TED Talks Daily - A firework ladder to the sky — and the magic of explosive art | Cai Guo-Qiang

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

From a boy setting off small explosions in his living room to the creator of world-famous pyrotechnic events, multidisciplinary artist Cai Guo-Qiang has always been drawn to gunpowder. He gives a stunning tour of his work — including his fireworks spectacle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his "sky ladder" of fire reaching to the clouds and new work created with AI — and shows how his art probes the line between destruction and construction, control and freedom, violence and beauty. (This talk was delivered in Mandarin and translated live into English. The translation was put through a custom AI model of Cai Guo-Qiang's voice, powered by technology from Metaphysic. You'll hear how Cai would sound if he were speaking English.)

TED Audio Collective. You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Y'all, we have a real treat today from multidisciplinary artist Cai Guo-Chang. He doesn't speak English. He speaks Mandarin Chinese. But thanks to advancements in AI from developer Tom Graham and his team at Metaphysic, Cai was able to speak about his art in his native tongue and have it real-time translated into his voice by translator

Song Luo for one of the most memorable experiences at TED in recent memory. But don't take my word for it. The folks who saw it agree. The artist was actually one of the most profound talks this week. The profundity is coming up after the break. Support for this show comes from Airbnb. If you know me, you know I love staying in Airbnbs when I travel. They make my family feel most at home when we're away from home. As we settled down at our Airbnb during a recent vacation to Palm Springs,

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Deng. They named their discovery fire medicine, the Chinese word for gunpowder. From the very beginning, gunpowder has been about accidents, loss of control, and destruction. But it's also been about the healing power and unseeing energies. I dreamed of becoming an artist when I was little. But, like my father, who was an avid painter himself, I was cautious and timid. Caution is a fine quality in life but not so in art and Chinese society was also very controlling when I was young

so I longed for an artistic medium that could help me free myself and lose control. I came from an Asian city in southeast China called Qianzhou. The city had many firecracker factories when I was young, so it was easy to get gunpowder. When I first began using gunpowder to create art, I would lay out a canvas in the living room and set off small explosions on it. Seeing the canvas on fire one day, my grandmother threw a leaner rack over the flame and put it out with a small puff.

It was my grandma who taught me that while it's important to light fires, it's more important to know how to put them out. Over the decades, I've run closer to gumpotter and mastered more techniques. My creations forever oscillate between destruction and construction, control and freedom, dictatorship and democracy. For example, I first painted my imagination of paradise, a mirage of temptations. I exploded colored gumpotter to create a sensual and dazzling garden, so beautiful that I didn't want to lay a finger on it. However, I picked up my courage and scattered black gum powder all over this beauty, covered it with a blank canvas, and ignited again. When I removed the canvas on top,

the once enchanting garden was now forever sealed beneath the black. What shocked me the most was the canvas on top, which now looked like an apparition of that heavenly garden. At the end of 1986, I moved to Japan. My cosmology, which till then was a simple one, developed by stargazing and studying feng shui in Quanzhou, suddenly expanded to include the latest developments in modern astrophysics. As a young artist from China,

my growing experiences with getting visas around the world inspired me to explore a chain of big footprints that traverse the earth. The footprints would evoke extraterrestrials racing across several kilometers, bam, bam, bam, in only a few strides, ignoring artificial borders and disappearing into the distance.

After decades of attempts around the world, this concept was finally realized. As 29 footprints fireworks at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the big footprints walked across the 15-kilometer central axis of Beijing like an invisible giant in the sky. Witnessed by 1.5 billion people in person and through live broadcasts, this work symbolized the era's idealistic delusion of globalization. In the early 90s, I conceived a work titled Sky Letter, a letter made of fireworks that would connect heaven and earth.

I made many failed attempts to realize the idea over 21 years. The difficulty of the project, laying its technical requirements. We needed a helium balloon of over 6,000 cubic meters in order to raise a ladder as high as a World Trade Center. Once up, the balloon could easily be blown away. And because it would carry lots of dangerous materials, we had to acquire numerous permits for land, sea, and air in my hometown. It's said that 500 meters is the height of the clouds, so the letter symbolized a useful dream of reaching for the stars and touching the clouds. I've created so much art around the world,

but my grandma has never seen any of them in person. So I was determined to do something awesome for her to see. One morning in 2015, at the Krakow Down, a golden ladder rose into the sky. It was a birthday present from my grandmother, who turned 100 that year. She passed away one month later. In 1995, I moved from Japan to New York

with my wife and daughter. After I came to New York, my work became more site-specific, addressing more socio-political themes and reflecting the changes I've developed from living in the West. This transition also allowed me to better thrive in different cultures around the world. Some have asked why I never deal with the subject of sex.

