‘Insanity in individuals is something rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.’ — Nietzsche
{ Cai Guo-Qiang, Head On, 2006 | installation of a pack of 99 life-sized wolves barreling in a continuous stream towards—and into—a constructed glass wall | Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany | photographed by Ihara and Mathias Schormann }
I tried to find an animal that represents a collective heroism, an animal that likes company, that lives in a pack. I wanted to portray the universal human tragedy resulting from this blind urge to press forward, the way we try to attain our goals without compromise. This is something that keeps repeating itself all throughout human history. In Zen philosophy, there is this idea of tragic beauty based on the notion that most of what happens has no meaning whatsoever.
{ Cai Guo-Qiang interview | Continue reading }
The wolves were produced in Quanzhou, China, from January to June of 2006. The commissioned local workshop in Cai’s hometown specializes in manufacturing remarkable, life-sized replicas of animals. First, small clay models were created as movement studies, out of which Cai subsequently developed Head On’s artist editions of cast resin wolves. However, the realistic and lifelike 99 wolves that grew out of these models and drawings possess no literal remnants of wolves: they are fabricated from painted sheepskins and stuffed with hay and metal wires, with plastic lending contour to their faces and marbles for eyes.
update Feb 2008 { A visitor to the Guggenheim Museum walks through the installation “Inopportune: Stage Two” by Cai Guo-Qiang, February, 2008 | NY Times | full story }
October 9th, 2007 at 9:23 am
“they are fabricated from painted sheepskins”
A wolves in sheeps’ clothing!
Ahahahaha!
October 9th, 2007 at 11:21 am
How did they managed to suspend them ?
October 9th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
in the first picture u can see that they are hanging from wire.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
you can see in the second picture the strings that are holding up the wolves. they’re reflecting light.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Catalin Says:
October 9th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Me too. How did they managed to suspend them ?
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look closely at the top picture, you can see the strings.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Very cool!
(and @ Catalin: on the third picture, the strings are quite obvious ;) )
October 9th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Beautiful, significant, timely. Original yet immediately understandable….a new classic!
October 9th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Very ugly compared to one wolf in the real.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Chinese Maximalism is absolutely stunning! I’ve seen some of his work at a gallery showing @ SUNY Buffalo in 2003
October 10th, 2007 at 12:49 am
That….is delightfully surreal.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:13 am
lol dont u see the things at the top of the wolf?
October 12th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
I just quit my job today. I gave 3 weeks notice out of a sense of professional courtesy (and despite the fact that the company is run in an unethical manner and workers are treated poorly). The woman started to turn the screws on me so I left abruptly one week into my three week notice. I “stumbled on” these wolves right out of the gate. This is so significant for me right now and really captures the plight of the worker.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
First thing I thought of when seeing this:
Reminds me of the Iraq War . . .
October 12th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Jamie R - I see that. We’re such stupid animals . . .
October 14th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Breathtaking
October 15th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Maybe they should feed and care for the health of their citizens before they play with wolf toys first. 7 of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in China and the worst is rated more polluted than Chernobyl.
Just a thought ?
October 15th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Maybe ten or twelve more people could point out an answer to the first person who asked and then received an answer to the question regarding how the wolves were suspended in air, regardless of the fact that an answer was clearly already given — multiple times in fact — and then we could all marvel at the arrogance and ignorance of man and oh, what a strange dichotomy this work represents as it points the mirror inward, all while we slam gracelessly into the glass.
You see it? You see the string and wires there? They do that with string and wires. In case, you know, you were wondering.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:28 am
And just to elaborate on Kimberley’s point, the wires are fastened to the ceiling by what appears to be modified track lighting, which also support the lights themselves. I would wager that the tracks are somehow secured to the ceiling with screws, and the ceiling itself supported through nfour or more walls with stiff vertical beams capable of holding a great deal of weight. Those, natrually, would have been either sunken into the foundation, or secured through various means. The foundadtion itself is held aloft by solid earth, which is supported in space by it’s gravitational interaction with the Sun. The Sun is thereby held in place by the immense, and yet faint, gravitational influence of the Milky Way Galaxy, at who’s core most likely sits a super black hole. Since other galaxies are even more distant and faint, and the universe is expanding exponentially, it can be rightly asertained that the black hole is not held in place by anything, save it’s own attractive force on the matter nearby.
