Candy Chang's work encompasses public installations and paintings that explore contemplative ritual in public life.
Her work has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, Venice Architecture Biennale, Smithsonian American Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Nelson-Atkins Museum. She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and Black Rock Arts Foundation, and she has received fellowships from the Asian Cultural Council, TED, Hemera Foundation, Center for Urban Pedagogy, and the World Economic Forum.
Her participatory public art project Before I Die has been created in over 5,000 cities across 75 countries and called "one of the most creative community projects ever" by The Atlantic. She has created public art with organizations including Art Production Fund, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Green-Wood Cemetery, the American School in London, and the Annenberg Foundation. She often works with James A. Reeves on large-scale installations that merge participatory installation with video and sound, including Light the Barricades, The Nightly News, and 2021 New York Times Critic's Pick After the End.
She has given talks at institutions including TED, Walker Art Center, Global Health Summit, School of Visual Arts, and the American Planning Association.
Born and raised in the American Midwest, Candy has lived and worked in New York City, New Orleans, Helsinki, Philadelphia, and the Mojave Desert, before settling down in Columbus, Ohio, where she lives down the hall from her parents.
Artist Statement
When people I loved died, my interest in the role of ritual began. I create installations that reimagine the possibilities of contemplative ritual in public life. They often invite anonymous, handwritten testimonies of desire, dread, sorrow, hope, and courage from the public, challenging modes of communion in an age of increasing isolation, division, and disembodiment from living behind screens.
Growing up in a Taiwanese-American household, Asian calligraphy instilled my love for the handwritten word. I think of handwriting as spiritual artifact in an increasingly digital and disembodied age. As the steward of hundreds of thousands of handwritten reflections from the public, I use these fragments in paintings and videos that explore the nature of language, desire, and our relation to one another. These works are then imbedded in future installations as a cyclical process that reimagines evolving possibilities for civic life, sacred space, and a sense of belonging today.
Inspirations include the speculative worlds of Philip K. Dick and David Lynch, the humanistic visions of city life by Jane Jacobs and Juhani Pallasmaa, the philosophical inquiries of Gilles Deleuze and Byung-Chul Han, and the laid-back curiosity of the Zhuangzi.
Contact
Speaking inquiries: The Lavin Agency | Email
Art inquiries: Email
Stay in touch: Bluesky | Instagram | Email
Education
M.S. Urban Planning, Columbia University, New York, NY
B.S. Architecture and B.A. Design, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI