Artist | experiments in dialogic public art

John Ewing

John is a dialogic artist specializing in participatory installations with an emphasis on cross-cultural exchange. He co-founded the artist collective Ghana ThinkTank, known for its unconventional approach to negotiating social conflicts. Using a blend of public art and community organizing, the Ghana ThinkTank has been “Developing the First World" since 2006. They collect problems in the “developed” world, and send them to be solved by think tanks they established in Cuba, Ghana, Palestine, Iran, Mexico and a group of incarcerated teenage girls in the U.S.. They then work with the communities where the problems originated to implement those solutions - whether they seem impractical or brilliant.

By exchanging problems and looking for help in unexpected places, they flip typical power dynamics, shift points of view and build unlikely coalitions. By undermining assumptions about the roles of helper vs helped, those accustomed to imparting wisdom are put in the position of asking for help, and vice-versa. This creates unlikely networks that cross divides of ethnic and social conflict.

Their work has earned recognition from many institutions including the U.S. State Department, Creative Time and Creative Capital and has engaged communities across six continents.