The Stone Cold Facts « Candy Chang

The Stone Cold Facts

Candy Chang is an artist with a background in urban planning and design who explores making cities more comfortable and contemplative places. She believes in the potential of introspection and collective wisdom in public space to improve our communities and our personal well-being. She has used simple tools like stickers, stencils, and chalkboards to spark conversations in public space and help residents come together in meaningful ways. She is a TED Senior Fellow, an Urban Innovation Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and was named a “Live Your Best Life” Local Hero by Oprah Magazine. By combining street art with urban planning, social activism, and philosophy, she has been recognized as a leader in developing new strategies for the design of our cities.

She received a BS in Architecture, a BFA in Graphic Design, and a Masters in Urban Planning from Columbia University. Inspired by the desire to improve her community and improve herself, she creates projects that collect our hopes, fears, and stories in public space to help us lead better lives. Recent work includes Before I Die, where she turned an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans into an interactive wall for residents to reflect on their lives and share their personal aspirations in public space – a project The Atlantic called “one of the most creative community projects ever.” She created fill-in-the-blank I Wish This Was stickers for people to voice what they want in vacant storefronts. In Looking for Love Again, she turned an empty high-rise in Alaska into a collective archive of residents’ memories and hopes for the building. She’s worked with communities in the U.S., South Africa, Malaysia, Finland, Mexico, Kenya, Canada, Kazakhstan, and beyond.

She is the co-founder of Civic Center, an art and design studio in New Orleans, and Neighborland, an online tool for people to shape the development of their communities. She was also once a designer at The New York Times, a design field researcher at Nokia, and the co-founder of record label Red Antenna. Her work has been exhibited in the National Design Triennial at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and she has created public art commissions for civic institutions, international airports, and creative organizations. She speaks internationally and has received awards from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Black Rock Arts Foundation.

Her parents immigrated from Taiwan to the United States and she was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in the cornfields of Ohio, New York City, Helsinki, and beyond. She lives in New Orleans, where she drifts the streets and works on projects amidst porches and parades. She is currently working on projects about confessions, spirituality, bedtime stories, and pilgrimage. She believes one of the greatest things in life is enjoying public spaces with the people you love. She also believes these spaces can better reflect what is important to us as a community and as individuals.

Photograph by Randal Ford for Fast Company. More about the stencil.

“Through a series of large-scale projects that combine installation art with social activism, Chang has encouraged people to engage with public spaces to let their voices be heard.” - O, The Oprah Magazine

“Good urban design doesn’t just help people engage with their cities; according to artist and designer Candy Chang, it also helps people engage with each other… Chang creates public spaces that spark conversation and reflect a sense of community identity—often using little more than chalk, stickers, and some creativity.” - The Atlantic

“It’s hard to know where to begin with Candy Chang… We love how she has opened up discourse around public space by providing people with easy and innovative ways to have a say about how their urban environment should be developed.” – Wooster Collective, USA Network

See more press here

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

If you’re interested in having Candy speak at a conference or other event, please contact The Lavin Agency. Learn more here.

PERMISSION TO USE PHOTOS

You have permission to use any photos on this website for the publicity of Candy Chang and her projects. Please credit photos to Civic Center unless the photos are already credited otherwise. High-res photos are available on the press page.

PERMISSION TO REMIX PROJECTS

You have permission to reimagine and remix any of Candy Chang’s projects. Ideas come from other ideas! We only hope you consider crediting the original inspiration. If you are interested in making a Before I Die wall, wonderful! We have created a toolkit with stencils and are developing many other resources on the project site beforeidie.cc.

STAY IN TOUCH

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AWARDS & HONORS

World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, 2012

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas / Art Production Fund Artist-in-Residence, 2012

Samson Feldman Resident in Art Education and Graphic Design, Maryland Institute College of Art, 2012

Black Rock Arts Foundation Grant, 2011

Tulane University / Rockefeller Foundation Urban Innovation Fellow, 2011

TED Senior Fellow, 2011

Alaska Design Forum Artist Residency, 2011

Top 11 Visual Artists in New Orleans, NOLA Defender, 2011

Fast Company Emerging Master of Design, 2010

Artist as Neighbour Residency, Turku, Finland, 2010

TED Global Fellow, 2009

Center for Urban Pedagogy Making Policy Public Fellow, 2008

Sappi Ideas That Matter Grant, 2008

Global Studio Johannesburg Fellowship, 2008

Columbia University Urban Planning Award for Outstanding Contribution to Leadership in Planning Education, 2007

Global Studio Johannesburg Fellowship, 2007

Infrastructure and Poverty Action Lab Fellowship, 2007

Spatial Information Design Lab New Orleans Fellowship, 2006

Global Studio Vancouver Fellowship, 2006

PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS

Upcoming: Iconic Signage Project, Arts Council of New Orleans, Broad Community Connections, and Open Air Project, New Orleans LA, 2012

