40,000 ‘Mini-Rockets’ Blasting Off at the Same Time… For Art
- Posted on April 13, 2012 at 2:44pm by
Liz Klimas
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Last month, we brought you Cai Guo-Qiang’s explosive artwork that used gunpowder to burn images onto huge canvas sheets. Guo-Qiang’s exhibit at the Los Angeles Museum for Contemporary Art opened this week and how else could it appropriately launch than without a bang?
The Huffington Post reported 40,000 mini-rockets attached to a wall and about 100 “hovering fireworks,“ or ”pyrotechnic UFOs,” created his latest installation — Mystery Circle — to his project Sky Ladder.
Watch the blinding explosion for yourself:
How was that? Now imagine being there for the countdown and ignition. The LA Times reports that the general worry of the evening was “Wait — he’s shooting the fireworks at us?” Given that the fireworks were attached to a vertical wall and they generally shoot up from where they stand, it was a valid concern. When the rockets were lit, the Times reports spectators were not only dazzled by the light and massive booms but could also feel the heat, even at their safe distance off to the side. The Times states that most of the crowd “went wild” but some seemed to “duck and cover”:
“I think I pulled a muscle,” said one, straightening up after the explosion nearly toppled her. “It looked like a firework was about to hit me in the face!”
Here’s a video taken by one of the spectators:
Even Guo-Qiang told the Times he would have never imagined when he first started doing art 30 years ago that he’d be using so many explosives for one piece. Guo-Qiang is no stranger to fireworks though. In 2008, he orchestrated the visual effects for the opening and closing ceremonies of the summer Olympics in Beijing.
[H/T Gizmodo]
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supressorgrid
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:18pmJust think of all the sulphur and nitrates of oxygen(which cause acid rain) just released by permission of a government that has conniptions if you were to be smoking a cigarett watching it. Irony
Report Post »spfoam1
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 5:55pmSafety first! It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 12:06pmPeople will come from miles around to see s**t if you smear it on a canvas and call it art.
Report Post »Hzurdaddy
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 12:39pmDamn! I got stuck in traffic and completely missed that!
Er, uh, I mean… you’re absolutely right, JP4JOY
Report Post »Hzurdaddy
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 12:40pmOop’s… I was replying to ROWGUE…
Report Post »otmonger
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 11:36amHow many staving children got fed by this crap?
Report Post »hotrodrockets
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 9:02amVery cool. Art? Guess that’s in the eye of beholder. Guess lots of what I do is art to me but not to others.
Report Post »grannyrecipe
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:50amIsn‘t that rather reaching for art’s sake? Yeah, fireworks are always fun…but art?
Report Post »Armyof One
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 7:49pmAnywhere, or any other time, here in California…except for one single day…fireworks are among the most illegal items one can possess. But this fool blows off horizontal projectiles into other buildings, trees, and shrubbery.
Hell, comparing this to when I was a kid, I should be a friggen Picasso!
Report Post »South Philly Boy
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 7:43pmWow, It looks like yesterdays north korean rocket blast off
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 5:21pmmeh
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 4:01pmWhat a waste of money. Is this what the communist, left, and other cretins call art?
No thank you, I will stick to real talent.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:16pm.
Report Post »The Wife and I went to an Art Auction a couple of weeks ago, a friend of hers was selling a painting. But, Ya’ll some idiot bought a piece called “the Road” paid $135k for it. I wanted to go over and smack the guy in the head to see if it had a brain inside. “the Road” was a white canvas some guy tied to his car and drove around catching bugs and other assorted debris on it, then he took it home and sprayed some lacquer on it and called it art. I stood there and listened as he talked about his inspiration, but I found myself wanting to Slap the Snot outta him too. I guess I just don’t understand art…..
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:15pmDon’t let the Muslim Brotherhood see this, it might give them ideas.
Report Post »MittensKittens
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:07pmI think North Korea did something like that yesterday, but they called it a rocket launch!
Report Post »Byrn67
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:07pmi was raised on modle rockets and fireworks were the norm . LOVE it .
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:07pmWhat I want to know is if any of these rockets hit a black person. If it did…then God help them. Eric Holder will be down and the government will shut down the whole area. Whoever made the rockets will be jailed and whoever made this ‘art’ demo will be laying on a gurney in a glass room with a poison needle in their arm very quckly. I don‘t want to see another set of black parents saying that Sheniqua was going to be a concert pianist and now she can’t because her fingers are burned.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:33pmSounds right. I think it was a cover up for Lucy “Porcine” Large burping after a good ham hoc meal, myself. The Black Panther madam chairporcine, or whatever.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:00pmThat sure would be a lot of smoke if that was cigarettes. Probably would not taste too much worse than some I have puffed when I was younger and a bit dumber.Yes, I said cigarettes and that is all I have ever smoked. Better not do that because some bird huggers will come out of the woodwork. Might of sparked up a few bats, too. If there were sky worms or something, must have got a few of them. There must be some sky worm huggers, if not they will form.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:00pmSo for ART’s sake we are going to start to behave like the Chinese and Koreans who set off fireworks displays in the middle of lots of people injuries be damned.
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