COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0008863
image_record_id
aahi0008863
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Human Abode: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 1
Image Title:
side view
Work Dates (display):
1989
Work Dates type:
creation
Image Date (display):
2011-10-25
Work Creator (display):
Cai Guo-Qiang (Chinese, born 1957)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Chinese installation artist. Cai studied at the Shanghai Drama Institute, completing his degree in stage design in 1985. He is best known for ephemeral, large-scale explosion-works using gunpowdera medium he began to experiment with in China and often explained as a childhood reference to witnessing skirmishes between China and Taiwan along what was known as the Fujian Front. In the 1980s he applied gunpowder to canvas, which he then lit to create bold, charred designs. When Cai emigrated to Japan in 1986, he began to use gunpowder for environmental installations. Since the early 1990s he called these works Projects for Extraterrestrials. Cai believed that most explosions visible from space have been related to war, and that his work sends a non-violent message. A good example is The Horizon from the Pan Pacific: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 14 (1994), executed off the coast of Iwaki, a small town in Japan, where Cai installed a 5000 metre trail of gunpowder in the ocean that illuminated the horizon. The work evoked the experience of living in this small fishing village, where the ocean is a central part of everyday life. Such a conceptually-charged, yet rudimentary application of gunpowder, characterizes Cai's works created in Japan. Coinciding with his move to New York in 1995, Cai began to create installations using other materials and more direct references to his Chinese heritage, such as traditional Chinese medicine (Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot, 1995) and fengshui (How is your Feng Shui?, 2000). These works reveal a desire to find new applications for Chinese cultural traditions outside China. For example, Bringing to Venice What Marco Polo Forgot consisted of a Chinese junk (boat) transported from the artist's home town of Quanzhou and moored at Palazzo Giustinian-Lolin, a 17th-century merchant's home. Visitors could board the boat for the duration of the exhibition, and in the Palazzo were invited to self-prescribe Chinese medicinal tonics for various ills, which were dispensed from a vending machine. In this work Cai referred to Marco Polo's visits to China, suggesting that the explorer should have brought back Chinese traditional medicine, in addition to his observations of differences between Europe and 13th-century China. Cai continued to create works using gunpowder, but they became much more ambitious in their application of pyrotechnic technology, sometimes involving collaboration with pyrotechnic companies. One such example is Light Cycle (2003), designed for New York's Central Park. The work consisted of three parts: Signal Towers, Light Cycle and White Night, each dependent upon different applications of gunpowder through the use of microchips inside firing shells and computer-operated remote controls. In conjunction with these ephemeral works, Cai also exhibited large-scale drawings made from burning gunpowder on paper. (Grove Art Online accessed 2008-01-30)
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Contemporary
work_styleperiod
Contemporary
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
gunpowder
subject
gunpowder
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
fireworks (visual works)
subject
fireworks (visual works)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
explosions
subject
explosions
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
home (concept)
subject
home (concept)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
exile
subject
exile
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
text (document genre)
subject
text (document genre)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
Tiananmen Square (Beijing, China)
subject
Tiananmen Square (Beijing, China)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
China (nation)
subject
China (nation)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
violence
subject
violence
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
history (discipline)
subject
history (discipline)
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
performance art
work_type
performance art
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
performance
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
performance
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
2 kg gunpowder, 20 m gunpowder fuses, hem tent cloth, wax, twigs, feathers, rope
Work Measurements (display):
550 cm (H) x 450 cm (W) x 250 cm (D), Duration: 2 seconds
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Tokyo, Japan
Image Source Reproduction citation:
Friis-Hansen, Dana, Octavio Zaya, and Serizawa Takash. Cai Guo-Qiang. New York: Phaidon Press Limited, 2002.
image_source_copy_from_print_name
Friis-Hansen, Dana, Octavio Zaya, and Serizawa Takash. Cai Guo-Qiang. New York: Phaidon Press Limited, 2002.
Image Source Reproduction citation
false
Image Source Reproduction refid:
0-7148-4075-0
Image Source Reproduction page number:
17
Image Source Reproduction refid type:
ISBN
Image Rights (display):
unknown
Image Rights fair use checklist:
1) use of this image is for education and educational research; 2) access is restricted to University of Colorado and Auraria Higher Education Center communities; 3) the original photographer is credited if known; 4) the image is published; 5) the amount of the work in relation to the whole is needed for education or educational research; 6) the number of derivatives is the minimum required for education or educational research; 7) the image has not been found to be reasonably available for sale; 8) duplication of the image does not violate preexisting contracts.
Work Rights (display):
© Cai Guo-Qiang
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Collection
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see