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PBS News Hour - Segments

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz celebrate Black contemporary art in ‘Giants’ exhibition

PBS News Hour - Segments

PBS NewsHour

News, Daily News

4.11K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” is an exhibition celebrating the contributions of Black contemporary artists, spanning 20th-century icons to today’s emerging talent. Geoff Bennett spoke with the musical power couple behind the exhibition about the meaning behind this expansive collection. It’s part of our arts and culture series, CANVAS. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0

The art exhibition with a high profile and a long name, Giants, art from the Dean collection of Swiss Beats and Alicia Keys,

0:08.1

recently opened in Richmond, Virginia, after stops in Brooklyn, Atlanta, and Minneapolis.

0:13.2

Celebrating the contributions of contemporary artists, it spans 20th century icons like photographer Gordon Parks to today's emerging talent.

0:21.5

I sat down with the music power couple behind the exhibition, Alicia Keys and Keseem Dean,

0:27.2

better known as Swiss Beats, about how they became art collectors and the meeting behind

0:31.7

this expansive collection. It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

0:46.3

This is no ordinary museum opening celebration because what's inside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is no ordinary collection. The exhibition is called Giants and the couple behind it are giants in music who are now reshaping the art world, Alicia Keys and Swiss Beats.

0:55.0

Alicia Keys.

0:57.0

She's a 17-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and producer.

1:02.0

Since her debut album, songs in a minor, Alicia Keys has sold more than 65 million albums and generated over

1:12.6

5 billion streams worldwide.

1:14.6

This girl is on fire.

1:18.6

Her Broadway musical, Hell's Kitchen, has earned multiple Tony Awards and a Grammy.

1:23.6

And Swiss Beats, real name, Kasim Dean, is a DJ, entrepreneur, and Grammy-winning producer

1:32.3

behind some of the biggest songs in hip-hop, R&B and pop, working with artists like DMX, JZ, Beyonce, and Buster Rhymes.

1:40.3

Together they've built the Dean Collection, now one of the most significant private collections

1:45.0

of contemporary art in the world. They took a private tour of the exhibit, seeing it

1:50.0

installed for the first time. Around 130 works selected from a collection of more than a thousand.

1:56.0

What first sparked your interest in collecting art?

1:59.0

Mm-hmm. You want to take that one?

2:02.6

Well, growing up from the Bronx and seeing art everywhere,

2:08.6

waking up, coming from school, going to school,

...

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