Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China. He was trained in stage design at the Shanghai Theater Academy, and his work has since crossed multiple mediums within art, including drawing, installation, video and performance art. While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, he explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, an inquiry that eventually led to his experimentation with explosives on a massive scale and to the development of his signature explosion events. Drawing upon Eastern philosophy and contemporary social issues as a conceptual basis, these projects and events aim to establish an exchange between viewers and the larger universe around them, utilizing a site-specific approach to culture and history. He currently lives and works in New York.
Cai was awarded the Japan Cultural Design Prize in 1995 and the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999. In the following years, he has received the 7th Hiroshima Art Prize (2007), the 20th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (2009), and AICA’s first place for Best Project in a Public Space for Cai Guo-Qiang: Fallen Blossoms (2010). He also curated the first China Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale, 2005, and held the distinguished position as Director of Visual and Special Effects for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In 2012, Cai was honored as one of five Laureates for the prestigious Praemium Imperiale, an award that recognizes lifetime achievement in the arts in categories not covered by the Nobel Prize. Additionally, he was also among the five artists who received the first U.S. Department of State - Medal of Arts award for his outstanding commitment to international cultural exchange.
Among his many solo exhibitions and projects include Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof: Transparent Monument, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2006 and his retrospective I Want to Believe, which opened at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York in February 2008 before traveling to the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in August 2008 and then to the Guggenheim Bilbao in March 2009. In 2011, Cai appeared in the solo exhibition Cai Guo-Qiang: Saraab at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar, his first ever in a Middle Eastern country. In 2012, the artist appeared in three solo exhibitions:Cai Guo-Qiang: Sky Ladder (The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), Cai Guo-Qiang: Spring (Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China), and A Clan of Boats (Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark).
His first-ever solo exhibition in Brazil, Cai Guo-Qiang: Da Vincis do Povo, went on a three-city tour around the country in 2013, traveling from Brasilia to São Paulo before reaching its final destination in Rio de Janeiro. In October 2013, Cai created One Night Stand (Aventure d’un Soir), an explosion event for Nuit Blanche, a citywide art and culture festival organized by the city of Paris.
His exhibition, Falling Back to Earth opened in November 2013 at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art in Australia. He currently lives and works in New York.
1957 Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
EDUCATION
1981-1985 Department of Stage Design, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai, China
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 "Peasant Da Vincis", Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
"Travels in the Mediterranean", Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nice, France
"Head On", National Museum of Singapore (organized by the Deutsche Bank Collection),
Singapore
2009 "I Want to Believe", Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain
"Hanging Out in the Museum", Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
"Fallen Blossoms", Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Fabric Workshop and Museum,
Philadelphia, USA
2008 "I Want to Believe", Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
"I Want to Believe", National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
The 7th Hiroshima Prize, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
2007 "Inopportune", Stage One, Seattle Art Museum, semi-permanent installation, Seattle, USA
Light Passage: Cai Guo-Qiang & Shiseido, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2006 "Inopportune", SITE Santa Fe, organized by the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art,
North Adams,USA
"Stage", San Gimignano Mountain and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
"Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof", Transparent Monument, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, USA
"Long Scroll", Shawinigan Space, National Gallery of Canada, Quebec, Canada
"Head On", Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
"Captured Wind Arrested Shadow", Cai Guo-Qiang and Lin Hwai-min’s Wind Shadow,
ESLITE GALLERY, Taipei, Taiwan
2005 "On Black Fireworks", Institut Valencià d' Art Modern, Spain
"Paradise", Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
"Life Beneath the Shadow", Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
2004 "Traveler", Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture “Garden”,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA
"Inopportune", Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, USA
2003 "Matrix 204 Fireworks from Heaven", Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, USA
"An Explosion Event", Light Cycle Over Central Park, Asia Society Museum,
New York, USA
2002 "Cai Guo-Qiang", Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
"Cai Guo-Qiang's CHADO Pavilion", Homage to Tenshin Okakura, Hakone Open-Air Museum,
Japan
"Ethereal Flowers", Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy
2001 "Performing Chinese Ink Painting", Contemporary Art Gallery and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical
Chinese Garden, Vancouver, Canada
Impression Oil Drawings, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
