Cai Guo-Qiang

I was growing up in a society that exerted a lot of control on people, and from both my personality and the social condition, I found gunpowder gradually as a very suitable medium for exploration. ”

My father was also a painter - actually, a traditional Chinese painter. His personality is pretty timid and cautious. Like him, I was growing up as a cautious kid. ”

The role of art in society is not to resolve conflicts; rather, it is to express these conflicts and antagonisms. ”

Using gunpowder as a medium became a way to liberate myself. ”

One reason I chose gunpowder is that I had the good luck in my environment to be exposed to gunpowder. The other reason is I was always looking for a visual language that goes beyond the boundary of nations, and so I found gunpowder. ”

Even though China was a very closed country, they thought of themselves as the center of the world. It is an ethnic characteristic. After I went to Japan, I had a totally different view. The Japanese are always talking about what the Western world is doing. There is the anxious feeling of an outsider. ”

Computer animation is one way to liberate people from their circumstantial gravity, and it is one way to give them mental freedom. ”

Through art, through people working together and building relationships and trust, people can overcome the problems of politics. ”

In Quanzhou, I have a lot of influence from superstition. I would go to the temple with my grandmother and mother. That is why I have a lot of curiosity about the unseen force and invisible things. ”

For an artist, a good place to be is you have some kind of influence and power to get things done, but in your essence you remain a nomad or a soldier facing a difficulty to be overcome. ”