Upcoming: Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, Sep-Nov 2012

Upcoming: The Cosmopolitan Hotel, Public Art Fund, Las Vegas NV, Jul/Aug 2012

TED Conference, Before I Die, Long Beach CA, 2012

Death: The Southbank Centre’s Festival for the Living, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, UK 2012

Turku European Capital of Culture, Career Path, Turku, Finland, 2011

The Alaska Design Forum, Looking for Love Again, Fairbanks AK, 2011

Hypothetical Development, Mobile Cornucopia, New Orleans LA, 2010

Figment, Pedestrian Timeline, Governors Island NY, 2008

Koltsovo International Airport, Illuminators, Maps for Airports, Yekaterinburg Russia, 2008

Windows Brooklyn, Post-it Notes for Neighbors, Brooklyn NY, 2008

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Upcoming: Mix(Cité) by La L’Observatoire de la Ville, Cité de L’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris France, May 2012

Onomatopee, The Voice Of…, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2011

Du Mois Gallery, Hypothetical Development, New Orleans LA, 2011

East/West Galleries, Subtext Projects, Fort Worth TX, 2011

Du Mois Gallery, Ethnographic Terminalia, New Orleans LA, 2010

GALLEY, Poster Offensive, Minneapolis MN, 2010

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, National Design Triennial, New York NY, 2010 – 2011

Center for Architecture, Global Polis, New York NY, 2009

Sci-Arc, @, Los Angeles CA, 2009

Traveling exhibition, Poster4Tomorrow, Amsterdam, Ankara, Beirut, Belgrade, Brussels, Chungnam, Derry, Heidelberg, La Paz, Lima, Lisbon, Los Angeles, Marrakech, Milan, Montreal, Paris, Quito, Seville, Stockholm, Tbilisi, Vienna, 2009

MC2 Maison de la culture de Grenoble, Grenoble France, 2007

Conflux Festival, Brooklyn NY, 2007

OPENSOURCE, Skinless Capital: Neoliberalism and Resistance,Champaign-Urbana IL, 2005

Traveling exhibition, Stick Up, New York!, New York, London, Berlin, Tokyo, 2005

TALKS

Upcoming: MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), Baltimore MD, Apr 19 2012 - Postponed!

Upcoming: Forecast Public Art, Walker Art Center, and Hennepin Theatre Trust, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis MN, Apr 26 2012

Upcoming: Public Relations Society of America Conference, New Orleans LA, May 8 2012

Upcoming: Nevada Museum of Art, Reno NV, May 17, 2012

University of Utah College of Architecture and Planning, Salt Lake City UT, Apr 2012

Central College, Pella Iowa, Apr 2012

Carnegie Mellon University School of Design, Pittsburgh PA, Mar 2012

TEDxTU, New Orleans, LA, Nov 2011

Factor Clave 2011: Visión Diseño (Key Factor 2011: Design Vision Conference), Querétaro, Mexico, Oct 2011

TEDGlobal Conference, Edinburgh Scotland, Jul 2011

Summer Public Art School, Turku Finland, Jun 2011

Soros Foundation Youth ArtCamp Conference, Almaty Kazakhstan, May 2011

Alaska Design Forum Common Space Symposium, Anchorage AK, Fairbanks AK, Apr 2011

TED Conference, Long Beach CA, Mar 2011

TYPO Berlin International Design Conference, Berlin Germany, May 2010

TEDGlobal Conference, Oxford UK, Jul 2009

Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Helsinki Finland, Apr 2009

Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, New York NY, Mar 2007

If you’re interested in having Candy speak at a conference or other event, please contact The Lavin Agency.

EDUCATION

MS, Urban Planning, 2007
Columbia University
Thesis on local communication in public space

BFA, Graphic Design, 2001
University of Michigan

BS, Architecture, 2001
University of Michigan

And the school of life on the streets of Belize, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, and USA…

OTHER EVENTS

In documentary film Urbanized by Gary Hustwit, 2011

Book Launch Party for The Road to Somewhere: An American Memoir by James A. Reeves, New York NY, 2011

On the jury for A Logo for Human Rights, 2011

Scottsdale Public Art Think Tank, Scottsdale AZ, 2011

CEOs for Cities US Initiative: Community Challenge, Detroit MI, 2010

BOOKS FEATURING WORK

Why Design Now?
ed. National Design Triennial, 2010, New York: Smithsonian Institute.

Fingerprint: The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Graphic Design
ed. Chen Design Associates, 2006, Cincinnati: How Books.

Stickers!: From the First International Sticker Awards
2006, Berlin: Gestalten Verlag.