me from actually pulling the trigger,
me impediu de puxar o gatilho.
a de que eu atirava em mim mesmo.
be shooting myself.
fired the shots.
and cast them first in wax,
like the image you see here,
como a imagem que veem aqui,
of its violent creation
de sua criação, violenta,
every gun shot to her soul.
cada disparo em sua alma,
racial violence throughout US history.
da violência racial na história dos EUA.
than just US history.
muito mais do que a história americana.
what prompted these recent killings.
o que causou essas mortes recentes.
of a lynching postcard
do início do século 19
have been going on for over 500 years.
acontecendo há mais de 500 anos.
about history and race
sobre história e raça
como indivíduos e sociedade.
crie um espaço seguro
na qual pessoas possam se envolver
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