Candy Chang is interested in the future of ritual in public life. Her work encompasses painting, video, and large-scale installations that weave intimate testimonies from strangers into broader explorations of communion. Drawing from her Taiwanese heritage and the reverence for calligraphy as both spiritual and artistic expression, she imagines the handwritten word as a medium for expression and possibly artifact in an increasingly digital and disembodied age.
Trained in architecture, design, and urban planning, her interdisciplinary approach manifests in participatory interventions that blur the boundaries between civic and sacred spaces. Anonymous testimonies of desire, dread, sorrow, hope, and courage are displayed in public and challenge norms of visibility and modes of communion. Before I Die has been created in over 5,000 cities across 75 countries. After the End was a 2021 New York Times Critic’s Pick.
Her work has been exhibited in the Venice Architecture Biennale, Smithsonian American Art Museum, SFMOMA, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. She is an Asian Cultural Council Fellow, TED Fellow, and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and Black Rock Arts Foundation. She has worked on public art projects with organizations including Mural Arts Philadelphia, Art Production Fund, Rubin Musuem, and Green-Wood Cemetery. She has given talks in many places including TED, Walker Art Center, Global Health Summit, and the American Planning Association. She is represented by the Lavin Agency for speaking engagements.
Born and raised in the American Midwest, Chang has lived and worked in New York City (2001-2009, 2018-2022), New Orleans (2006, 2010-2017), Helsinki, Lisbon, Philadelphia, London, Taipei, and the Mojave Desert, before settling in Columbus, Ohio, where she lives down the hall from her parents.
Contact
Speaking inquiries: The Lavin Agency | Email
Art inquiries: Email
Stay in touch: Bluesky | Instagram | Email
Education
M.S. Urban Planning, Columbia University
B.A. Design, University of Michigan
B.S. Architecture, University of Michigan