Art of the Explosion

Overview

This multimedia exploration, designed for grades 9-12, explores the science and art of pyrotechnics and chronicles the making of Cai’s Tornado: Explosion Project for the Kennedy Center.

Suggested Use

For nearly two decades, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s work has exploded on the international art scene—figuratively and literally. Through the innovative use of gunpowder and pyrotechnics, Cai takes fine art to new extremes.

Cai’s explosion event entitled Tornado: Explosion Project for the Kennedy Center was designed to kick off the Kennedy Center’s 2005 Festival of China with a bang. The making of Tornado is comprehensively documented in Art of the Explosion: Pyrotechnics & Fireworks, beginning with factors that influenced Cai’s concept for the event and his collaboration with pyrotechnician Phil Grucci. In this dynamic resource, ARTSEDGE chronicles the artistic process every step of the way—all the way to ignition.

Through behind-the-scenes footage, video interviews, archival documentation, design sketches, animations, interactive activities, images of Cai’s artwork, and more, students will learn about the science necessary to design, build, and ignite fireworks displays, as well as the artistry inherent in using pyrotechnics to create unique works.

Studying fireworks provides a fun and interesting lens through which many science concepts can be learned. You may with to direct students to particular sections of the site while teaching science units on topics as varied as the periodic table, combustion and oxidation, molecular structure, energy transfer, atomic configuration, Newton’s Law of Motion, and the scientific enterprise. If you use Art of the Explosion in this way in your classroom, don’t miss "The Making of a Shell" (located in the Build section of the site) or the interactive in which students can choreograph their own fireworks show (accessed via a glowing firework in the upper right hand corner of the screen). To best utilize the wealth of information provided on Art of the Explosion, consider team-teaching a unit on fireworks with an art teacher so students can gain a comprehensive understanding of the art and science of pyrotechnics.

If you wish to have your students explore the resource on their own, you may find some or all of the following questions useful in discussions or writing prompts.

Art-focused questions:

• How do Cai’s explosion events differ from works commonly studied in art classrooms? How are they similar?
• Consider the many factors that influence and inspire Cai to create works. What influences and inspires your art (i.e., other artists, culture, environment, etc.)?
• What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of collaboration in the creation of art?
• In addition to advances in pyrotechnic technology, can you think of other ways that technology has influenced artistic methods, genres, or processes?
• Discuss the definitions of land art, ephemeral art, installation art, and performance art. Do you think Cai’s art falls under one of these categories more strongly than another?
• Consider the fact that many of Cai’s works cannot be realized in the specific way they were originally envisioned. Does this fact deter you from creating art with elaborate and lengthy artistic processes? Why or why not?
• Cai values the process of creation just as much as the image he creates. Do you value one more than the other? Why?
• Do you agree with Cai’s definition of art? How would you alter the definition?
• What do you think of Cai’s work as a whole? How do you interpret Tornado: Explosion Project for the Kennedy Center?

Science-focused questions:

• What role does risk management play in the design of pyrotechnics?
• Throughout history, scientific ideas have been developed—and human problems have been solved—through technological advances across diverse cultures. How does the field of pyrotechnics relate to this fact?
• Which chemical elements and compounds are used in gunpowder?
• How are the different colors of fireworks created?
• What is oxidation? What is combustion?
• How does Newton’s Law of Motion relate to the igniting of fireworks?
• Consider the work of Cai Guo-Qiang and Phil Grucci in pushing the boundaries of art and pyrotechnics technology. In addition to having a good knowledge base of scientific principles and methods, what other characteristics or qualities should a good scientist possess?

Technical Requirements

This multimedia site is bandwidth-intensive, requiring a high-speed Internet connection. Users should be equipped with speakers (or headphones in a lab or classroom setting) and will need the Flash 7 player. It is highly recommended that users set their monitor display to 1024 x 768 (or 800 x 600) for the best viewing experience.