As intern at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, I researched artworks and wrote about them for their social media. This article is an amalgamation of some of the pieces which I wrote to promote the exhibition “Fukuoka Prize 30th Anniversary, Highlighting Asian Artist” (1 July – 24 September, 2019). All images belong to the museum, please do not redistribute.
This piece was posted on FAAM’s FB feed on 14 August 2019.
Cai Guoqiang ”I am an Extraterrestrial: Project for Meeting with Tenjin (Heavenly Gods): Project for Extraterrestrials No.4” 1990
Cai Guoqiang is a world-renowned artist from Fujian province, China, known for his large-scale works using gunpowder, a Chinese invention. This image is from a large conceptual drawing. It features gunpowder and scribbled notes on Japanese Washi paper, was used for his project exhibited in the first Museum City Tenjin event (1990), held in central Fukuoka.
Cai Guoqiang lived in Japan for 9 years and has close ties with the country, and Fukuoka specifically. He was heavily involved in the Fukuoka exhibit “Exceptional Passage: Chinese Avant-Garde Artists“ in 1991 and his “Project for Extraterrestrials” was a series of large-scale outdoor events.
The name of this work “Project for Meeting with Tenjin” puns on the meaning of the place-name, which is Heavenly Gods and refers to a project that was about the contemporary spate of crop circles in Tenjin. The drawing illustrates his concept, which was to create a crop circle by igniting gunpowder. Referred to as “mystery circles” in Japanese, crop circles had been found throughout Japan then, and were said to be evidence of UFO landings.
The writing at the bottom right of the piece describes the projects difficulties in finding a location. Originally the artist chose two spots in Fukuoka for his performance. Unfortunately the first was under construction and the second was hard to obtain permission. Following this Guoqiang attempted to have the performance held on a roof-top heliport, but again his plans were thwarted. Eventually this work was displayed in an area north of Tenjin.
The work of Cai Guoqiang is almost always performative and has a distinct trace in time. Having studied stage drama at the Shanghai Drama Institute in the 1980s his artistic expression always involves some level of spontaneity. By using gunpowder the art signals both creativity and destruction.
Besides being awarded the Fukuoka Prize in 2009, which is currently being celebrated in our Asia Art gallery, Cai Guoqiang has achieved global recognition, with his reputation firmly established at the Venice Biennale in 1999. He has carried out projects across the globe and even produced the epic firework display for the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
About the Fukuoka Prize
In 1990, ten years before the inauguration of FAAM, Fukuoka city set up the now prestigious Fukuoka Prize. It is the first humanities prize in Asia and consists of three sections, the grand prize, the academic section and the art section. This popular prize, that has a wide variety of laureates and a consistently high quality of work, was established to promote the outstanding culture in Asia and to enhance mutual understanding and peace. It’s logo, a circle, depicts Asia as one united body and the whirling core represents the spiritual energy of the region. Previous grand prize winners included the Nobel Peace Prize economist Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh), who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, and also Mo Yan (China), who was awared the Nobel Literature Prize in 2012. 2019’s Laureates are Grand Prize winner David Randolf (Philippines) a scholar of sociology, Academic Prize winner Leonard Blusse (Netherlands) a historian who studies Asian-European relations, and Arts and Culture Prize winner Sato Makoto (Japan) a Theater Director who became known in the 1960s underground theatre scene associated with “Black Tent.” To commemorate the 30th year of the prize, FAAM showcased a selection of 6 artists who have previously been awarded the Arts and Culture prize.
Isla May Phillips 