Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China. He was trained in stage design at the Shanghai Theater Academy, and his work has since crossed multiple mediums within art, including drawing, installation, video and performance art. While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, he explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, an inquiry that eventually led to his experimentation with explosives on a massive scale and to the development of his signature explosion events. Drawing upon Eastern philosophy and contemporary social issues as a conceptual basis, these projects and events aim to establish an exchange between viewers and the larger universe around them, utilizing a site-specific approach to culture and history. He currently lives and works in New York.

Cai was awarded the Japan Cultural Design Prize in 1995 and the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999. In the following years, he has received the 7th Hiroshima Art Prize (2007), the 20th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (2009), and AICA’s first place for Best Project in a Public Space for Cai Guo-Qiang: Fallen Blossoms (2010). He also curated the first China Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale, 2005, and held the distinguished position as Director of Visual and Special Effects for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In 2012, Cai was honored as one of five Laureates for the prestigious Praemium Imperiale, an award that recognizes lifetime achievement in the arts in categories not covered by the Nobel Prize. Additionally, he was also among the five artists who received the first U.S. Department of State – Medal of Arts award for his outstanding commitment to international cultural exchange.

Among his many solo exhibitions and projects include Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof: Transparent Monument, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2006 and his retrospective I Want to Believe, which opened at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York in February 2008 before traveling to the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in August 2008 and then to the Guggenheim Bilbao in March 2009. In 2011, Cai appeared in the solo exhibition Cai Guo-Qiang: Saraab at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar, his first ever in a Middle Eastern country. In 2012, the artist appeared in three solo exhibitions:Cai Guo-Qiang: Sky Ladder (The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), Cai Guo-Qiang: Spring (Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China), and A Clan of Boats (Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark).

His first-ever solo exhibition in Brazil, Cai Guo-Qiang: Da Vincis do Povo, went on a three-city tour around the country in 2013, traveling from Brasilia to São Paulo before reaching its final destination in Rio de Janeiro. In October 2013, Cai created One Night Stand (Aventure d’un Soir), an explosion event for Nuit Blanche, a citywide art and culture festival organized by the city of Paris.

His exhibition, Falling Back to Earth opened in November 2013 at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art in Australia. He currently lives and works in New York.

• 1957 Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
• 1981-85 Department of Stage Design, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai, China
• 1989-1991 School of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba, Japan
• 1993 Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
• 1995~ Residence New York, USA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010
• “Peasant Da Vincis”, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• “Travels in the Mediterranean”, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nice, France
• “Head On”, National Museum of Singapore (organized by the Deutsche Bank Collection), Singapore

2009
• “I Want to Believe”, Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain
• “Hanging Out in the Museum”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
• “Fallen Blossoms”, Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA

2008
• “I Want to Believe”, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
• “I Want to Believe”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
• The 7th Hiroshima Prize, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan

2007
• “Inopportune”, Stage One, Seattle Art Museum, semi-permanent installation, Seattle, USA
• “Light Passage: Cai Guo-Qiang & Shiseido”, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2006
• “Inopportune”, SITE Santa Fe, organized by the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams,USA
• “Stage”, San Gimignano Mountain and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
• “Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof”, Transparent Monument, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
• “Long Scroll”, Shawinigan Space, National Gallery of Canada, Quebec, Canada
• “Head On”, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
• “Captured Wind Arrested Shadow: Cai Guo-qiang and lin Hwai-min’s wind Shadow”, ESLITE GALLERY, Taipei, Taiwan

2005
• “On Black Fireworks”, Institut Valencià d’ Art Modern, Spain
• “Paradise”, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
• “Life Beneath the Shadow”, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

2004
• “Traveler”, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture “Garden”, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA
• “Inopportune”, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, USA

2003
• “Matrix 204 Fireworks from Heaven”, Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, USA
• “An Explosion Event”, Light Cycle Over Central Park, Asia Society Museum, New York, USA

2002
• “Cai Guo-Qiang”, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• “Cai Guo-Qiang’s CHADO Pavilion”, Homage to Tenshin Okakura, Hakone Open-Air Museum, Japan
• “Ethereal Flowers”, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy

2001
• “Performing Chinese Ink Painting”, Contemporary Art Gallery and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Vancouver, Canada
• “Impression Oil Drawings”, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
• “An Arbitrary History”, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France

2000
• “Cai Guo-Qiang”, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010
• “The Beauty of Distance” Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age, The 17th Biennale of Sydney, Australia
• “Post Monument”, XIV International Sculpture Biennale of Carrara, Carrara, Italy
• “Arts and Cities”, Aichi Triennial, Nagoya, Japan
• “Berliner Bilder”, Koidl Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany

2009
• “Meeting Point”, 10th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
• “Stages”, Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France; 69th Regiment Armory/Deitch Projects, New York/Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, USA
• The 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, Fukuoka, Japan
• “Bike Rides”, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, USA
• “The Sky within My House” Contemporary Art in 16 Patios of Cordoba”, Municipal Archive of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain

