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Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou City,
Fujian Province, China. Trained in stage design at the Shanghai Theater
Academy, his work has since crossed multiple mediums within art,
including drawing, installation, video and performance art. While living
in Japan from 1986 to 1995, he explored the properties of gunpowder in
his drawings, an inquiry that eventually led to his experimentation with
explosives on a massive scale and to the development of his signature
explosion events. Drawing upon Eastern philosophy and contemporary
social issues as a conceptual basis, these projects and events aim to
establish an exchange between viewers and the larger universe around
them, utilizing a site-specific approach to culture and history. He
currently lives and works in New York.
Cai was awarded the Japan Cultural Design Prize in 1995 and the Golden
Lion at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999. In the following years, he has
received the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), New
England for Best Installation or Single Work in a Museum (2005), the 7th
Hiroshima Art Prize (2007), the 20th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (2009),
and AICA’s first place for Best Project in a Public Space for Cai
Guo-Qiang: Fallen Blossoms (2010).
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Among his many solo exhibitions and projects include Cai Guo-Qiang on
the Roof: Transparent Monument, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
2006; Transient Rainbow, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2002, and APEC
Cityscape Fireworks Show, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, Shanghai,
2001.
The New York-based Chinese artist dazzled the world with his fireworks
projects in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
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Featuring "Footprints of History" that included 29 giant footprints
walking across the axis of Beijing, the fireworks displayed the essence
of China's rich culture and vision to the world. Cai Guoqiang explains
the initiative behind this work.
"The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was a grand celebration. I
wanted to add a new dimension or subject to this event. The firework
project 'Footprints of History' featured the axis of Beijing and through
this work I bound the history of China with the destiny of the city and
future prospect of our country together."
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But a fireworks exhibit that took place in broad daylight in Doha, Qatar
has impressed art lovers.
Black Ceremony is the work of Cai Guo-Qiang, a Chinese national based in
New York City and the world’s foremost gunpowder artist.
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It kicked off his new exhibit at the Arab Museum of Modern Art in the
Qatari capital.
And while a daytime fireworks display may seem an odd choice, the use of
pastel-coloured and black smoke made it a stand-out performance.
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They used anti-missile decoys used by the military to create the
display.
Using 8,000 shells and two months of planning, the exhibit lasted a
matter of minutes.
Felix Grucci, the executive vice president of Grucci Fireworks, said:
‘This is a daylight performance which is unusual for pyrotechnics –
normally it’s in the evening. Every item out there was custom designed
for this exhibit.’
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The cost hasn’t been revealed, but it was covered by the Qatar Museam
Authority.
And as the fastest growing economy in the world with a GDP per capita of
around $101,000, spending money on a daytime fireworks exhibit was no
gamble for Qatar.
Mayassa Bint Hamad al Thani, from the museum, said: ‘I thought it was
spectacular. We were just talking about a second series of gunpowder so
for those who missed it there will be another opportunity.’
Cai’s exhibit at the Arab Museum of Modern Art is entitled Saraab – or
Mirage.
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