Cure cancer.

Drive a Ferrari.

Fall in love.

Be on Saturday Night Live.

Four seemingly unconnected sentiments. But they do, in fact, have something in common: All of these were responses to the open-ended question, “Before I die I want to…”

The query was posed by artist and urban planner Candy Chang (pictured, right) in an interactive public art project called Before I Die…. The installation has been featured in cities across the world and currently has a home in Denver. Make your way to the corner of Colfax Avenue and Bannock Street (by the McNichols Civic Center Building) to leave your reflections, hopes, and dreams on the open blackboard alongside your neighbors’.

Back in February 2011, Chang created the original mural on the side of an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans after the loss of a loved one. In just one day, the entire wall was filled with people’s innermost thoughts. Chang had turned an unused space into a conversation. Since then, Before I Die… murals have popped up in more than 20 countries, from Australia to Scotland.

Even cooler: There’s an online toolkit to help you get started on making your own public comment board.

What are you waiting for? Go add your voice to the wall. It’ll be up until February.

Images: (top) Courtesy of Denver Arts & Venues; (right) courtesy of Randal Ford

Daliah Singer
Daliah Singer
Daliah Singer is an award-winning writer and editor based in Denver. You can find more of her work at daliahsinger.com.