Candy Chang is a Taiwanese American artist who activates public spaces around the world. With a background in design, architecture, and urban planning, she creates interactive art installations using street art tactics and prompts for anonymous, handwritten reflections. Connecting public art and mental health, her work aims to reflect a community’s innermost thoughts and emotional state by appropriating a space for the purpose of displaying these personal reflections, expressing feelings of anxiety, hope, grief, and the subconscious. She also incorporates video and mixed media to reproduce handwritten contributions by participants.
Read on to learn about The Nightly News exhibit and Candy's virtual artist talk—and get to know the artist in the exclusive interview below.
Currently on view at the MSU Broad Art Museum through May 28, The Nightly News is an interactive installation inviting visitors to anonymously write down a short line from a dream they remember, which is then scanned and projected onto a screen.
The latest project by artists Candy Chang and James A. Reeves, The Nightly News’ ongoing contributions create a cinematic, surreal experience that contemplates a community’s subconscious. After collecting over one thousand handwritten dreams from students at the American School in London, Chang and Reeves transformed the school’s underground courtyard into a theater dedicated to these subconscious visions. Now, the installation comes to East Lansing with contributions from the Michigan State University community.
The exhibition is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum in collaboration with International Studies and Programs.
Artist Candy Chang will discuss The Nightly News project and share her insights on the importance of global diversity, equity and inclusion and how art can be a powerful tool in creating more equitable and inclusive societies.
As a Taiwanese immigrant and avid traveler, Candy's work is deeply rooted in her experiences and her commitment to building more empathetic communities. This unique opportunity will allow attendees to discover Candy’s innovative ideas on reimagining communal spaces and public rituals to foster understanding and empathy among individuals.
This virtual program is in continued collaboration between International Studies and Programs and Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum and is generously sponsored by the Eli Broad College of Business, the Office of the Executive Vice President for Administration and Student Life and Engagement.
Registration for this free event is required. Register here.
International Studies and Programs is proud and grateful to share this in-depth interview with Candy Chang as we anticipate her exclusive virtual artist talk on April 20.
Our anxieties and desires often turn into incredible dreams when we go to sleep. The Nightly News is a participatory installation dedicated to those visions that brew below our waking minds. It’s one of my favorite projects because it shows just how creative we all are and that we’re way weirder than we seem.
Each night we make surreal stories full of symbolism, and they share a lot in common. We’re chased. We’re challenged. We’re strangers in a strange land. Whether dreams come from the dregs of the day or the darker corners of the mind, they've been a compelling tool for me to contemplate my relationships and goals.
It’s been mesmerizing to read the dreams of the MSU community and transform them into an equally surreal video at MSU Broad Art Museum.
Being the child of Taiwanese immigrants always made me feel like a nomad of the world. “My culture” was a mixed bag from day one and I always loved to travel. When I was an urban planning student, I worked with communities in Johannesburg and it really influenced my path. That’s when I learned about Alfred Sirleaf’s chalkboard newspaper. It inspired the work we did there. It also inspired me to make Before I Die, which has now been created in over 75 countries thanks to passionate people around the world. It taught me the value of global exchange to remix ideas in new ways.
Society is more merciful when we see ourselves in each other. I saw the value in simply humanizing strangers when I worked in civic engagement. There are so many barriers to opening up, that it’s easy to forget the humanity in others and become adversarial.
I saw a lot of conflicts come from a lack of trust and understanding. My interests evolved into exposing more of our inner worlds in public because I gained so much from seeing everyone else’s. I saw a wider range of humanity out in the open. I saw humor and joy mashed up next to pain and redemption.
People's reflections gave me the courage to face my own struggles, and they helped me see the people around me in a profound new light. Our public spaces can play an important role in emotional communion—not only to cultivate our mental health, but to foster understanding and kinship.
Among the many aspects that determine a healthy community, mental health is often neglected. Loneliness, stress, and anxiety have all been called public health epidemics. Political polarization is on the rise. I’m part of a growing population that is not religious and I think I lost something valuable along the way. I didn’t have communal rituals or dignified spaces to reflect with others on the human condition. Many of us have been left to confront some of our darkest times alone, without the rituals and reassurances of community.
As the world feels more uncertain and alienating, how can our communities better serve our psychological health? How can our shared spaces help us restore perspective? How can we create more communal space to reflect and see ourselves in each other? I think there’s a lot of room to reimagine the future of ritual in public life. I’d like to see more speculative rituals that speak to the pains of our age.
I started creating participatory art because I’m an introvert. It was a way to ask my neighbors things I was too shy to ask in person. I wondered how the quieter people could share just as much as the loud ones. Over time, I realized these anonymous spaces offered a rare opportunity to publicly share in vulnerable ways without fear of judgment. They tell a different story than the one we often see on our screens.
I see a profound amount of reflections on loneliness, fear of judgment, pressures to be performative, distraction, and addiction. It feels like a more honest portrait of our communities today. They point to where we need help. They make me braver in my own self-examination and relationships. They teach me what helps us hold on and persevere. They make me infinitely compassionate and non-judgmental. I’m currently working on ways to return them to the public through paintings, videos, and future installations. They highlight our common humanity, which is vital for cooperation.
When I think of being an engaged global citizen, I think of the same attitude as when I travel. You can’t travel and be tightly wound. Open-mindedness is a fundamental part of travel—to be open to seeing new things, trying new things, letting the unexpected become meaningful to you.
Thanks to my work, I’ve spent extended periods in many countries, including Finland, Indonesia, Brazil, and Greece. Traveling instills that beginner’s mindset that I want to maintain every day. It’s those same qualities that lead me to my best ideas. Being receptive to the unexpected is the state of mind that has helped me grow the most.
I remember feeling jealous of people who seemed certain about their careers at an early age. I loved being creative, but that energy went in a dozen directions. I ran a record label. I made street art. I did ethnography research. I designed stuff for advocacy groups. I ended up trying a lot of things in different disciplines, and when I look back, I’m glad I did. The mashup of those experiences ultimately led me to make art in ways I never could have imagined before.
I've never had a five-year plan. I've had a few-months plan, and that's worked for me because I keep having new experiences and insights that change the course. So, I’d ask them the same pattern of questions I’ve asked myself repeatedly for over a decade: What interests you now? How can you explore that more?
To learn more about Candy, visit candychang.com.
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