Exploring basketball, identity, and play through art | Marlon Forrester | TEDxBeaverCountryDaySchool
The speaker argues that art, particularly the cultural practices of Guyana, offers a necessary sense of transformation that counters the overemphasis on sight prevalent in social media. Through painting, sports, and public installations, the speaker explores moving beyond superficial appearances to reveal deeper truths about identity, community, and change. Ultimately, the speaker recommends providing young people with the tools and opportunities to explore beneath the surface of what is visible.
## Speakers & Context
- **Unnamed artist** — speaking about his artwork and ideas around transformation.
- Origin: **Guyana**, South America.
- Experiences in Guyana: Family celebrations involving creating and wearing **costumes**; performance of **Jumie**, an African spirit, embodying identity and transformation.
- Early influences: Listening to **Martin Luther King** and **Bob Marley**, focusing on peace and holistic transformation.
- Career context: Currently working on a **memoir** with **Seth Rogo**; previously on a full scholarship playing basketball at a private school in Maine.
- Art education period: Studied in **Brand University** (around 1996); was exposed to **Monae** and **Renoir** paintings.
- Artistic Mentors/Guides: **Magdalina Compos** (renowned Cuban artist), **Robin Dash** (described as a leftist Jew focused on resistance and activation), and **Peter Hilly** (head of the painting department at Yale).
- Artistic inspiration sources: Ideas from **Russian constructivism** and a book titled *Flash of the Spirit*, which connects African dance, African-American ideas, philosophy, and sports.
## Theses & Positions
- Modern life gives excessive prominence to sight, constantly feeding us mediated imagery through social media like **Tik Tok** and filters.
- Art (through costumes, performance, and painting) provides a mechanism for **transforming** identity and understanding cultural ancestry.
- Artistic exploration requires looking *underneath the surface*—a concept explored through physical mediums, collage, and body use.
- The process of art creation is crucial for personal and communal growth, enabling people to identify and express what can change the world.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Jumie:** An African spirit appearing during Guyanese carnivals; symbolizes space of transformation and identity.
- **Blackmail Body:** Used as a lens for viewing art and experience, suggesting a complex relationship between self-presentation and true identity.
- **Metastasized:** Used to describe a floating ball in art, suggesting a spreading or permeating quality within a space.
- **Point of Access/Entry:** A doorway or opening in artwork that leads the viewer deeper into the concept being explored, rather than simply showing the concept.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Artistic Media Exploration:** Transitioned from oil canvas/painting to exploring glass, digital collage, and incorporating the body as a narrative space.
- **Public Art Installation:** Placing **pews** in the middle of a basketball court to create an "art experience" and challenging participants to play.
- **Performance Piece (The Passing Series):** Memorializing the passing of the father by repeatedly throwing a ball and catching it, mimicking the passage of slaves from Africa to the New World.
- **Collaborative Art:** Moving from individual play to team play, realizing that art is more powerful when done *together*.
- **Community Building:** Art activations that do not require centralized organization; people organizing their own collective experience in space.
- **Art Commissioning:** Receiving a public commission using **1% from the city of Boston's art and color department** to develop large-scale public art structures.
## Timeline & Sequence
- Arrival in the US: Age of **three**.
- Period of Basketball/Artistic Work: **1995** in Maine (Brand University).
- Academic Inspiration: Viewing **Monae** and **Renoir** paintings at Brand University.
- Basketball Project: Installing **pews** in a basketball court for public engagement.
- Memoir Publication: Writing a book with **Seth Rogo** (reference to **Kendrick Perkins**'s book).
- Installation Locations: Initial work in **National Museum of African-American Artist**; later public spaces like **Copley**; and a gallery store at the **U medicine wheel**.
- Technology Adoption: Utilizing **Periscope** (the first **Tik Tok**) for a meta-experience in an art installation.
- Major Commission: Receiving the **2021 James and Audrey Foster prize**.
## Named Entities
- **Guyana** — Location of the speaker's cultural background.
- **Maine** — Location of the speaker's high school/early life.
- **Brand University** — University where the speaker studied and developed artistic concepts.
