Candy Chang will present at Vivid Ideas 2014. Image from candychang.com
In I Wish This Was, New Orleans artist Candy Chang invited curious passers-by to complete fill-in-the-blank style stickers and place them on empty and abandoned buildings around the community.
The results – which saw everything from the functional to the poetic – sparked a community spirit that has been recreated in more than 25 countries and 60 languages.
With her renown for reinvigorating neighbourhoods and communities, Chang is now coming to Sydney’s Vivid Ideas 2014to share her stories in Candy Chang: On Making Art to Make a Difference.
Now entering the festival’s sixth year, Vivid Ideas Festival Director Jess Scully said that Chang would use her presentation to first and foremost raise an important conversation around the role of infrastructure, architecture and design in Australian cities.
‘Candy is extraordinary because of how she responded to the unique circumstances that her city found herself in,’ she said.
‘After Hurricane Katrina, a lot of people left that city with a lot of gaps and spaces. It felt fragmented and she used really simple, low-fi interventions to start a conversation with a community about it’s aspirations and how it sees itself, and what it expects for the future.’
Scully said that Chang’s presentation will resonate strongly with Australian audiences, who want to know about how cities shape opportunities, innovation and community.
‘The simplicity of putting up a chalk board and writing your thoughts on this wall is so low tech and lo–fi compared to so many other things in the festival, yet is such a powerful idea and powerful enabler of community engagement.’
Among a strong focus of innovation and technology, Scully said that audiences will find it refreshing to have a no frills discussion in the festival program.
‘Here, the power of art, community and ideas brings people together to start a conversation,’ she said.
‘Candy is really going to be talking about giving gifts back to the city, and she will also lead a master class session about unprompted, spontaneous urban generosity.’
Vivid Ideas 2014 forms part of the broader Vivid Sydney program and features over 200 events across 16 creative disciplines from 23 May and 9 June.
Candy Chang: On Making Art to Make a Difference will be held on 26 May 2014 at the Vivid Ideas Exchange, Level 6, Museum of Contemporary Art.
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Visit the Vivid Ideas website for more information including ticket sales.