I would often say, isn't explosion sexy in itself? Ten years ago, I was invited to create an artwork in Paris. I decided to invite 50 couples from around the world to a sightseeing boat

on the Seine, where they would first enjoy a 12-minute firework display that simulates the process of lovemaking. Why 12 minutes? Because that seems to be the average duration of French lovemaking, according to the internet. Excited by the passionate climax of the fireworks, the couples then entered individual tents

to do whatever they wanted. When satisfied, they could press a button and trigger fireworks from a small boat nearby. I had prepared 300 shots of fireworks However, the couples didn't use them all In the end, the fireworks spelled out words

Sorry, gotta go And now, back to the episode. Nighttime fireworks are visible because of light. They are more focused on the explosions themselves. Daytime fireworks rely on smoke. They are like a painter's brush moving across the sunlit sky in real time. In Shanghai, I realized the daytime fireworks allergy, lamenting the severe environmental problems China faces. On the day, clouds loomed low over the Huangfu River, and the fireworks smoke lingered in the air long

afterwards, like an ink painting with its gentle sorrow. For my solo exhibition at Uffizi galleries, I created fireworks in the shapes of flowers and plants from Renaissance paintings. People from across the city could see the fireworks as they launched from the Mekwungjo Square, reigniting the spirit of the Renaissance. Last year, I realized the project When the Sky Blooms with Sakura in Fukushima, which suffered the earthquake and tsunami 12 years ago. On a June day, we had a rare collaboration of the winds and the waves

to realize these daytime fireworks, like a symphony of reverence for nature. I've realized over 600 solo exhibitions and projects worldwide, often facing numerous challenges such as weather conditions, legal regulations, and social-political hurdles. But such is the nature of my art. Behind the momentary magic lies countless unknown factors. Gunpowder and I have been travel companions on a 40-year-long fantastical journey.

Yet I've never grown tired of it thanks to its uncertainty and uncontrollability. And it's the same fascination with the unforeseeable that led to my research in artificial intelligence that began in 2017.

This led to the launch of my AI Cai, my custom AI model. AI Cai deep learns from my artworks, archives, and areas of interest. It also mimics contemporary and historical figures I admire, developing distinct personas. They can debate with each other, forming an independent and free community. AI Tai is my artwork, but it's also a partner for dialogue and collaboration. In the future, it may even create art by itself. Recently, we also enabled AI Tai to sprinkle and ignite gum powder on

canvases. Nowadays, if I burn through a canvas, it's really an intentional loss of control for effect. But when AI-tai burns something, it's a genuine accident. Perhaps AI-tai is that rash, clumsy

boy-tai. People often assume that I like fireworks but what I really like are explosions. I like their energy and magic. Over the years the goal of my Gunpowder creations has never been political but their results do carry political significance. At a recent Nobel Prize event, I said, using explosions to create beauty rather than warfare and violence provides a sliver of hope for our shared human future. Gunpowder helped me set my timid personality and liberate myself

in a repressive society. Its uncertainty makes me both uneasy and exhilarated. That's similar to my interactions with AI. The unknown and uncontrollable aspects of AI are indeed unsettling.

But today, as contemporary art seems weak and conservative, I hope that AI can help me unleash creativity, transcending the current dimensions of human cognition. Can AI reveal heavenly secrets and open a door to interspecies civilizations for us?

If the disruptive nature of gunpowder can bring hope to people through the beauty of explosions, then can the unsettling power of AI do the same, bringing hope to mankind's future by expanding the unknown world? I'm always at the beginning of the next great journey. Thank you, everyone.

And thank you, AI. Support for this show comes from Airbnb. If you know me you know i love staying in airbnbs when i travel they make my family feel most at home when we're away from home as we settled down at our airbnb during a recent vacation to palm springs i pictured my own home sitting empty wouldn't it be smart and better put to use welcoming a family like mine by hosting it on Airbnb? It feels like the practical thing to do, and with the extra income, I could save up for renovations to make the space even more inviting for ourselves and for future guests. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. That was Cai Guo-Chang at TED 2024. If you're curious about TED's curation,

find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Autumn Thompson, and Alejandra Salazar. It was mixed by Christopher Fazey-Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner, Daniela Balarezo, and Will Hennessy. I'm Elise Hugh.

I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. Looking for a fun challenge to share with your friends and family? Today, TED now has games designed to keep your mind sharp while having fun. Visit TED.com slash games to explore the joy and wonder of TED Games.