Janet Biggs turns the exploration of far-flung places into a call for climate action
2 min read · 03 May 2023
Janet Biggs In the Cold Edge (video still) (2010). Single channel HD video with sound. Courtesy of the artist and Cristin Tierney, New York
Janet Biggs’ HENI Score—a unique artists’ sentiment index—has increased a spectacular 161%, boosted when her video work helped raise awareness of climate change at Expo Chicago fair.
Biggs is a New York-based artist renowned for her multidisciplinary work that often explores themes of science, technology, and the human body. Born in Connecticut in 1959, her work embraces a combination of video, photography, sound and performance.
To find out more about the artist and gain an insight into her work and market, see Janet Biggs’ HENI Dashboard. A unique feature of HENI News, HENI Dashboards allows you to discover thousands of artists who you may not be familiar with along with well-known names.
Biggs has been working with a mathematician and a nuclear physicist on an interdisciplinary project, which included filming a performance at CERN, the Swiss home of the famous Large Hadron Collider. The project is a collaboration of experts organised by Arts at CERN and the Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas.
Although well-established as an artist who has shown at prestigious US and international museums, Biggs’ work is relatively untested at auction. The artist's video pieces have been on offer for between $10,000 to $50,000 over the past two years. She is represented by New York-based Cristin Tierney Gallery.
Installation view of “Journeys to Places Known and Unknown: Moving Images,” Janet Biggs and peter campus (Sarasota Art Museum, 2023-24). Janet Biggs, Agnieszka Międlar, and Daniel Tapia Takaki, Entanglements (2022). Six-channel HD video installation, sound, interactive whiteboards. Photograph by Ryan Gamma.
The artist established her reputation by making works in far flung places, from the Arctic to the Horn of Africa, partly inspired by the people who have found ways to survive in extreme conditions. In 2023, Biggs took part in a joint exhibition with fellow video artist Peter Campus. “Journeys to Places Known and Unknown”, which was organised by the Sarasota Art Museum, Florida, included Biggs’ 2013 work, Somewhere Beyond Nowhere.
In an interview for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, Biggs explained: “My departure from documentary film into an art project happens when I push myself sideways, off a traditional documentary path.”