I woke up this morning to come across this video on the TED website. As any creative knows, some days you fall out of love with art, but other days, like today, you realise how much power and impact it really has and what it can do…therefore why you do what you do. It brings a feeling inside you that makes you want to go out there and take on the world. The video is about the artist JR, who I came across at the 8th Shanghai Biennale and at a solo exhibition at the 18Gallery when I was in Shanghai last year. He was given the 2011 TED Prize — an award granting $100,000 and something much bigger – a wish to change the world with the support of the TED community. So can art change the world? Here are a few quotes from his clever, witty and inspirational video below…
“…the city is the best gallery I could imagine…people in the street are the curator…art belongs to them…”
“…it is what you do with the image…the statement it makes where it’s pasted…”
“In some way art can change the world, but in some way it is not supposed to change the world…it is to change the perceptions, art can change the way we see the world…a neutral place for changes and discussions that then enables you to change the world.”
“I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project and together we can turn the world inside out…reveal things to the world…”
“…what you see changes who we are.”
It really does makes you think about the impact art should and can have…personally and globally. It might sound like a cliché but let’s get involved…then “changes” can happen.
Rachel Marsden's Words 