After winning the TED Prize on March 2, 2011, the French-artist JR launched the Inside Out Project, in his first TED Talk. Using his own artistic practice as inspiration, this participatory platform helps individuals and communities to make a statement by displaying large-scale black and white portraits in public spaces. Through their “Actions,” communities around the world have sparked collaborations and conversations.
Over the past decade, more than 500,000 people spanning across 152 countries and territories have participated in the Inside Out Project. Thanks to participants' donations, the project has reached all the continents, with over 2,500 actions created. Actions have revolved around a range of topics: diversity, community, feminism, racism, climate change, education, children’s rights, and art are just a few of them. Posters are displayed in outdoor spaces that are visible to the public. These Group Action installations are documented and shared online.
Together we can turn the world inside out!
JR exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not typical museum visitors. From the suburbs of Paris to the slums of Brazil to the streets of Istanbul, JR pastes huge portraits of little-known people. In 2011, after receiving the TED Prize, JR created Inside Out, a global participatory art project that helps communities make a statement by displaying large-scale black and white portraits in public spaces. As of September 2023, over half a million people from more than 150 countries and territories have participated in the project by creating their own installations or entering one of the Inside Out photobooths.
JR’s projects include a large-scale pasting in a maximum security prison in California, a TIME Magazine cover about guns in America, a video mural including 1,200 people presented at SFMOMA, a collaboration with New York City Ballet, an Academy Award-nominated feature documentary co-directed with Nouvelle Vague legend Agnès Varda, a huge installation on the Pantheon in Paris, a pasting on the pyramid of the Louvre, a monumental mural “à la Diego Rivera” in the suburbs of Paris, giant scaffolding installations at the 2016 Rio Olympics, an exhibition on the abandoned hospital of Ellis Island, a social restaurant for the homeless and refugees in Paris and a gigantic installation at the US-Mexico border fence.
As he remains anonymous, JR leaves the space open for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter. That is what JR's work is about, raising questions.
Become a Group Leader by organizing an Inside Out Action in your community. Gather 50 or more participants that stand behind a message you are passionate about and paste your portraits in your community.
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