A Clan of Boats

Cai’s latest exhibition A Clan of Boats is well underway, and will be up until December 7, 2012 at the Faurschou Foundation (Copenhagen, Denmark).  The show features a set of new gunpowder drawings created with the assistance of local volunteers, the signature installation Reflection–A Gift from Iwaki and Freja: Explosion Event for Faurschou Foundation.

Videographer extraordinaires Mathias Nyholm Schmidt and Simon Weyhe documented the entire process on site–take a look:

Mezcal Pouring!

Cai’s latest work in Mexico City, Sunshine and Solitude, features 14 gunpowder drawings surrounding a pond filled with volcanic rock and 10,000 liters of Mezcal.

Mezcal is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant native to Mexico. It can reach an alcohol content of 55%, with the smell of 10,000 liters somewhat…overwhelming. In this video, Karen from Cai Studio shows us a glimpse of the construction of the Mezcal pond, and interviews Cai, Hong Hong, and all the staff as they pour the liquid.

Lincoln Center Talk

Shen Wei, Cai Guo-Qiang, Chinyan Wong, and Jeff Fowler at the "East Meets West on the Upper West Side" Wall Street Journal Discussion Panel

On July 1, 2009 Cai and Shen Wei gave a talk at Lincoln Center hosted by the Wall Street Journal. You can read about it and watch a video on the Wall Street Journal’s blog.

Bilbao tour with CGQ

The Guggenheim Bilbao designed this microsite to promote the retrospective there. They also filmed a walkthrough with Cai so you can hear about the works straight from the horse’s mouth:

Comparing notes with an astronomer

    Public talk at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, March 12, 2009 (pictured, left to right: curator Alexandra Munroe, artist Cai Guo-Qiang, translator Lesley Ma, astronomer Montserrat Villar-Martin). Photo by I-Hua Lee, courtesy Cai Studio

2009 is International Year of Astronomy in Spain…

Indeed, Montserrat Villar-Martin came well prepared with a Powerpoint presentation and no shortage of passion.  She displayed some of the early works, like the drawings A Certain Lunar Eclipse and The Immensity of Heaven and Earth, alongside selected astronomy images of her own.

How we hang those cars

This video was commissioned by the Guggenheim Bilbao Communications department.  The work being installed is Inopportune: Stage One.