MELD x INSIDE OUT PROJECT / 2011-2012
"I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we'll turn the world...INSIDE OUT." – JR, TED 2011 On March 2, 2011, at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California.
When JR was awarded the TED Prize, he started a global art project - the Inside Out Project - inspired by his large‐format street “pastings.” The concept of the project is to give everyone the opportunity to share their portrait and a statement of what they stand for, with the world..
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MELD decided to participate inviting six Greek photographers to create face-to-face portraits of children from privileged and un-privileged social backgrounds living in Athens.
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MELD Athens joined forces with Inside Out Action Juares and invited 17 cities around the world have joined forces in a Global Action called BE THE CHANGE.
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MELD Athens launched a smaller youth action under the umbrella of BE THE CHANGE.
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In 2012, MELD’s BE THE CHANGE Inside Out Action was invited to collaborate with the Global Citizen Festival in NY’s Central Park.
We believe this time of financial uncertainty and individual and collective despair has brought us to a moment of truth, and thus an opportunity to reconsider the intrinsic value of artistic practice as a cultural catalyst to provoke change. As economical and social tensions rise in Athens, there is an absolute need for communication and understanding of the “other.” Through mutual respect and compassion, the photographers will create a bridge and engage the respective communities for the group action. Here, it is essential to emphasize that the process of obtaining consent for the portraits and the posting is as important, if not more so, than the pictures themselves. With more than 60 children participating, this project is an opportunity to try to de - mystify the concept of “the other” and thus humanize every individual, whatever their ethnicity or social class may be."
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We believe this time of financial uncertainty and individual and collective despair has brought us to a moment of truth, and thus an opportunity to reconsider the intrinsic value of artistic practice as a cultural catalyst to provoke change. As economical and social tensions rise in Athens, there is an absolute need for communication and understanding of the “other.” Through mutual respect and compassion, the photographers will create a bridge and engage the respective communities for the group action. Here, it is essential to emphasize that the process of obtaining consent for the portraits and the posting is as important, if not more so, than the pictures themselves. With more than 60 children participating, this project is an opportunity to try to de - mystify the concept of “the other” and thus humanize every individual, whatever their ethnicity or social class may be." *
— Corinne Weber & Yvonne Senouf, “Be The Change” / MELD Co-Founders
community action
EYES OF TRUTH - Athens, Greece / 2011
When TEDPrize winner, JR announced his wish to turn the world “InsideOut,” inviting people around the globe to share a photo portrait along with a statement about what they stand for, MELD |Athens decided to participate inviting six Greek photographers, including Adamantios Kafetzis, Alexandros Voutsas, Ioanna Ralli, Ryme63/StateofMind, Stavros Makris and Yiannis Chiotopoulos to create face-to-face portraits of children from privileged and un-privileged social backgrounds living in Athens. These portraits will be posted as diptychs in public spaces in central Athens on October 15th, 2011, as a parallel event as part of TEDxAcademy, which will take place on October 10th, 2011.
Public Presentations & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
TEDxAcademy, Athens, 2011
PECHA KUCHA, Heraklion, Crete, 2012
TEDXAlsace, Mulhouse, France, 201
PARTNERS:
Medecins du Monde, Local Volunteers, Athens Ukranian Community Center, Athens Public Immigration Services
community action
BE THE CHANGE / 2012
Public Outdoor Locations throughout 26 cities:
Alamata Ethiopia, Athens Greece, Austin & EL PASO Texas/USA, Aveiro Portugal, Bandung Indonesia, BOGGABRI, Brisbane, CAIRNS Melbourne, Sydney & Woodford Australia, Casablanca Morocco, Campeche, DF, Juarez, Leon, MERIDA Mexico, Lima Peru, London UK, Madrid Spain, Mulhouse France, New York, NY/USA, Nicosia Cyprus, Santiago Chile, Seoul, South Korea AND Tunis Tunisia.
Via French artist, JR’s, Inside Out Project, 26 cities around the world joined forces in a Global Action called BE THE CHANGE.
The aim of this action was to bring awareness to the issues we want to change, make citizens aware of their responsibilities and capacity to contribute to the changing world, and inspire creative solutions to make these changes possible! We believe this change must come from within each individual in order for us to move forward collectively and bring about positive change worldwide.
The 26 participating cities each took 250 portraits, which were printed, sorted and shipped to each country. An equal number of the 250 portraits were redistributed within each country so that when the portraits were pasted on the walls, we were all standing shoulder to shoulder as global citizens. In the end, BE THE CHANGE included almost 5,000 portraits as part of this “global photographic ex-change.”
On Friday, September 21st, 2012, in honor of World Peace Day, the participants and local communities in each city were invited to gather in a simultaneous evening “gesture” event to write the word PEACE using a portion of the portraits to officially launch the BTC posting on Saturday. Those in attendance had an opportunity to engage in a dialogue based onsharing and collaboration, using art as a catalyst for social change.
PARTNERS:
Athens Municipality, American Embassy to Greece, Technopolis, Common Room, Peace One Day, Telefonica, Grand Bretagne Hotel (Athens, Greece)
TEDx Chapters include TEDxAlsace, TEDxAveiro (Portugal), TEDxBandung, TEDxDF (Mexico), TEDxMadrid, TEDxNicosia and TEDxPatagonia
BE THE CHANGE
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BE THE CHANGE *
BE THE CHANGE - YOUTH / ATHENS, GREECE
MELD’s BE THE CHANGE x GLOBAL CITIZEN FESTIVAL
CENTRAL PARK, NYC
“I’ve been fascinated by JR’s work and his Inside Out Project for a few years. I had seen his art in New York and Venice and when I heard about the Be The Change Inside Out Project, it seemed like a perfect fit to try and collaborate with the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park. I started the Global Citizen festival with the idea of connecting creatives with causes on a global scale, having the Be The Change images, which represented 17 different countries, throughout Central Park really gave the festival a global message. We are honored to be a part of the project’s mission of bringing awareness to the issues global citizens want to change, making citizens aware of their responsibilities and capacity to contribute to the changing world, and inspire creative solutions to make these changes possible. ”
BE THE CHANGE PUBLICATION
Be the Change, A Global Inside Out Project, presents a photography book compiling more than 1000 images capturing the BTC IOP Action that took place simultaneously in 26 cities (Alamata, Athens, Austin, Brisbane, Aveiro, Bandung, Boggabri, Cairns, Campeche, Casablanca, Mexico D.F. , El Paso, Juarez, Leon, Lima, Madrid, Melbourne, Merida, Mulhouse, Nicosia, New York, Santiago, Seoul, Sydney, Tunis, Woodford) around the world on September 21st, 2012. Be the Change is the story in images of diverse communities working together, regardless of their cultural, social and racial differences, to collaborate in a global project.
The book is acting as an archive of photographic and conceptual messages about positive Change from thousands of citizens believing in the power of art to change the world. Hundreds of acclaimed and amateur photographers around the world donated their time to make this project possible. The ephemeral nature of street art only allows us to record this action in the format of a book to remain not only a source of inspiration, but as well as a testimony of a successful experience of global volunteer work dedicated to positive Change.