0:00:00.000,0:00:01.600 CAI GUO-QIANG in 0:00:02.587,0:00:04.190 In the twenty-first century 0:00:11.399,0:00:13.919 My work is sometimes like the poppy flower 0:00:16.022,0:00:18.237 It has this almost romantic side 0:00:19.002,0:00:21.557 But yet, it also represents a poison 0:00:23.006,0:00:23.957 Gun powder 0:00:25.442,0:00:27.064 From its very essence, you can see 0:00:27.064,0:00:30.329 so much of the power of the universe[br]how we came to be. 0:00:31.059,0:00:34.094 You can express these grand ideas[br]about the cosmos 0:00:34.474,0:00:36.122 Very epic and heroic, 0:00:36.480,0:00:39.401 but at the same time[br]it's used for such destruction. 0:00:53.430,0:00:57.018 Gun powder possesses a physical danger[br]for anyone who is near it. 0:00:58.154,0:01:00.519 But with time,[br]you get to know the material. 0:01:02.782,0:01:05.472 First you have to accept[br]that it's uncontrollable. 0:01:06.298,0:01:07.663 And then, work with it. 0:01:09.305,0:01:11.352 I've worked with the material so long, 0:01:11.574,0:01:13.995 that I've gained an understanding[br]of how it works 0:01:16.225,0:01:19.109 My way of doing it[br]is just to flow with the material. 0:01:20.320,0:01:22.557 To let it take me where it wants me to go. 0:01:28.409,0:01:31.770 So I continuously want it to[br]give me problems. 0:01:32.287,0:01:34.881 Give me obstacles to overcome. 0:01:38.121,0:01:42.125 This whole process of making drawing[br]is very much like lovemaking. 0:01:44.193,0:01:46.649 From the very beginning of[br]laying down the paper, 0:01:47.349,0:01:49.754 it's like laying down[br]the sheets on the bed. 0:01:59.092,0:02:00.933 And it's a very long process. 0:02:01.545,0:02:03.853 Always working towards a final goal. 0:02:09.458,0:02:13.233 And all the time there's this feeling[br]that you just want it to explode. 0:02:13.968,0:02:14.974 to finish. 0:02:18.748,0:02:20.791 But you're afraid[br]that maybe it's too early, 0:02:20.809,0:02:22.386 maybe it's not the best time yet, 0:02:22.386,0:02:24.549 maybe you need to work on it[br]a little more. 0:03:18.371,0:03:21.282 And then afterwards,[br]you either have great satisfaction 0:03:21.315,0:03:24.842 or you have disappointment as to[br]your entire performance. 0:03:28.264,0:03:32.264 You can talk all day about the ancient[br]philosophies and modern philosophies 0:03:32.351,0:03:38.098 art history, criticism, theory,[br]subject matter, historical context, 0:03:38.400,0:03:42.832 contemporary, post-modernism, form,[br]representation. 0:03:43.382,0:03:45.299 All these things can be discussed 0:03:45.739,0:03:47.027 but in the end, 0:03:47.228,0:03:50.878 it's really this on sight performance,[br]so to speak, 0:03:51.459,0:03:52.857 that really makes a work. 0:04:37.011,0:04:40.150 What I'm using here is a sort of [br]fold out sketchbook 0:04:40.638,0:04:43.158 It's not so much a scrawl,[br]but traditionally it's 0:04:43.158,0:04:46.073 always been used for people[br]to record their thoughts. 0:04:46.384,0:04:49.305 Almost as in a journal, [br]or a diary format. 0:04:56.706,0:04:57.426 In Chinese, 0:04:57.741,0:04:59.741 we actually say: [br]''Reading a painting'' 0:05:00.270,0:05:01.470 Reading a picture 0:05:01.962,0:05:05.622 Because it's actually page by page,[br]section by section 0:05:05.854,0:05:07.124 That you're reading this. 0:05:07.324,0:05:08.444 Not just looking at it. 0:05:11.064,0:05:15.064 These 'folder books' are very similar in [br]this aspect to the scrawls. 