An Arbitrary History, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
2000 "Cai Guo-Qiang", Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
1999 "I Am the Y2K Bug", Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
1998 "Day Dreaming", Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
1997 "Flying Dragon in the Heavens", Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
"Cultural Melting Bath", Projects for the 20th Century, Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA
1994 "Calendar of Life", Gallery APA, Nagoya, Japan
"From the Pan-Pacific", Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima, Japan
"Concerning Flame", Tokyo Gallery, Japan
"Chaos", Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1993 "Cai Guo-Qiang", Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, Naoshima, Japan
"Long Mai", The Dragon Meridian, P3 art and environment, Tokyo, Japan
1992 "Wailing Wall", From the Engine of Four Hundred Cars, IBM Kawasaki Gallery, Japan
1991 "Primeval Fireball", The Project for Projects, P3 art and environment, Tokyo, Japan
1990 "Works 1988/89", Osaka Contemporary Art Center, Osaka, Japan
1989 "Explosions and Space Holes", Kigoma, Tokyo, Japan
1987 "Cai Guo-Qiang's Painting", Office of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Tokyo, Japan
"Gunpowder Art", Kigoma, Tokyo, Japan
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010 "The Beauty of Distance" Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age, The 17th Biennale of
Sydney, Australia
"Post Monument", XIV International Sculpture Biennale of Carrara, Carrara, Italy
"Arts and Cities", Aichi Triennial, Nagoya, Japan
"Berliner Bilder", Koidl Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany
2009 "Meeting Point", 10th Havana Biennial,
"Stages", Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
"Armory", New York, USA
The 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, Fukuoka, Japan
"Bike Rides", Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, USA
"The Sky within My House" Contemporary Art in 16 Patios of Cordoba, Municipal Archive of
Cordoba, Cordoba, Nicaragua
2008 Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art, Barbican Gallery, London, France
"Blood on Paper", The Art of the Book, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, France
"God & Goods", Spirituality and Mass Confusion, Villa Manin Centro d’Arte Contemporanea,
Codroipo, Italy
"Shu", Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art, Honolulu Academy of Arts, USA
"New Ink Art" Innovation and Beyond, Hong Kong, China; Paris, France; New Orleans, USA
2007 "Journeys" Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, USA
"Of Nature and Friendship", Modern Chinese Paintings from the Khoan and Michael Sullivan
Collection, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle, USA
6 Billion Perps Held Hostage! Artists Address Global Warming, Andy Warhol Museum,
Pittsburgh, USA
"Artempo", Where Time Becomes Art, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy
2006 Min Tai Yuan Museum Collection, Min Tai Yuan Museum, Quanzhou, China
Opening Exhibition: Eldorado, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, July
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2006, Tsunan Mountain Park, Echigo-Tsumari, Japan
"Out of Time" A Contemporary View, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
"Shu" Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art, China Institute Gallery, New York, USA
"Searching for Dreams in the Canals", Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China
2005 "Dreaming Now", Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA
"Universal Experience", Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Chicago, USA
"Trading Place", Contemporary Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan
"Translation", Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
"The Wall", Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art, Millennium Monument Art Museum,
Beijing, China
Can Buildings Curate, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, USA
The Kennedy Center Festival of China, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
Washington D.C., USA
Quantum Grids, Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center for the Arts, and Harvard University Art
Museums, Cambridge, UK
2004 "The Snow Show", Harvested Ice, Rovaniemi, Lapland, Sweden
All Under Heaven, Museum of Contemporary Art of Antwerp, Dutch
"26th Bienal de São Paulo", Free Territory, Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, Parque do Ibirapuera,
São Paulo, Brazil
"Past in Reverse", Contemporary Art of East Asia, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, USA
2003 "Tate & Egg Live 2003", Tate Modern and Tate Britain, London, France
Pulse, Art, Healing, and Transformation, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA
"Somewhere Better Than This Place", Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA
"Alors, la Chine?", Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2003, Tsunan Mountain Park, Echigo-Tsumari, Japan
"The Heroic Century", The Museum of Modern Art's Masterpieces, 200 Paintings and
Sculptures, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
2002 "Painting without Painting", Museum der bildende Künste Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
"Art that Heals", Apexart, New York, USA
"EV+A 2002", Heroes + Holies, various sites in Limerick, Ireland
"Magnete", artisti stranieri in Toscana 1945–2000, Fattoria di Celle, Santomato, Pistoia,
Tuscany, Italy
"Red Continent: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition", Gwangju Art Museum, Gwangju, Korea
"The Power of Art", The 2nd Inaugural Show of the Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo
Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, Japan
Tokachi International Contemporary Art Exhibition: Demeter, Obihiro Racetrack and
Nishimaki Park, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan
"The Galleries Show", Royal Academy of Arts, London, France
"3e Biennale de Montréal", Cité Multimédia dans le Vieux-Montréal, Montréal, Canada
