Can art change the world?

I’ve been a huge fan of the TED lectures for a couple of years now, ever since I stumbled on a talk by Zach Leiberman and his EyeWriter project enabling a Paralyzed graffiti artist to draw again. TED is a non profit organisation that runs conferences to spread new and interesting ideas from the worlds of Technology, Entertainment and Design. Each year one individual is awarded $100,000 and granted “one wish to change the world”, and this year the TED Prize was awarded to the French street artist “JR” who pastes huge images of faces onto walls “to show the world it’s true face”. His rather ambitious Prize Wish was “to use art to turn the world inside out” and so armed with a camera, a crew of designated pasters and a little help from the locals JR travelled to a favela in Rio in an attempt to do just that. The result is this hugely engaging TED Lecture which aired in Long Beach California last March. Set aside 25 minutes, stick on some head phones and get ready to be inspired. (Click here to watch.)