0:05:15.586,0:05:18.926 The longhand scrawls are very traditional,[br]in Chinese painting. 0:05:23.683,0:05:26.923 Here I like to show you what my father has[br]painted on silk. 0:05:27.259,0:05:28.799 A very long scrawl. 0:05:30.393,0:05:34.163 Sometimes I see my explosion projects [br]almost like these scrawls. 0:05:36.074,0:05:36.914 Ones you open it, 0:05:37.184,0:05:40.194 it opens up the universe, in that it [br]seems boundless. 0:05:41.563,0:05:45.775 As the explosion project unfolds,[br]it's like opening the scrawl. 0:05:46.315,0:05:47.695 But then it disappears. 0:05:48.527,0:05:51.617 And yet, it's pregnant with all kinds [br]of possibilities. 0:05:54.754,0:05:59.204 What really influenced me the most, [br]are these very tiny matchbox paintings 0:05:59.454,0:06:00.864 that my father used to make. 0:06:12.497,0:06:16.537 He would paint these small landscape [br]paintings with his ink pen. 0:06:17.331,0:06:19.141 I saved some of these from that time. 0:06:21.533,0:06:24.173 When I was little and I would ask what [br]he was painting. 0:06:24.435,0:06:26.545 He might point at one of them [br]and would say: 0:06:26.545,0:06:28.498 ''Ow, this is the sea of our hometown.'' 0:06:28.921,0:06:31.471 But then I would go back with him to [br]our home village 0:06:31.623,0:06:33.023 and it was nothing like that. 0:06:34.023,0:06:38.551 From very early on I understood from[br]these that art is not about what you say 0:06:39.345,0:06:42.154 It's about these other things [br]that you don't say. 0:06:46.311,0:06:50.151 I wouldn't say that the entire exhibition [br]at MASS MoCA is 0:06:50.151,0:06:52.329 like a long scrawls unfolding. 0:06:53.797,0:06:55.197 It links to my past. 0:06:55.697,0:06:57.557 And it's linked to my culture as well. 0:06:59.444,0:07:01.524 When I first saw the exhibition space 0:07:01.897,0:07:03.987 I felt that it was like a section of road 0:07:04.396,0:07:07.716 A very wide road,[br]that has been transported here. 0:07:08.820,0:07:12.030 Further extending the idea of this path,[br]or journey 0:07:12.393,0:07:15.533 Is very much like taking a walk[br]along this path. 0:07:18.964,0:07:20.286 In the main gallery, 0:07:20.496,0:07:22.359 as the first car takes of 0:07:22.359,0:07:25.634 tumbling through the air in a very [br]dreamlike fashion 0:07:25.770,0:07:28.660 it lands safely back on it's four [br]wheels. 0:07:29.711,0:07:30.811 Undamaged 0:07:31.035,0:07:32.065 Unharmed 0:07:35.950,0:07:40.270 Is it just the repetition, it goes[br]right back to the very first car again. 0:07:44.273,0:07:48.273 The video in Times Square [br]also borrows the image of the car bomb. 0:07:49.740,0:07:53.210 This continues cycle suggest that [br]something might or 0:07:53.210,0:07:54.470 might not have happened. 0:07:54.881,0:07:57.441 This illusion that we're seeing in front[br]of us 0:08:00.113,0:08:01.743 Ever since September 11 0:08:02.183,0:08:04.973 The idea of terrorism is ever so present. 0:08:05.599,0:08:07.179 Always on our minds 0:08:07.737,0:08:08.437 This work 0:08:08.437,0:08:12.557 obviously has some direct reference [br]to these conditions that we live in now. 0:08:18.451,0:08:20.075 Looking at the work that I've done 0:08:20.721,0:08:24.202 I noticed that things are sticking out of[br]or into objects a lot. 0:08:25.351,0:08:28.171 I think this has to do with my [br]interest in explosion. 