Cai Guo-Qiang has been part of the international contemporary art scene for over two decades. Praised as an exceptional artist by some, despised as an ephemeral artist because of the nature of his work by others, Cai Guo-Qiang has proved that he was a leading and central figure of China's contemporary art world. He has built his career as a multi-disciplinary artist, complementing his original gunpowder performances and drawings with sculpture and installation. Born in 1957 in Fujian province, he lived in Japan for nine years before settling in New York. Here he has had important performances as the opening of MoMa/PS1 in Queens or over Central Park. New York is also the city where Cai Guo-Qiang is presently having a blockbuster retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, the first devoted to a Chinese artist. As can be seen in his exhibition entitled I Want to Believe, Cai Guo-Qiang has largely redefined the notion of artmaking, which, to some, makes him one of the most innovative artists of his generation.
More recently, Cai Guo-Qiang has been in the headlines because of a record sale of a set of 14 gunpowder drawings that reached US$9.5 million at auction in Hong Kong at the end of 2007, a record for a work of Chinese contemporary art. In addition, he is also part of the creative team of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing this summer - an event awaited by an international audience with great expectations. Before pursuing his various projects, Cai Guo-Qiang took a moment to reflect on his career, and discuss his work with the Asian Art Newspaper.
AAN: Throughout your career, you have had many collaborations with artists from other disciplines (Shisheido, Issey Miyake...). What do you specifically enjoy about them?
CGQ: I appreciate the fact that I can study and learn from all different fields, even if they have nothing in common with art. I very much enjoy cooperating with people whom I would not necessarily get the opportunity to work. So far, these collaborations have allowed me to explore a variety of different fields.
AAN: You are presently involved with the Beijing Olympics. What is your exact role?
CGQ: I have been working on the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics for some time, and I am in charge of visual effects. For the ceremony, there are many artists from different fields working on the projects, such as film director Zhang Yimou or the architect Norman Foster. At this stage, the project is more or less finished and now we are at the stage of experimenting and rehearsing it.
AAN: What directives did you get for your Olympic role? Could you make changes?
CGQ: For obvious reasons, I cannot reveal too much about the content of the ceremony as it has to remain secret until the opening of the games in August. However, I had a lot of freedom during the creative process with other artists before we all put our ideas together to come up with the concept that will become the opening ceremony.
AAN: What has been your most challenging project to date?
CGQ: Unquestionably my exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, which I have worked on intensely hoping to make it a success. It is a large-scale exhibition with eleven exhibition halls, and we have tried to show a broad range of my work from the past 20 years - many of them have never been seen in New York before. The Guggenheim is a very special and unique building that influences the way you set up an exhibition and the way you perceive it. I am very excited about the result, all the more so as I worked very closely with the curator of the exhibition. I think our visions complemented each other very well, as I provided more of a Chinese vision of the exhibition, and the curator gave a Western perspective to the project. We have done a lot of research, and I hope the audience will enjoy visiting it.
AAN: What is your greatest disappointment?
CGQ: I would not refer to any one project in particular, but mainly to a variety of projects that for one reason or another could not be completed. Also, there are some projects that were not as successfully completed as I had expected. However, working with gunpowder and explosives, the result can sometimes be unpredictable.
AAN: Amongst the unrealised projects, which one do you regret most?
CGQ: For the New Year celebration 2000, I had in mind this gigantic project requiring the entire world to turn out all the lights. It was a very special day, and I very much regret this lost opportunity. Now, if I want to see the project completed I will have to wait until the New Year in 3000!
AAN: Last time AAN interviewed you, you were preparing a project in Paris, building a pagoda next to the Eiffel Tower. Is there a chance to see this project fulfilled?
CGQ: Yes, absolutely. That project meant a lot to me, and I certainly hope to get a chance to finalise it in the future. Indeed, the virtual images of the project - the Eiffel Tower with a gigantic pagoda next to it - looked fabulous.
