MICHAEL CANDY
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Michael Candy is an international artist known for kinetic sculptures, interactive installations, and video works that challenge the socio-political implications of contemporary technology. His practice navigates shifting landscapes of automation, mythology, and agency, constructing engineered phenomena that reconfigure space and perception.
His works emerge as social experiments and interventions, transforming environments through movement, light, and interaction. Drawing from post-industrial design, robotics, and emergent technology, these autonomous systems act within the world rather than merely reflecting it, generating new conditions and anomalies that unfold in real-time.
Candy has been involved in many international exhibitions and residencies, notably: Water, (GOMA, Brisbane), Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, (AGSA, Adelaide), Ars Electronica Festival, (Linz, Austria), The Kathmandu Triennale (Kathmandu, Nepal), The Forum of Sensory Motion (Athens, Greece), The Instrument Builders Project + Hackteria Lab (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), and Hawapi (Huepetuhe, Peru).
He is also the winner of the WRO Award as part of the 16th Media Art biennale in Poland and Prix Cube in Paris. He has also been a finalist in the Jeremy Hynes Award (Brisbane, Australia) and the Bio Art and Design Award (The Hague, Netherlands).
Currently based in New York, USA
CV
Awards:
2024 Creative Australia Fellowship, Australia
2023 Museum Acquisition Award (Finalist), USA
2017 Jeremy Hynes Award (Finalist), Australia
2016 Le Cube Prix, France
2015 Bio Art and Design Award (Finalist), Netherlands
2015 WRO Biennale Award, Poland
Selected Exhibitions:
2024 Group show, Newlab, Detroit
2023 Opening up the space, Centrum Sztuki WRO, Wroclaw, Poland
2023 LGF, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2023 GDE, Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit, USA
2022 Who’s Afraid of Public Space?, ACCA, Melbourne
2022 Swarm, Science Gallery Melbourne, Melbourne
2022 Kynton Contemporary, Kyneton
2021 Octopus, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne
2021 Rising Festival, Melbourne
2021 Solid Gold, HOTA, Gold Coast
2021 On Fire, IMA, Brisbane
2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, AGSA, Adelaide
2019 Water, Goma, Brisbane
2019 Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria
2019 Bauhaus Now, Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne
2019 Dark Mofo, Hobart
2018 Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto, Japan
2018 Sydney Contemporary, Sydney
2017 Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NYC, USA
2017 Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton
2017 Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
2017 Kathmandu Triennale, Nepal
2016 The Number you have reached, Success, Perth
2016 Le Cube Prix, Paris
2015 WRO Biennale, RENOMA, Wroclaw, Poland
2014 Instrument Builders Project 3, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2014 BIG DIPPER, Pepper House Studios Fort Kochi, India
2014 NextWave, New Low & Bus Projects, Melbourne
2014 Hackteria, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
2013 ISEA, First Draft, Sydney
2013 Foundations Edge, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane
2013 ISEA, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
2013 Catching Light, Campbeltown Arts Center, Sydney
2012 Venus, Ryan Renshaw Gallery, Brisbane
2012 Time Machine, Serial Space, Sydney
2012 STCKA, Gold Coast Art Center, Gold Coast
2012 Psycho Subtropics, Serial Space, Sydney
2012 Seven + Another, Sub station 4, Brisbane
2011 New Primitive, contortionist studios, Brisbane
2011 Overground, Melbourne
2010 Lightmares, 19k Contemporary Artspace, Gold Coast
Residencies:
2025 Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, NYC, USA
2024 Newlab Artist in Residence, Detroit, USA
2023 Rair, Roswell NM, USA
2023 PIF Camp, Soča - Slovenia
2019 cephaloPOD19, Whyalla - Australia
2018 Dinacon, Koh Lon - Thailand
2017 Forum of Sensory Motion, Athens - Greece
2016 Robotics Association of Nepal, Kathmandu - Nepal
2015 HAWAPI, Huepetue - Peru
2014 Hackteria Lab, Indonesia Yogyakarta - Indonesia
2014 KOCHI AIR, Fort Kochi - India
2013 IBP, Yogyakarta - Indonesia
2013 The Armory, Sydney - Australia
2012 Time machine, serial space, Sydney - Australia
2012 Psycho subtropics, Sydney - Australia
2011 Splendid Arts Lab, Lismore - Australia
Publications:
2023 Vault Magazine, Feature Article
2021 Sydney Morning Herald, Feature Article
2019 Art Collector, Article
2017 Museum Magazine, Feature Article
2017 Art Forum, Article
2017 Art Collector, Feature Article
2017 Art link, Article
2014 Brisbane Times, Feature Article
2014 The Hindi (India), Article
2013 ABC, September 4, Feature Article
2013 Jakarta Globe, August 15, Feature Article
2012 Realtime Australia, August, Interview
2012 Brisbane times, February 3rd, Feature Article
2012 Courier Mail, February 2nd Feature Article
2011 ABC Arts Corner Interview, October
2010 So You Want To Be An Artist – Artworkers Alliance
2010 Courier Mail, October 6 Feature Article
Commissions/Collaborations:
2022 Robotic winches – Jessie French
2019 Farbenlichtspiele – Bauhaus Now
2016 Free Music Machines – Grainger Museum
2015 POV Display – Kit Webster
2013 Golden Orbs – Meagan Streader
2013 MOS – Andreas Siagian & Pia Van Gelder
2013 NIGHT RAGE – Keith Armstrong & Lawrence English
2012 kinetic park bench – Dirtywork
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studio (at) michaelcandy (dot) com