Looking for Love Again. Share memories and hopes2011 Candy Chang was invited by the Alaska Design Forum to create a public art project on the tallest building in Fairbanks.
The Polaris Building was once an apartment complex, then a hotel, and now it’s been vacant for more than a decade. To renew attention to the building, she installed a four-story sign that says “Looking for Love Again” to turn the building into an emotional beacon. Two chalkboards at the street level invite people to share their memories of the building and hopes for its future.
Feedback from the project is being used by the developer and the downtown development association to inform next steps. 2011. Within this space, themes already emerged. Memories of the Tiki Bar on the top floor Ghost story of room 303 Themes for hopes: Sidewalk Psychiatry. 2006New York, NY Street art that encourages self-evaluation in transit by posing introspective questions on the pavements of New York City with stencils and temporary spray chalk.
Public therapy, free of charge. “Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts.” – Søren Kierkegaard. Before I Die. A Nice Place for a Tree. Promoting green sidewalks 2008 New York City’s Chinatown was Candy’s home for many years and it is a land of good food, colorful shops, and fresh produce.
It is also a land of three trees in a ten-block radius. To jump-start the Great Chinatown Tree-Planting Movement, she used temporary spray chalk to mark spots on the sidewalks for the City to drop some green ones. Thanks to the progressive ideas of PlaNYC, the City makes it easy for residents to get involved in tree-planting through the new MillionTreesNYC program. Confessions. 2012 Las Vegas, NV Interactive gallery installation in The Cosmopolitan that invites people to anonymously share their confessions and see the confessions of the people around them in the heart of the Las Vegas strip.
Amidst casinos, restaurants and bars, Chang invited passersby to write confessions on wooden plaques in the privacy of confession booths. Chang arranged the anonymous plaques on the gallery walls like a Shinto shrine prayer wall, painted select responses on 4’x4’ canvases, and orchestrated the space with an original score by Oliver Blank. The project explored the design of safe spaces for anonymity, vulnerability, understanding, and consolation.
Inspired by Japanese Shinto shrines, Post Secret, and Catholicism. 2012, Las Vegas, NV. I Wish This Was. 2010New Orleans, LA Interactive public art project that invites residents to share their hopes for vacant buildings.
Chang placed boxes of free stickers in businesses around the city and posted thousands of stickers on vacant buildings across New Orleans, so anyone walking by could fill one out. Hello Neighbors. Local communication thesis 2007 This is a condensed version of Candy’s 2007 Master’s of Urban Planning thesis at Columbia University called Hello, Neighbors!
: Outdoor Flyers, Online Forums, and an Eye Towards Collective Neighborhood Communication. We have more and more tools to reach out across the world, but it’s still hard to reach out to your entire neighborhood. Residents are full of knowledge and experiences that could help us improve our communities and ourselves. Community Chalkboards. Local message board 2008 As part of Global Studio, Candy Chang and international students worked with a community group in Johannesburg for two years to learn from their experiences, exchange knowledge, and help facilitate their needs.
One day a little girl was lost in Diepsloot, a township in Johannesburg. She was safely found but it took three days. Local resident Bongani Baloyi saw how hard it was to spread the word that he started a non-profit called Diepsloot Community News (DCN) to improve local communication. After conducting a community survey, DCN and the team started to develop a local radio station by learning the process and challenges from successful radio stations in other townships. 2007, 2008. Restroom Map Notepad. To find relief for us all 2007 Inspired by Gawker’s Subway Smells Map, Candy wondered if there was a way to alleviate some of New York City’s pungent odors.
After using GIS to map out the location of semi-public restrooms in downtown NYC, she wanted to make this information publicly accessible so she created a notepad version and posted them at the 6, J, M, Z Canal St subway stops. The map can be torn from the notepad and used as a vital resource for local facilities as well as facts about NYC’s slim offerings. Recovery Guide & Park. As part of Global Studio, Candy and international students worked with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), a community organization of drug users and former users who provide peer support, education, and recovery help.
Forced out of their SROs (single-room-occupancies) during the day, residents are left on the streets and many women are harassed in the male-dominant area. Inspired by Rebar’s Park(ing) project, the team collaborated with VANDU’s Women’s Group to plan and promote a community park in one of the area’s vacant lots. In addition to the event, Candy designed a local resource guide made by and for recovering women. 2006. Temporary park on Hastings Street.