Sanford Biggers' "Blossom" at the Brooklyn Museum

On view at the Brooklyn Museum's fifth floor rotunda is a multimedia art installation called "Blossom" (2007) which is made of steel, non-toxic epoxy, silk leaves, wood, piano w/MIDI system and bench. Created by New York-based artist Sanford Biggers, the installation incorporates references ranging from lynching (a hate crime most often racially motivated) to Buddha’s enlightenment under the bodhi tree. The work resembles a large tree intertwined with a grand piano. At intervals, the keys move as the piano plays the artist's arrangement of "Strange Fruit", a protest song against lynching recorded by jazz singer Billy Holiday in 1939. The installation will be on display until January 8, 2012.