Camera-Critters #98: Head On

"Head On" is an artwork made by Cai Guo-Qiang for his exhibition at Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany in 2006. He is world famous for his use of dynamites on his large scale paintings and fire works. One of his more famous work is his fireworks for the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony in 2008.

In this piece, he used 99 wolves marching toward an invisible glass wall and crashing down. One interpretation is that it symbolizes the reunification of East and West Germany. Although the physical wall had come down, the rushing of the unification movement crashed with the unseen wall of social and cultural differences between the East and West.

My personal interpretation is to do with the more recent movement in China of referring Chinese not as the descendants of dragon as in traditional mythology, but as the descendants of wolves of the Central Asia plain. Historically speaking, this may be true, even the very first dynasty of China was formed by the invading barbarians from the Central Asia. Genetically, human race also migrated from Africa through Central Asia to reach China. However, the wolf movement has more to do with asking Chinese to be more aggressive. Is this "Head On", an interpretation of this movement?

There is a major exhibition of his work in the Taipei Fine Art Museum during the past several months and it is where I took the picture. The figure at the left hand side of the picture is Grace.

To see more Camera-Critters from around the world click here.