"The First Guangzhou Triennial. Reinterpretation" A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art,
Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
"Ce Qui Arrive (Unknown Quantity)", Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
2001 "The Gift": Generous Offerings, Threatening Hospitality, Palazzo delle Papesse, Centro Arte
Contemporanea, Siena, Italy
"Sonsbeek 9", LocusFocus, Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, Holland
"Form Follows Fiction", Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin,
Plateau of Humankind, The 49th Venice Biennale, Giardini di Castello, Arsenale, Venice, Italy
"Yokohama 2001", International Triennale of Contemporary Art: Mega Wave: Towards a New
Synthesis, various sites in Yokohama, Japan
Exhibition of the Projects for Arte all’Arte 6, Associazione Arte Continua, San Gimignano, USA
"Arte all' Arte 6", various sites in Tuscany, Italy
2000 "Gratitude", Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan
"Outbound", Passages from the 90s, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, USA
2000 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Pioneers of Chinese Contemporary Art, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
"Over the Edges", S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium
"Biennale of Sydney 2000", Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
"Erresistentziak / Resistencias (Acts of Resistance)", Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea Erakustaret,
Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
"Art Unlimited", Art 31 Basel, Art Basel, Messe Basel, Schweiz
"La Ville, le Jardin, la Memoire", Le Jardin, Académie de France à Rome, Villa Médicis,
Rome, Italy
Kunstwegen, various sites between Nordhorn, Germany, and Zwolle, Netherland
Sharing Exoticisms. 5th Lyon Biennale d’art contemporain, Musée d’Art Contemporain de
Lyon, France
"The Quiet in the Land", Everyday Life, Contemporary Art and Project Axé, Museu de Arte
Moderna da Bahia, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2000, Tsunan Mountain Park, Echigo-Tsumari, Japan
"Lustwarande/Pleasure-Garden", De Oude Warandepark, Tilburg, Netherland
Media City Seoul 2000, Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art, Korea
"Open Ends", MoMA 2000, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
"Shanghai Biennale 2000", Shanghai Spirit, Shanghai Art Museum, China
1999 "De Opening", S.M.A.K. , Ghent, Belgium
"La Ville, le Jardin, la Mémoire", La Memoire, Académie de France à Rome, Villa Médicis, Rome
"Panorama 2000", Art in Utrecht Seen from the Dom Tower, Centraal Museum, Utrecht,
Netherland
Aperto Over All, 48th Venice Biennale, Arsenale, Venice, Italy
"Looking for a Place", The Third International Biennial, SITE Santa Fe, USA
International Currents in Contemporary Art, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain
"Beyond the Future", The Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art
Gallery, South Brisbane, Australia
"Kunst-Welten im Dialog", Museum Ludwig Köln, Cologne, Germany
"Hiriya in the Museum", Artists' and Architects' Proposals for Rehabilitation of the Site,
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Zeitwenden, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Traveled to Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wein,
Vienna, Austria
1998 "Wounds", Between Democracy and Redemption in Contemporary Art, Moderna Museet,
Stockholm, Sweden
"Where Heaven and Earth Meet", Center for Curatorial Studies Art Museum, Bard College,
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA
La Ville, le Jardin, la Mémoire: La Ville, Académie de France à Rome, Villa Médicis,
Rome
"Site of Desire" 1998 Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, aiwan
"Global Vision", New Art from the 90's Part II, Deste Foundation Centre for Contemporary
Art, Athens, Greece
"Crossings", National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
"Inside Out", New Chinese Art, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York and Asia Society,
Traveled to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Asian Art Museum of San Francisco;
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrery;Tacoma Art Museum and Henry Art Gallery,
Seattle, Nov. 11, 1999–Mar. 6, 2000; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
"Issey Miyake Making Things", Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France,
Traveled to ACE Gallery, New York, USA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Remanence, Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
1997 "Promenade in Asia II", Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
"Performance Anxiety", Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, SITE Santa Fe,
"Future, Past, Present, 47th Venice Biennale", Giardini di Castelo, Arsenale,
Venice, Italy
"5th International Istanbul Biennial" On Life, Beauty, Translation, and Other
Difficulties, various sites, Istanbul, Turkey
"Cities on the Move, Secession", Exhibition Hall for Contemporary Art, Vienna,
Austria. Traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux, Contemporary Art Center,
New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma–Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki;
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Hayward Gallery, London, Framce
1996 "In the Ruins of the Twentieth Century. Twentieth Annual International Studio Artists
Exhibition OFF-SITE", P.S.1 The Institute for Contemporary Art, New York, USA
"Between Earth and the Heavens", Aspects of Contemporary Japanese Art II, Nagoya City
Art Museum.Traveled to Rufino Tamayo Art Museum, Mexico City, Mexico
The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery,
South Brisbane, Australia
"23rd Bienal Internacional de São Paulo", Universalis, Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo,
Parque do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil
"Origins and Myths of Fire", New Art from Japan, China and Korea
"De Rode Poort (The Red Gate)", Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst Gent (now S.M.A.K.
[Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst]), Ghent, Belgium
The Hugo Boss Prize 1996, Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York, USA
1996 "The Ever",Changing, Drifting Heat: The First Johannesburg Biennale, Electric Workshop,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Art in Japan Today 1985–1995, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
"TransCulture", The 46th Venice Biennale, Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, Germany
"Ripple Across the Water", Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Contemplation, Ho-Am Museum, Seoul, Korea
1994 Promenade in Asia, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
Making New Kyoto '94, Kyoto City Hall (organized by the city of Kyoto), Japan
"Mito Annual '94", Open System, Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Center, Japan
"Well-Spring", Bath Festival Exhibition
Creativity in Asian Art Now, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
"Heart of Darkness", Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands
1993 "Silent Energy", Museum of Modern Art Oxford (now Modern Art Oxford)
Outdoor Workshop '93, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shigaraki, Japan
1992 "Encountering the Others", The Kassel International Art Exhibition, various sites,
Hannover-Münden and Kassel, Germany
"Looking for Tree of Life", A Journey to Asian Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art,
Saitama, Japan
"Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner Telekommunizierbarkeit", Transformator–Verein zur
Förderung aktueller Kunst, St. Veit/Glan, Austria
1991 "Asian Wave", China, Tokyo Gallery
"Exceptional Passage", Chinese Avant-Garde Artists Exhibition, Mitsubishi-jisho Artium and
Kashii former train yard, Fukuoka, Japan
1990 Chine demain pour hier, Pourrières, France
"Museum City Tenjin '90", Circulation of Sensibility: Visual City, Functioning Art,
Fukuoka City Hall and Nagahama Port, Fukuoka, Japan
The 7th Japan Ushimado International Art Festival, Ushimado, Okayama, Japan
1989 16th International Modern Art AU Show, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
89 Tama River Fussa Outdoor Art Exhibition, Fussa Minami Park and Kumagawa Shrine,
Fussa, Tokyo, Japan
1987 55th Memorial Exhibition of Dokuritsu Art Association, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum,
Tokyo, Japan
1985 "Cai Guo-Qiang and Hong Hong Wu", Paintings, Quanzhou Art Gallery, Quanzhou, China
The Shanghai and Fujian Youth Modern Art Joint Exhibition, Fuzhou City Museum,
Fuzhou, China
PUBLIC ART
2010 "Odyssey", Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, commissioned by Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
"Ring Stone", Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA, commissioned
by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Public Art Program, for Sloan School of
Management
2007 "One Stone", Bronx Criminal Court, New York, USA, realized, commissioned by the City of
New York: Percent for Art Program Commission, for building designed by Rafael Vi ñoly
2003 "Lighthouse", Bandai, Niigata, Japan commissioned by the city of Niigata
"High Mountain Flowing Wate", 3-D Landscape Painting, Roppongi Hills, Mori Arts Center,
Tokyo, Japan, commissioned by Mori Arts Center, Tokyo
2002 "Turtle Fountain", Dentsu Headquarters, Shiodome district, Tokyo, Japan, commissioned by
Dentsu
2000 commissioned by Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Nordhorn, Germany, for the public art project
"Kunstwegen"
1999 "Skylight", Oak Forest, Gramsbergen/Laar, Netherlands
"Dragon Boat", Hakataza Theatre, Hakata Riverain, Fukuoka, Japan, commissioned by
Hakata Riverain, Fukuoka
1998 "Eighteen Saints", Tocho-ji Temple, Tokyo, Japan, commissioned by Tocho-ji Temple, Tokyo
1994 "Lion: Feng Shui Project for Mito:Chang Sheng", Mito Train Station, Mito, Japan, realized May,
commissioned by Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Center for the exhibition Mito Annual '94:
Open System
