The elaborate production of the pack of wolves already
began in January of 2006 in the Chinese city of Quanzhou.
A manufacturer there specializes in creating life-sized animals that look
amazingly real. At first, small clay models were made as movement studies,
from which Cai Guo-Qiang later created an edition for the Berlin
exhibition. The wolves of the installation, made from these models and
drawings, are covered in dyed sheepskin and look amazingly real and alive;
inside, they are stuffed with straw and wire, while their faces are
rendered in plastic.
Illusion
II: Explosion Project, 2006, Berlin, Foto: Hiro Ihara
Courtesy
Cai Studio
Afterwards, Cai Guo-Qiang realized Illusion
II in an empty lot in the middle of Berlin surrounded by office and
residential buildings – a typical empty area in the city in the background
of which the ruins of the former Anhalter
Bahnhof added a very special aura. Cai Guo-Qiang was fascinated by
this detail, which fit in perfectly with Illusion II, a reflection,
as Cai has said, "on the opposing forces of violence and beauty," on the
"destruction, fame, and heroism" in Berlin’s history. With the
professional support of the Babelsberg
Film Studio and according to the artist’s instructions, a small, to
all appearances typically German house was constructed.
Illusion
II: Explosion Project, 2006, Berlin,
Foto:
Hiro Ihara
Courtesy Cai Studio
Finally,
the film shoot for the video took place on July 11. Fireworks and rockets
of all types and effects now filled the house’s interior. At 9:30 pm, Cai
Guo-Qiang gave the signal to commence, and, before a setting sun in the
evening Berlin sky, a fascinating spectacle began that lasted for 20
minutes: a chain of various explosions caused a deafening noise, the
fireworks exploded in colorful cascades and stars, and the house went up
in flames. More than 15 cameras recorded the show for the video and the
exhibition catalogue, and the images were as aesthetic as they were
violent.
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Inopportune:Stage Two, Installation MASS
Moca,
Sammlung des Künstlers,
2004,
Foto K.Kennefick,
www.kjkphoto.com,
©Deutsche
Guggenheim, Cai Guo-Qiang
Cai Guo-Qiang was
born in 1957 in the city of Quanzhou in the province of Fujian; today, he
is considered one of the most important representatives of contemporary
Chinese art. The work of the New York-based artist has been shown over the
past years in numerous international museums including the MASS
MoCA, the Tate Modern ,
the Centre
Pompidou, and the Metropolitan
Museum. In 1999, Cai Guo-Qiang won the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice
Biennial with his work Venice’s
Rent Collection Courtyard. Last year, he curated the Chinese
Pavilion for the Biennale , which
was presented for the first time. A major retrospective of the artist’s
work is planned for 2008 in the Guggenheim
Museum in New York and the Peking
National Museum.
Aufbau
der Installation "Head On", 2006, im Deutsche Guggenheim
Foto:
Hiro Ihara, Courtesy Cai Studio
The edition Study
for a Wolf’s Bodily Movement: For Head On was created
especially for the exhibition; it refers directly to Cai’s installation at
the Deutsche Guggenheim. The realistic 99 wolves in the exhibition hall
were preceded by small-scale clay models, of which he selected a series of
nine variations for the edition. The models, sculptural counterparts to
the sketches, emphasize the basic structure of a wolf’s movement more than
the life-sized versions do; reduced to a few main physical features, the
twists and turns of the figures are drastic and dynamic in expression. The
edition is limited to eleven casts of each of the nine figures, such that
the number of pieces in the edition corresponds to the amount of wolves in
“Head On.”
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[2]
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