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Speaker analyzes meaning behind work of Asian artist Cai Guo-Qiang
The speech was part of the UO's Fowler Memorial Lecture series
by Kevin Glenn | Pulse Reporter
The Taiwan Museum of Art filled with smoke as the trails of gunpowder crisscrossing the building ignited. The museum appeared to be getting bombed. Luckily, no one was hurt; the warfare was an elaborate contemporary art exhibition by the artist Cai Guo-Qiang.
His art, as in the case of "Bombing the Taiwan Museum of Art," is often shocking and extraordinary. Guo-Qiang's work is primarily concerned with explosives and enormous-scale fireworks shows from around the world. To help explain this modern artist's work, the University invited guest lecturer Miwon Kwon.
A full lecture hall listened to Kwon Thursday evening as she spoke about the various forms that Guo-Qiang's work has taken. Gunpowder remains a central focus, paralleling its importance to the Chinese identity. Some critics have accused Guo-Qiang of using gunpowder as a canny way of playing the so-called "Chinese Card."
Kwon is an associate professor of art history at UCLA with degrees from Cal Berkeley and Princeton. Her more recently published work deals with everything from architecture to contemporary art to urban studies, the most notable being a book titled "One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art."
Her analysis of Guo-Qiang's work, which is almost entirely site-specific, is to decipher his work with a focus on the social, monetary and ethical economies of exchange in contemporary art, a project for which the Getty Research Institute recently granted her a fellowship.
Guo-Qiang's work often reads as a statement on the relationship between destruction and creation. But Kwon disagrees. She views the art as more commentary on the commodification of art. When asked how the enormous expense of his extravagant fireworks shows figure into his artistic theory, the artist said it reflected "a triumph of spiritual reality over material reality."
Again, Kwon disagrees. She believes that his work addresses the issues surrounding consumption, but she does not view the final product as idealistically. Guo-Qiang claims that, through his art, he is denying the commodification of his work, but he used his explosions to alter lasting materials that are later sold. For example, he ignited gunpowder on designer clothing, and the clothing was later displayed in a runway show. This act of destruction therefore most likely increased the monetary value of a piece, rather than destroying it; there was no triumph over material reality.
Kwon's speech was part of the Fowler Memorial Lecture series. The event is sponsored by the University Department of Art and has a long history at the University.
msevits@dailyemerald.com
His art, as in the case of "Bombing the Taiwan Museum of Art," is often shocking and extraordinary. Guo-Qiang's work is primarily concerned with explosives and enormous-scale fireworks shows from around the world. To help explain this modern artist's work, the University invited guest lecturer Miwon Kwon.
A full lecture hall listened to Kwon Thursday evening as she spoke about the various forms that Guo-Qiang's work has taken. Gunpowder remains a central focus, paralleling its importance to the Chinese identity. Some critics have accused Guo-Qiang of using gunpowder as a canny way of playing the so-called "Chinese Card."
Kwon is an associate professor of art history at UCLA with degrees from Cal Berkeley and Princeton. Her more recently published work deals with everything from architecture to contemporary art to urban studies, the most notable being a book titled "One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art."
Her analysis of Guo-Qiang's work, which is almost entirely site-specific, is to decipher his work with a focus on the social, monetary and ethical economies of exchange in contemporary art, a project for which the Getty Research Institute recently granted her a fellowship.
Guo-Qiang's work often reads as a statement on the relationship between destruction and creation. But Kwon disagrees. She views the art as more commentary on the commodification of art. When asked how the enormous expense of his extravagant fireworks shows figure into his artistic theory, the artist said it reflected "a triumph of spiritual reality over material reality."
Again, Kwon disagrees. She believes that his work addresses the issues surrounding consumption, but she does not view the final product as idealistically. Guo-Qiang claims that, through his art, he is denying the commodification of his work, but he used his explosions to alter lasting materials that are later sold. For example, he ignited gunpowder on designer clothing, and the clothing was later displayed in a runway show. This act of destruction therefore most likely increased the monetary value of a piece, rather than destroying it; there was no triumph over material reality.
Kwon's speech was part of the Fowler Memorial Lecture series. The event is sponsored by the University Department of Art and has a long history at the University.
msevits@dailyemerald.com
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