AAN: You have a long history of projects dealing with gunpowder. What are the most difficult aspects to master when working with this material?
CGQ: Gunpowder is really a medium unlike any other - it is always an experiment because as much as one can rehearse a project, one is never quite sure of the outcome, unlike painting, for example. Gunpowder is not like painting where one can decide of the content on a step-by-step basis, or where it is even in some cases possible to make corrections. Gunpowder is spectacular, but extremely difficult. At any stage, gunpowder can take a different turn. Therefore, any project remains extremely challenging right up to the very end.
AAN: A lot of your pieces refer to Chinese tradition, tales, or history. Do you have the feeling that your pieces are always been properly understood in the West?
CGQ: Indeed, I have completed many works referring to China's history, tradition, or tales. Even if the Western audience did not have in-depth knowledge of Chinese heritage, I guess it felt it was a different approach, presenting something new - more exotic. Most of all, I believe the Western audience highly valued the creative process behind my works. In that sense, my works represented the basis for a dialogue between the West and China.
AAN: Last time I visited your studio, you were getting back to painting. Is that something you are pursuing?
CGQ: I had decided to devote more time to painting, a medium a highly value and appreciate. I still paint sometimes, but painting is a medium that requires time, and right now I am busy with a number of projects. However, it is something I keep in the back of my mind, at present, I mainly make some sketches that I can always use as a basis for paintings in the future.
AAN: A few years ago, I asked you about any confrontations with ecological groups regarding your gunpowder projects. At the time, you only had one bad experience in Japan. Now that ecological concerns are growing all over the world, are museums as willing to support your projects?
CGQ: Clearly the focus has shifted in the past few years and it is imperative that my projects, especially the ones requiring the use of gunpowder do not damage the environment. However, environmental concerns vary from one museum to another: some are very serious about these issues - setting certain rules and restrictions; some do not make it a priority. In addition, I think that my team and I have become quite familiar with the use of gunpowder and we know what we can do without permanently damaging the environment. Also, I work with licensed engineers, who know precisely how to handle large quantities of gunpowder.
AAN: Since the beginning of your career, you have documented all your projects through photographs. Are you contemplating developing that aspect of your work, and sell some of them as other artists do?
CGQ: I do not know at this point. I will have to think about it seriously in order to make the right decision.
AAN: A lot of your projects are ephemeral. Do you view this as an advantage or as a drawback to earn your place in art history?
CGQ: I do not view the nature of my work as a drawback. On the contrary, I guess one of the interesting aspects of the art world today is that everybody has their own personality and everybody's work has very specific characteristics. This diversity is what makes art history so fascinating and even if my work is, in many cases, ephemeral, I do not consider it a drawback at all.
AAN: You are one of the very few artists to successfully manage your career without a gallery. Why that choice?
CGQ: Compared to other artists, it may seem odd that I do not work with any one gallery. There are many galleries that have contacted me in order to represent me, however, considering the nature of my work, I have so far preferred working with museums that have followed and collected my work for many years. I may reconsider my position in the future, if there was an outstanding offer from an excellent gallery that would also comply with the nature of my work. We will see what the future brings.
AAN: Many artists view teaching as a very constructive activity. Are you presently teaching, in the West or in China?
CGQ: Teaching is a very serious and time consuming task. As I am presently working on many projects, my time is limited and I do not have the energy to do it all. However, teaching is something I would very much enjoy doing in the future.
AAN: One of your upcoming projects is in your hometown with the Quanzhou Museum of Art. What are your plans?
CGQ: A lot of people are fond of very large museums like the one in Shanghai for example. While conceiving the facility of the Quanzhou Museum, we decided on a small building that would allow visitors to ‘retreat' in a way for viewing exhibitions, doing some research. By doing that, we had in mind the Chinese scholars in ancient times who retreated to small places in the mountains to study, meditate and do some research. In that way, everything will have very ‘human' proportions: the buiding, the exhibitions, etc. It will be a quite different concept from what we are currently seeing these days.
OLIVIA SAND
