Denver will become a Happy City with U.K. artist Stuart Semple’s first American public art exhibition

January 30, 2018 Posted In

Written by John Wenzel, The Know

HappyCloud with Casa Vogue in Milan in 2009. Denver will be added to the list of Happy Cities. (Moncler, Provided by Happy City)

Acclaimed British artist Stuart Semple will debut his first American public art installation in Denver this summer, with the aim of making the Mile High City a measurably friendlier, more connected and less anxious place.

Known as Happy City, the exhibition will lean on a citywide network of partners to realize Semple’s dream of creating highly visible and, in one case, permanent changes in some of Denver’s most prominent public spaces, including Union Station and the Denver Theatre District.

“It’s very much a work in progress because we’ve still got about six months to go,” Semple said Tuesday over the phone from his home in Dorset, England. “Really, what I’m hoping to do is collaborate with the city rather than being an artist who wades in and kind of splashes their work about.”

Semple is internationally known for his playful, conceptual art projects in Australia, Russia and Europe, as well as solo and group shows that seek to create a sense of whimsy while questioning the boundaries of public and private life.

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