JR's TED Prize Wish: Use Art to Turn the World Inside
JR, a French street, artist uses his camera to show the world its true face. He makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out. A funny, moving talk about art and who we are. Learn more at insideoutproject.net.
246520_145x80_generated.jpgJR, a French street, artist uses his camera to show the world its true face. He makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out. A funny, moving talk about art and who we are. Learn more at insideoutproject.net.
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| JR (right) |
Organizers of TED, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to cultivating ideas and innovation through its prestigious conferences, described the Paris artist as a "true humanitarian" whose art inspires people to look at the world differently.
"It is about making invisible people visible," JR said.
"Trust me; the power of image in a world of image is really strong... All I am doing is giving the medium to everyone.""It's the Internet -- it is going everywhere," he said.
"You don't know where it is going to go or who is going to pick it up... I know I am going to be surprised."
JR envisioned using some of the uploaded pictures in future projects.
"I'm asking people to stand behind their ideas," said the man who describes himself as a "photograffeur."
"It takes more than saying 'I Like It' on Facebook."
With people's images involved, JR was confident participants would be discerning when choosing where to post them.
He brushed aside any risk involved, saying he has only been arrested a few times and paid little in fines in his years as a guerrilla street artist.
"If you are going to paste it in the streets, then choose a good wall," JR advised. "If you choose the wrong one, get ready to run."
JR has mounted his enormous black-and-white photos on buildings in slums around Paris, on walls in the Middle East, on dilapidated bridges in Africa and on homes in Brazilian shanty towns.
He put images of a rabbi, an imam and a priest on walls in Israel and the Palestinian territories. His "Women Are Heroes" display turned a Kenyan town into a gallery of local faces.
"I wish for you to stand up for what you care about participating in a art project, and together we'll turn the world... INSIDE OUT."
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| JR has invited people around the world to tell their stories in giant self-portraits plastered on any open surfaces |
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French street artist JR launches global project
Anyone with Internet access can take pictures of faces with "strong" expressions and upload them to the website insideoutproject.net.
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