The short answer is that the wolves are being held up by a super black hole.
~X
October 17th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
can I marry Xooxer?
October 18th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
don’t forget what i told you! MC THIS HAS SPOKEN
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:08 am
Metaphor for the human race. I’d say we hit that glass wall in about 20 more years.
October 25th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Sarcasm is really cool, eh, Kimberley and Xooxer? Wow, can I say that you two are the coolest people to have ever visited this web page? Can I get your addresses so I can send you an award? You know, the coolest-people-ever award?
October 29th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Kimberly’s right tho - it’s easy for us to focus on the retarted question and point out how smart we are because we know the answer… (all 5 times)
October 29th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Everything
October 30th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Neat! How are the wolves suspended like that?
October 30th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
M@ i think you didn’t read the comments, naughty boy!
October 31st, 2007 at 5:19 pm
I’m getting an award! Hooray! I hope it’s a wolf. A wolf suspended by invisible piano wire etc. etc. — black hole. I also hope it’s delivered by Mac D. He sounds like fun!
October 31st, 2007 at 9:42 pm
“It is always consoling to think of suicide: in that way one gets through many a bad night. ” Nietzsche
December 30th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
In Zen philosophy, there is this idea of tragic beauty based on the notion that most of what is said on the internet has no meaning whatsoever.
January 13th, 2008 at 11:22 am
i love those wires what are those wolves doing hanging around cant they see the glass wall
January 13th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
The comments are more interesting than the actual art piece!
January 27th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
im getting a totally different interpretation of this,the big bad wolf slamming to a glass wall, all held up by strings held up by a blackhole,i think he forgot to huff and puff to blow the wall down,meanwhile lil red riding hood leaves so many comments of ignorance to show off theyre vast inability to see the danger behind the glass
January 27th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
a feircesome flow of growling energy baffled by comprehension of evoltuion
February 11th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I love it, but why be indirect with wolves? Why not just have human beings leap through the air into a glass wall?
February 16th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Commies in the Fatherland. Hence the dead end.
February 16th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
someone above mentioned that china was polluted, did not care for its own people, and was wasting money on art installations like this.
first of all, should this kind of logic be reiterated every time someone dares to create something extraordinary? the pyramids perhaps? Eiffel tower? disney world? the world trade center? the war in iraq?
my point is, criticizing art in this way is foolish and hypocritical. the world will always have hungry people, and the world will always have art.
as well, americans need to become more hesitant before the criticize china. if china is polluted, it is on behalf of the walmart factories that churn out the useless consumer shit you fill your houses with. as well, china does not have any significant problem on a world scale in feeding its people. nor does the USA, apparently, as it costs 60 tax payer’s dollars for every meal an american soldier eats - even if that soldier only is in the mood for toast and a fried egg that particular morning.
God bless america! This piece of art was made for you especially.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I’ve seen worse poverty in downtown Los Angeles along 5th Street or in East St. Louis than I’ve seen in mainland China. The Chinese may be living like it’s more than a few decades ago, but they seemed happy…..and Hong Kong is one of the most expensive and ritziest places I’ve ever been.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:34 am
I’m with xian wu lee. What does a Western media portrayal of China as a stereotypical bad-boy nation have to do with the artistic expression of one of its nationals?
Regarding the art, sure I see a stream of wolves blindly following a leader into a barrier of which they are unaware. Although the artist spoke about collective herosim, it struck me more as an example of a group of individuals failing to take responsibility for their own thinking. This would be better characterised by sheep (so maybe my interpretation’s wrong) but xian wu lee if spot on in his/her attribution of it to the American people, or in fact any number of people that blindly follows a leader of any type without taking the trouble to consult their own conscience.
April 20th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
You say painted sheepskin. Was the wool harvested or was it the skin of the animal? Is one animal more important than another? You would save the preditor and kill the prey?