Thelma Golden: How art gives shape to cultural change

http://www.ted.com Thelma Golden, curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, talks through three recent shows that explore how art examines and redefines culture. The "post-black" artists she works with are using their art to provoke a new dialogue about race and culture -- and about the meaning of art itself.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

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[RenataVentura]

Skin color is an illusion, guys.

Interestingly enough, I had never noticed color until I moved into the United States for 4 years. Now I'm back in Brazil. I just had never really NOTICED color before. For me, we were all the same.

Until I moved into the USA, where people only talk about color! About whites, african-americans, about different segregated churches (which I could not BELIEVE existed). Only then, I started noticing someone was black or white.

Interesting.

[eatingperson]

Why are black people so obsessed with being black? No one cares anymore. We're all people. Forget skin colour. One-hundred generations from now we'll all be light brown (or extinct...).

[crudhousefull]

Extremely eloquent speaker. Don't get discouraged by the vote downs if you ever see this comment. This was viewed predominantly by white viewers (90% racist). We need more people like you and MORE FROM YOU!

[crudhousefull]

I LOVE black people. They did most of the work for the world to get out of the grip of white control. So grateful to you guys

[crudhousefull]

@RenataVentura SAME HERE!!

[crudhousefull]

@peterbriers That is SO true. Gen X (my gen) is the last predominantly racist generation. But once a racist...always a racist. A little hope for gen xers but much less for older generations

[1jimclyne]

she strikes me as unintelligent

[jeroliver]

I love all these liberals, of any race, who tout their love of multiculturalism. Yet they would never live in and avoid areas where they're a minority. So they support it, just as long as they don't have to see or deal with it.

[peterbriers]

@lordicemaniac It would be considered okay, except for a few loonies that scream "racist" whenever they hear the color of a skin.

I think 'generation Y' has past that stage. We acknowledge cultural differences, even those based on skin color. But it's not pejoratively used. One is not better than the other, just different. It's about their cultural heritage. A positive message.

[lordicemaniac]

@peterbriers ofc it exists, but i would like to see comments on somebody on ted who would present something like "Art of white people"... where "Art of blacks" is considered ok

[eatingperson]

@fluxfreq Barack Obama biatch. You're speaking of 50 years ago.