- **National Museum of African-American Artist** — Venue for the speaker's first solo show featuring *Rat Race*.
- **Copley** — Public space used for the *Passing Series* performance piece.
- **U medicine wheel** — Location of a gallery store used for balloon installations.
- **Boston** — City that issued a public Arts commission.
- **Northeastern Madison Park** — Location of the current large-scale public art piece.
## Numbers & Data
- Age of arrival in US: **Three**.
- Scholarship sport: **Basketball**.
- Year of memoir/college inspiration: **1996**.
- Key cultural/artistic guides: **Magdalina Compos**, **Robin Dash**, **Peter Hilly**.
- Art show detail: *Rat Race* featuring mechanical rats and mice running in a geometric pattern taken from a **basketball court**.
- Basketball court setup: Placing **pews** in the middle of the court.
- Foster Prize Year: **2021**.
- Baltimore commission funding percentage: **1%** from the city of Boston's art and color department.
- Funding amounts: Initial allocation was **250,000**; current budget is **over half a million**.
## Examples & Cases
- **Cultural Transformation:** Guyanese carnivals using costumes (e.g., **Queen mask**, **Jumie**) to enable cultural and personal metamorphosis.
- **Art as Storytelling:** The memoir work, which blends personal experience with art (inspired by paintings of **Monae** and **Renoir**).
- **The Basketball Court Project:** Installing **pews** to interrupt the ritual of sport, leading to a dialogue about art vs. play.
- **The Passing Series:** A performance where the artist lays prone and passes a ball, symbolizing memory and cultural passage.
- **Balloon Installation:** Using **5,000 balloons** to represent bodies, people, and forms whose dreams dissipated due to trauma or lack of voice.
- **Periscope Installation:** Utilizing the first streaming technology to allow people in the physical space to connect online, creating a meta-experience.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Social Media:** **Tik Tok**, general social media platforms, and **filters**.
- **Technology:** **Periscope** (noted as the first **Tik Tok** and "first meta experience").
- **Art Materials:** Costumes, paints, glass, digital collage tools, balloons, and basketball equipment (balls, courts).
## References Cited
- **Seth Rogo** — Collaborator on the memoir.
- **Kendrick Perkins** — Artist whose memoir was written about by Seth Rogo.
- **Magazine/Publication:** *Flash of the Spirit* (book discussing African dance/African-American ideas).
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The physical art space (the basketball court) is a confrontation: people initially approach with skepticism ("what the hell is going on?").
- The speaker acknowledges the struggle of the creative process, noting that sometimes the vibrant color of the past was "somehow Stripped Away" (referring to monochromatic grays).
## Methodology
- **Sensory Shifting:** Intentionally shifting focus from sight (social media) to other senses, such as sound (through music like Bob Marley).
- **Layering Symbolism:** Embedding specific, charged symbols (like **pews** or basketball court geometries) into everyday, functional spaces.
- **Performance Documentation:** Using live public interaction (like catching the passed ball) to document the *experience* of activating a space.
- **Technological Integration:** Using early social media tools like **Periscope** to bridge the physical art installation with a digital, global layer.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Art is essential to community growth, giving people the tools to identify what they believe can change the world.
- Young people *need* the opportunity to "go deeper underneath the surface."
- The discipline of **practice** in art is what allows an individual to change the world.
## Implications & Consequences
- Art provides a vital counter-narrative to the superficiality and visual saturation of digital culture.
- Successful art activates public spaces by forcing participation and dialogue rather than passive viewing.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"a Jumie is an African spirit that that comes from the ancestral past that comes up to celebrate one's not only identity but one's space of transformation"*
- *"seeing art for me was cultural"*
- *"I have the locks as you can see right and not only just the experience of the music but the idea of peace and holistic transformation that he tried to bring with his music"*
- *"what about my story my cultural history"*
- *"I was lucky enough to have a guide along the way"*
- *"let's do it together right my game and your game"*
- *"It's called the passing this is um Grace"*
- *"what is underneath the surface"*
- *"it was the first meta experience"*
- *"The idea that the sport itself right this activation this sense of play right that you could take a simple idea and go underneath the surface go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper"*
- *"how do we identify what we believe can change the world"*