0:08:29.843,0:08:32.799 But it also has to do with the [br]aesthetics of pain. 0:08:38.191,0:08:41.881 There is a very visual response that [br]the audience has to the work. 0:08:42.966,0:08:45.216 They feel pain when they see the tigers 0:08:46.141,0:08:48.241 The tigers are realistically made 0:08:48.691,0:08:50.181 But they are completely fake. 0:08:51.482,0:08:53.912 It's a stage setting that you're [br]entering into 0:08:55.032,0:08:58.522 It's through visual impact that you [br]transmit these ideas 0:08:58.926,0:09:01.696 And it's through visual impact that [br]this pain is felt. 0:09:02.601,0:09:06.381 You can actually elicit a very direct [br]response from the audience 0:09:06.571,0:09:08.371 A very strong response. 0:09:17.379,0:09:19.709 This installation in Washington D.C. 0:09:20.397,0:09:23.327 The sunken boat with the broken [br]ceramic pieces 0:09:23.557,0:09:26.867 Shows the power of destruction,[br]the beauty of destruction. 0:09:28.304,0:09:30.104 The aesthetic of decay. 0:09:31.572,0:09:32.782 And in this way, 0:09:32.782,0:09:35.634 I feel that this work is quite close [br]to some of the things 0:09:35.634,0:09:38.924 that I'm discussing in the pieces at [br]MASS MoCA as well. 0:09:41.794,0:09:45.525 A number of years ago I went to a [br]factory in Delhua for a visit 0:09:45.934,0:09:49.324 And I saw all of these statues that [br]looked perfectly fine 0:09:49.875,0:09:51.105 But they were rejects. 0:10:01.744,0:10:05.744 Because of their imperfections, they're[br]no longer considered diodes. 0:10:09.155,0:10:11.375 You know, I thought it was very strange 0:10:11.375,0:10:15.145 without these imperfections,[br]these were figures that people worshiped. 0:10:16.373,0:10:20.373 They were send to thousands of homes,[br]including my own home. 0:10:22.093,0:10:23.863 It seemed to arbitrary. 0:10:25.203,0:10:27.423 Here, I see them as artwork 0:10:28.025,0:10:30.913 They don't hold so much of a diodes power 0:10:31.355,0:10:34.405 But if I take one from here and put it in[br]the studio 0:10:34.405,0:10:36.915 I think my emotions will shift very [br]naturally. 0:10:41.674,0:10:45.264 This very fine line defines the nature [br]of an object. 0:11:07.456,0:11:09.336 I really like to hang this up 0:11:09.575,0:11:10.925 It defies gravity 0:11:11.060,0:11:13.800 Because I think I don't like the [br]heaviness of things. 0:11:16.169,0:11:20.268 The piece in São Paulo is obviously[br]a plain made out of a vine. 0:11:24.980,0:11:28.829 We have these sharp objects confiscated [br]from the São Paulo airport 0:11:28.829,0:11:30.038 stuck all over it. 0:11:30.423,0:11:33.183 Again it looks like it's infected with [br]all this pain. 0:11:34.230,0:11:37.830 I travel all the time and I'm always [br]flying in and out of airports 0:11:38.429,0:11:41.869 There are times when you just kind of [br]have to stop yourself and think.. 0:11:41.869,0:11:43.399 Do I have weapons in my pockets? 0:11:43.491,0:11:44.201 You know 0:11:44.201,0:11:46.977 Even nail clippers,[br]I have a few confiscated. 0:11:48.008,0:11:51.058 So for this piece,[br]we used all local materials. 0:11:51.348,0:11:53.788 And we borrowed all the pieces [br]from the airport. 0:11:55.352,0:12:00.002 Behind all this is a very earnest and [br]frank look at our society today. 0:12:01.363,0:12:04.433 And a cultural political issues [br]that we have to deal with. 0:12:06.611,0:12:09.371 It really is an honest reflection [br]of our world today.