Cleo Barnett is a New Zealand-born and Los Angeles-based multi-media artist, public art curator, and creative strategist. Since 2009, Barnett has directed and produced more than 300 public space interventions across five continents. Collaborating with artists, government agencies, non-profit and community-based organizations, philanthropists, educators, and global brands, her public art practice is grounded in community empowerment through public art and mass media experiments.
Cleo’s private art practice is heavily influenced by her upbringing (her mother and father were both creatives deeply connected to nature) and an ongoing interest in surrealism, mysticism, and alchemy. Having been introduced to mystic philosophies from a young age and moving between cities and living in nature, Cleo's understanding of the poetics of space and an exploration of alternative states of consciousness is ubiquitous throughout her various artistic creations.
Barnett is currently the Co-Creative Director of Amplifier, a non-profit design lab that builds media experiments to amplify social movements. Her work has been featured at the Brooklyn Museum, The New York Times, NPR, PBS, CNN, VICE and elsewhere. Cleo holds an M.A. in Art and Public Policy from New York University, and a double B.A. in Political Science and International Business from the University of Auckland.
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EDUCATION
Masters Art and Public Policy
New York University
New York, NY
Class of 2016
Bachelors of Business, International Business
Auckland University
Auckland, New Zealand
Class of 2013
Bachelors of Arts, Political Science
SELECT CURATION
For The Love of Greece, Co-Curator + Creative Strategist, Greece, Summer 2021 - Current
Sanctuary: Design For Belonging, Co-Curator, American Institute of Architects, Seattle, December 2018 - February 2019
Hear Our Voice, Curator, traveling exhibition: Los Angeles, Seattle, Asheville, Detroit, New York, 2017
OUROBOROS: Reclaim public space!, Curator, Superchief Gallery Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York, November 2016
Waterfront Auckland, Curator, Summer Program Placemaker, Auckland, New Zealand, August 2012 - March 2017
nowHERE, Curator, LoveCityLove, Seattle, Washington, August 2015
All Fresco Street Art Festival, Co-Founder + Curator, Auckland, New Zealand, May 2013 - April 2015
Conversations in Mind, Curator, Waterfront Auckland, New Zealand, February - March 2013
First Thursdays Festival, Founder and Creative Director, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand, December 2009 - December 2012
Art Week Auckland, Producer, Founding Team Member, City Wide Event, Auckland, New Zealand, October 2010 - 2012
SELECT PUBLIC SPEAKING & PUBLICATIONS
European Liberal Forum Academy, Speaker, East and South East Europe, hosted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, 2022
Unity for Humanity Summit, Speaker, Global, 2022
Transform Art Into Action, Speaker, Global, 2021
Decentralized Art Is Powering Movements, Speaker, Unfinished Live, New York, 2021
Drawing The Line, Moderator, Seattle Print Arts, March - July 2021
Turning up Marginalized Voices with Activist Art, Digital Feature, 2021
Seen and Heard: Advice on Making Posters, Broadsides, and Zines, Editorial, Kickstarter, June 2020
Celebrate 100 Years of Trailblazing, Speaker, KCTS9, International, June 2020
Shift Culture! Artivism & Campaign Design, Workshop Facilitator, Actors of Urban Change, Berlin, Germany, October 2019
Realizing Democracy, Speaker, Ford Foundation, New York, New York, September 2019
Inventing Our Future, Plenary Speaker, Alameda County Office of Education, Oakland, California, June 2019
Responding to the Cries of the World, Guest Blog Post, Design in Public, May 2019
How to Amplify Grassroots Movements, Presenter, Arts Leadership Conference, Seattle University, Seattle, February 2019
Artists Now!, Guest Lecture Series, University of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 2019
The Art of Persuasion, Presenter, Mohai Museum, Seattle, January 2019
Change Makers Conference, Keynote Speaker, Hubweek, Boston, October 2018
Seattle Design Festival 2018 Private Launch, Presenter, American Institute of Architects, Seattle, Washington, August 2018
Shifting Culture Through Art, Panel Moderator, Amplifier Art Lab, Seattle, Washington, June 2018.
Creative Resistance: Creatives Using their Unique Platform for Change, Panelist, FORM Festival, Acrosanti, Arizona, May 2018
The Brooklyn Conference: Inspiring Social Change, Presenter, Brooklyn Museum, New York, October 2017
Olympic Sculpture Park Tour, Presenter, SAM REMIX, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, August 2017
Discussing Empowerment Through the Visual Arts, Presenter, Asheville, NC, June 2017
West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference, Presenter, Los Angeles, CA, May 2017
Art x Advocacy, Presenter Panel Discussion, Washington, DC, April 2017
Hear Our Voice Pannel Discussion on Art and Activist, Panelist, CoCA Seattle, February 2017
New York University, Panelist, Art and Public Policy Department Public Talk, December 2016
SCREENINGS / FILM FESTIVALS
RUN screening, Northwest Film Forum Local Sightings Film Festival, Seattle, Washington, 2021
Give Yourself Heaven screening, Northwest Film Forum Local Shortiez, Seattle, Washington, 2021
DEPRESSION: ANTIDOTE Screening, Langston Hughes, Seattle Black Film Festival, Seattle, Washington, 2021
DEPRESSION: ANTIDOTE Screening & Talkback, NW Film Forum, Seattle, Washington, 2021
PROPHETIC: Trap Healed screening, FADER FORT 2.0 online event, 2020
AWARDS
Placemaking Leadership Council, November 2015 - Current
The Loisaida Center Fellowship, Researcher and Artist Residency, New York, New York, April - June 2016
New York University Research Fellowship, New York, New York, Summer of 2016