Dragon or Rainbow Serpent Was a Gunpowderart Project of Cai Guoqiang
Cai Guo-Qiang is ane of the most meaning Chinese artists of his generation. One of the earliest figures among the Chinese advanced of the 1980s to gain recognition outside of Communist china, he was as well a key participant in 'The 1st and 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' APT2 (1996) and APT3 (1999).
Cai Guo Qiang Fireworks (rehearsal) for APT2 / Subscribe to QAGOMA YouTube to discover the unseen and pace behind airtight doors to feel the Gallery like never before.
Cai'southward projection for APT2 was a complex torso of piece of work entitled Dragon or Rainbow Snake: A myth glorified or feared. It was allegorical of his early career exercise, which was best known for the artist's spiritually cathartic use of explosives. Cai sought to use gunpowder to explore the parallels he perceived between the Chinese dragon and the Ancient Australian Rainbow serpent. This resulted in an xviii-metre-long piece made upwards of 9 gunpowder 'drawings'.
David Burnett was present for the explosion that produced these drawings and I asked him about Cai'southward work.
'It was quite extraordinary. It was APT2, and information technology was just ramping up to a calibre of piece of work that was clearly a huge leap from what we'd done before. Information technology was quite early in Cai's career, and every new work was — well — a new work. He was still coming to terms with the properties of gunpowder. It was chancy and it was unpredictable, and I guess that was what was so exciting about it.'
'A number of trials and tests were carried out, then at that place was a step past stride process leading upward to it. It took place in the car park of the Performing Arts Centre, which was chosen because it had doors that could be opened to the open up air, and then it was one of the few places condom enough for this event. It was early morning, with dozens of people on deck. There were burn down professionals on hand and regulations were strictly observed.'
'What was required was to control the burn after the gunpowder had gone off. It was of grade on paper, overlain with other pieces of paper and with weights. Information technology was really about timing. The paper had to be removed very quickly to let air in, so that the gunpowder didn't continue to smoulder and burn through the paper. Everybody was at different points forth the drawing to run into the newspaper with bare feet to option up the weights and to get the paper off to terminate the called-for. The idea was to scorch the paper with a brownish and blackness fumage.'
'The explosion was noisy — surprisingly noisy! I knew it would be loud, just non that loud. The tests had all been conducted outside, just considering it took identify in a low-ceilinged concrete car park, it actually amplified the noise. And none of u.s. had really anticipated that there would be and so much smoke. In that location was a bespeak when it all went off that I couldn't see where everyone else was.'
'We had some photographers documenting information technology, which is nifty to have now. You lot realise the value of that kind of archival documentation. At the fourth dimension you just remember, oh well, we ameliorate do it, only now, this far down the history of this projection, you realise how important that is.'
The twentieth anniversary of APT presents an opportunity to reflect upon the unprecedented transformations that accept occurred in Australia, Asia and the Pacific over the past two decades.
Reuben Keehan is Curator, Gimmicky Asian Art. QAGOMA
David Burnett is onetime Senior Curator, International Art, QAGOMA
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Characteristic image: Cai Guo-Qiang Dragon or Rainbow Serpent: A myth glorified or feared 1996
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Source: https://blog.qagoma.qld.gov.au/twentieth-anniversary-of-apt-detonating-cai-guo-qiang/
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