SAND ARTIST - LINA LEE
Sand Art at TEDxMannheim – When Ideas Become Images
May 2019 | TEDxMannheim | Kunsthalle Mannheim
A SPECIAL MOMENT
My TEDx Experience
In May 2019, I had the opportunity to become part of TEDx Mannheim — an event that brought together people, ideas, music and art.
This performance had a very special meaning for me. Long before I found myself on a TEDx stage, I had been watching TED and TEDx talks, listening to people share their stories, thoughts, discoveries and experiences. I have always loved the idea behind this platform: giving people a space to share something truly meaningful — an idea that can make someone think, see something familiar from a different perspective, or discover something new.
So one day, becoming part of TEDx myself as an artist was a very special moment for me.
My task at TEDx Mannheim was quite unusual: to create one sand art story that would bring together the main ideas and themes presented by the speakers that evening.

SandArt for TEDx Mannheim 2019. THE GAME IS ON. SandArtist - Lina LEE
She has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, and the Mercury Prize
They spoke about very different subjects — personal growth, entrepreneurship, empathy, responsibility, sustainability, art and the way we perceive the world. Behind every topic was a different story and a different perspective on life.
My task was to find a visual connection between them.
From Thought to Image

Perhaps this is what I find especially fascinating about sand art: an abstract thought can take on a visible form.

Sometimes a complex idea is difficult to express in a single sentence. But it can be felt through an image. One drawing transforms into another, one thought continues the previous one, and gradually completely different stories become part of one whole.

That evening, sand became a language through which I could tell not just one story, but bring together the ideas of many different people in a single visual composition.

The performance was created together with The Twiolins — Marie-Luise and Christoph Dingler. While they performed live on stage, I created and transformed the sand images in real time.

But for me, the most important part of this project was not simply the combination of music and sand art. It was the realization that art itself can be a way of communicating ideas.

TEDx is built around ideas worth sharing. And sometimes an idea reaches us through words, sometimes through a personal story, sometimes through music — and sometimes it can be seen in just a few lines appearing in the sand.

Becoming Part of the TEDx Story
Several years have passed, but this performance still remains very special to me.
Perhaps above all because that evening brought together two parts of my life: what has always interested me as a person — listening, reflecting and searching for new meaning — and what I know how to express as an artist.
Once, I watched TED and TEDx as a member of the audience. In 2019, I had the opportunity to become a small part of this world of ideas myself.
And I am especially happy that today, the recording of this performance continues to live in the TED archive.

Live Performance – Violin Duets and Sand Art
The Twiolins & Lina LEE | TEDxMannheim | 2019
SAND ARTIST - LINA LEE


POLINA SAYFUDINOVA
Berlin, Germany
Email: sandart.linalii@gmail.com
+49 15901064753