Artist Tavares Strachan: Our Universal Currency is Storytelling скачать в хорошем качестве

Artist Tavares Strachan: Our Universal Currency is Storytelling

I am afraid of being afraid.” We met Tavares Strachan, one of the most interesting and exploratory artists of our time, in his New York studio for an in-depth conversation about his work and how he sees the world. ”I think there's a beautiful relationship, a poetic relationship, between fear and knowledge. And I think one’s relationship, one's proximity to fear has a lot to do with one’s proximity to knowledge.” ”There is so much work about how human beings are different. I'm interested in how we're the same, and one of the ways we're profoundly the same is the fact that our universal currency is storytelling. We tell each other stories to heal each other, soothe each other, get full, be empty, exercise, understand our mental and physical health, and understand our place in the universe. So, I think storytelling is essential to the human experience, and no matter where you're from, stories are going to ground you in some way. I think stories are the glue that holds this kind of human civilization together.” Tavares Strachan’s artistic practice activates the intersections of art, science, and politics, offering uniquely synthesized points of view on the cultural dynamics of scientific knowledge. Aeronautics, astronomy, deep-sea exploration, and extreme climatology are but some of the thematic arenas out of which Strachan creates monumental allegories that tell of cultural displacement, human aspiration, and mortal limitation. Themes of invisibility, displacement, and loss are central to his work, which questions historically canonized narratives that marginalize or obscure others. His text-based neon sculptures are an anthem for our political and cultural moment, and his lexicon is an effort to mobilize community and societal change. Strachan’s ambitious, open-ended practice has included collaborations with numerous organizations and institutions across the disciplines. ”When you grow up in a place where everyone looks the way that you look and then you look in institutional books and you look at photographs of things that are perceived to be important, like the picture of the Last Supper in your grandmother's wall, one with the small amount of curiosity might want to ask the question, well why are these people in our house and why do they look so radically different from the way that we look, and why do they have this perceived idea of being elevated in some way beyond the way that we were understanding ourselves. If one allows oneself to ask the question, one starts to realize that the power is actually in the question. All of our magic is in our ability to be curious about the world around us.” Strachan was born in 1979 in Nassau, Bahamas, and currently lives and works between New York City and Nassau. He received a BFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003 and an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University in 2006. He draws on both the resources and community of his birthplace, dividing his time between his studio in New York and Nassau, where he has established an art studio and scientific research platform B.A.S.E.C. (Bahamas Aerospace and Sea Exploration Center) and OKU, a not-for-profit community project encompassing an artist residency and exhibition spaces, a scholarship scheme, and after-school creative programs. Strachan’s work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, including You Belong Here, Prospect 3. Biennial, New Orleans; The Immeasurable Daydream, Biennale de Lyon, Lyon; Polar Eclipse, The Bahamas National Pavilion 55th Venice Biennale, Venice; Seen/Unseen, Undisclosed Exhibition, New York; Orthostatic Tolerance: It Might Not Be Such a Bad Idea if I Never Went Home Again, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge; among others. The Hayward Gallery in London recently featured Strachan in a solo exhibition, titled Tavares Strachan: There Is Light Somewhere, in summer 2024. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship (2022), 2019-20 Artist in Residence at the Getty Research Institute, 2018 Frontier Art Prize, and the Allen Institute’s inaugural artist-in-residence in 2018, 2014 LACMA Art + Technology Lab Artist Grant, 2008 Tiffany Foundation Grant, 2007 Grand Arts Residency Fellowship, and 2006 Alice B. Kimball Fellowship. Tavares Strachan was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in his studio in New York in March 2025. Camera: Sean Hanley Edited by: Jarl Kaldan Therkelsen Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025 Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond and Ny Carlsbergfondet. Subscribe to our channel for more videos on art:    / thelouisianachannel   FOLLOW US HERE: Website: http://channel.louisiana.dk Instagram:   / louisianachannel   Facebook:   / louisianachannel