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CAI GUO-QIANG in

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In the twenty-first century

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My work is sometimes like the poppy flower

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It has this almost romantic side

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But yet, it also represents a poison

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Gun powder

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From its very essence, you can see

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so much of the power of the universe[br]how we came to be.

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You can express these grand ideas[br]about the cosmos

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Very epic and heroic,

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but at the same time[br]it's used for such destruction.

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Gun powder possesses a physical danger[br]for anyone who is near it.

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But with time,[br]you get to know the material.

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First you have to accept[br]that it's uncontrollable.

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And then, work with it.

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I've worked with the material so long,

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that I've gained an understanding[br]of how it works

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My way of doing it[br]is just to flow with the material.

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To let it take me where it wants me to go.

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So I continuously want it to[br]give me problems.

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Give me obstacles to overcome.

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This whole process of making drawing[br]is very much like lovemaking.

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From the very beginning of[br]laying down the paper,

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it's like laying down[br]the sheets on the bed.

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And it's a very long process.

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Always working towards a final goal.

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And all the time there's this feeling[br]that you just want it to explode.

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to finish.

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But you're afraid[br]that maybe it's too early,

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maybe it's not the best time yet,

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maybe you need to work on it[br]a little more.

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And then afterwards,[br]you either have great satisfaction

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or you have disappointment as to[br]your entire performance.

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You can talk all day about the ancient[br]philosophies and modern philosophies

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art history, criticism, theory,[br]subject matter, historical context,

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contemporary, post-modernism, form,[br]representation.

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All these things can be discussed

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but in the end,

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it's really this on sight performance,[br]so to speak,

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that really makes a work.

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What I'm using here is a sort of a [br]fold out sketchbook

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It's not so much a scrawl,[br]but traditionally it's

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always been used for people[br]to record their thoughts.

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Almost as in a journal, [br]or a diary format.

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In Chinese,

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we actually say: [br]''Reading a painting''

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Reading a picture

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Because it's actually page by page,[br]section by section

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That you're reading this.

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Not just looking at it.

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These 'folder books' are very similar in [br]this aspect to the scrawls.

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The longhand scrawls are very traditional,[br]in Chinese painting.

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Here I like to show you what my father has[br]painted on silk.

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A very long scrawl.

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Sometimes I see my explosion projects [br]almost like these scrawls.

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Ones you open it,

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it opens up the universe, in that it [br]seems boundless.

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As the explosion project unfolds,[br]it's like opening up the scrawl.

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But then it disappears.

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And yet, it's pregnant with all kinds [br]of possibilities.

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What really influenced me the most, [br]are these very tiny matchbox paintings

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that my father used to make.

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He would paint these small landscape [br]paintings with his ink pen.

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I saved some of these from that time.

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When I was little and I would ask what [br]he was painting.

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He might point to one of them [br]and say:

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''Ow, this is the sea of our hometown.''

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But then I would go back with him to [br]our home village

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and it was nothing like that.

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From very early on I understood from[br]these that art is not about what you say

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It's about these other things [br]that you don't say.

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I wouldn't say that the entire exhibition [br]at MASS MoCA is

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like a long scrawls unfolding.

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It links to my past.

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And it's linked to my culture as well.

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When I first saw the exhibition space

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I felt that it was like a section of road

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A very wide road,[br]that's been transported here.

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Further extending the idea of this path,[br]or journey

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Is very much like taking a walk[br]along this path.

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In the main gallery,

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as the first car takes of

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tumbling through the air in a very [br]dreamlike fashion

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it lands safely back on it's four [br]wheels.

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Undamaged

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Unharmed

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Is it just the repetition, it goes[br]right back to the very first car again.

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The video in Times Square [br]also borrows the image of the car bomb.

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This continues cycle suggest that [br]something might or

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might not have happened.

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This illusion that we're seeing in front[br]of us

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Ever since September 11th

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The idea of terrorism is ever so present.

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Always on our minds

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This work

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obviously has some direct reference [br]to these conditions that we live in now.

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Looking at the work that I've done

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I noticed that things are sticking out of[br]or into objects a lot.

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I think this has to do with my [br]interest in explosion.

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But it also has to do with the [br]aesthetics of pain.

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There is a very visual response that [br]the audience has to the work.

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They feel pain when they see the tigers

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The tigers are realistically made

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But they are completely fake.

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It's a stage setting that you're [br]entering into

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It's through visual impact that you [br]transmit these ideas

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And it's through visual impact that [br]this pain is felt.

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You can actually elicit a very direct [br]response from the audience

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A very strong response.

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This installation in Washington D.C.

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The sunken boat with the broken [br]ceramic pieces

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Shows the power of destruction,[br]the beauty of destruction.

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The aesthetic of decay.

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And in this way,

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I feel that this work is quite close [br]to some of the things

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that I'm discussing in the pieces at [br]MASS MoCA as well.

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A number of years ago I went to a [br]factory in Delhua for a visit

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And I saw all of these statues that [br]looked perfectly fine

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But they were rejects.

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Because of their imperfections, they're[br]no longer considered diodes.

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You know, I thought it was very strange

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without these imperfections,[br]these were figures that people worshiped.

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They were send to thousands of homes,[br]including my own home.

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It seemed to arbitrary.

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Here, I see them as artwork

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They don't hold so much of a diodes power

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But if I take one from here and put it in[br]the studio

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I think my emotions will shift very [br]naturally.

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This very fine line defines the nature [br]of an object.

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I really like to hang this up

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It defies gravity

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Because I think I don't like the [br]heaviness of things.

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The piece in São Paulo is obviously[br]a plane made out of a vine.

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We have these sharp objects confiscated [br]from the São Paulo airport

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stuck all over it.

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Again it looks like it's infected with [br]all this pain.

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I travel all the time and I'm always [br]flying in and out of airports

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There are times when you just kind of [br]have to stop yourself and think..

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Do I have weapons in my pockets?

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You know

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Even nail clippers,[br]I have a few confiscated.

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So for this piece,[br]we used all local materials.

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And we borrowed all the pieces [br]from the airport.

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Behind all this is a very earnest and [br]frank look at our society today.

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And a cultural political issues [br]that we have to deal with.

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It really is an honest reflection [br]of our world today.

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It's easy for us to depict things of [br]this physical world.

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But it's very difficult to depict things[br]that are not seen,

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but that have a profound effect on us.

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And that's something that I'm [br]continuously exploring and trying to form.

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I take a lot from the ancient Chinese [br]philosophies.

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These are very much infused in the[br]art making process.

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Maybe everything does not have [br]to be resolved.

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Sometimes you can allow uncertainties[br]to exist.

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The ever changing, never constant

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These are the kinds of ideas to [br]understand the world.

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To learn more about Art:21,[br]art in the twenty first century

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and to download the free[br]educators guide

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Please visit PBS online [br]at PBS.org

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Art:21, art in the twenty first century[br]is available on video cassette

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or with additional features on DVD

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The companion book to the programe[br]is also available

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To order, call PBS homevideo[br]at 1-800-PLAY-PBS