2008
• “Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art”, Barbican Gallery, London, UK
• “Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book”, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
• “God & Goods: Spirituality and Mass Confusion”, Villa Manin Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Cordoipo, Italy
• “Prospect.1 New Orleans”, New Orleans, USA
• “Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art”, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii, USA
• “New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond.”, Hong Kong Art: Open Dialogue Exhibition Series II, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, China
• “Academia. Qui es-tu?”, La Chapelle de l’Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

2007
• “Of Nature and Friendship: Modern Chinese Paintings from the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection”, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle, USA
• “Artempo: Where Time Becomes Art”, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy
• “6 Billion Perps Held Hostage! Artists Address Global Warming”, Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, USA
• “Journeys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

2006
• “Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art”, China Institute Gallery, New York / Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle, USA
• “Searching for Dreams in the Canals”, Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China
• “Out of Time” A Contemporary View, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
• “Opening Exhibition: Eldorado”, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
• “Min Tai Yuan Museum Collection (Inaugural Exhibition)”, Min Tai Yuan Museum, Quanzhou, China
• “Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2006”, Tsunan Mountain Park, Niigata Prefecture, Niigata, Japan

2005
• “The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art”, Millennium Monument Art Museum, Beijing, China; University at Buffalo Art Galleries, Buffalo, USA
• “Quantum Grids”, Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center for the Arts, and Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, USA
• “Translation”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
• “Can Buildings Curate”, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, USA
• “Trading Place: Contemporary Art Museum”, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan
• “Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
• “DreamingNow”, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA
• “(my private) Heroes”, MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany
• “Arte all’Arte 10”, Tuscany, Italy
• “The Kennedy Center Festival of China”, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C., USA

2004
• “Past in Reverse: Contemporary Art of East Asia”, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, USA
• “26th Bienal de São Paulo: Free Territory”, Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, Parque do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil
• “The Snow Show: Harvested Ice”, Rovaniemi, Finland
• “All Under Heaven”, Museum of Contemporary Art of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

2003
• “The Heroic Century: The Museum of Modern Art’s Masterpieces, 200 Paintings and Sculptures”, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
• “Alors, la Chine?”, Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• “Pulse, Art, Healing, and Transformation”, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA
• “Somewhere Better Than This Place”, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA
• “Tate & Egg Live 2003”, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, London, UK
• “Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2003”, Tsunan Mountain Park, Niigata Prefecture, Niigata, Japan

2002
• “Ce Qui Arrive (Unknown Quantity)”, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
• “The First Guangzhou Triennial. Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art”, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
• “3e Biennale de Montréal”, Cité Multimédia dans le Vieux-Montréal, Montréal, Canada
• “The Galleries Show”, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
• “Magnete: artisti stranieri in Toscana 1945–2000”, Fattoria di Celle, Santomato, Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy
• “The Power of Art: The 2nd Inaugural Show of the Prefectural Museum of Art”, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, Japan
• “Tokachi International Contemporary Art Exhibition: Demeter”, Obihiro Racetrack and Nishimaki Park, Hokkaidō, Japan
• “Red Continent: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Gwangju Art Museum, Gwangju, Korea
• “EV+A 2002: Heroes + Holies”, Limerick, Ireland
• “Art that Heals”, Apexart, New York, USA
• “Painting without Painting”, Museum der bildende Künste Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

2001
• “Form Follows Fiction”, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy
• “Yokohama 2001, International Triennale of Contemporary Art: Mega Wave: Towards a New Synthesis”, Yokohama, Japan
• “Plateau of Humankind, 49th Venice Biennale”, Giardini di Castello, Arsenale, Venice, Italy
• “Sonsbeek 9:LocusFocus”, Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, Holland
• “The Gift: Generous Offerings, Threatening Hospitality”, Palazzo delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena/ Centro Culturale Candiani, Venice, Italy; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale/ Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York/ Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA; Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Canada
• “Arte all’Arte 6”, Tuscany, Italy

2000
• “Shanghai Biennale 2000: Shanghai Spirit”, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• “Open Ends: MoMA 2000”, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
• “Media City Seoul 2000”, Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
• “Erresistentziak / Resistencias (Acts of Resistance)”, Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea Erakustaret, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
• “Sharing Exoticisms. 5th Lyon Biennale d’art contemporain”, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
• “Art Unlimited, Art 31 Basel”, Art Basel, Messe Basel, Switzerland
• “Biennale of Sydney 2000”, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
• “Over the Edges”, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium
• “The Quiet in the Land: Everyday Life, Contemporary Art and Project Axé”, Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
• “2000 Biennial Exhibition”, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
• “Outbound: Passages from the 90s”, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, USA
• “Gratitude”, one day event and exhibition, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan
• “Pioneers of Chinese Contemporary Art”, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
• “Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2000”, Tsunan Mountain Park, Niigata Prefecture, Niigata, Japan
• “Gratitude”, one day event and exhibition, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan
• “Kunstwegen”, Public Art Project, Nordhorn, Germany; Zwolle, the Netherlands
• “La Ville, le Jardin, la Memoire: Le Jardin”, Académie de France à Rome, Villa Médicis, Rome, Italy

PUBLIC ART

2010
• “Ring Stone”, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA, commissioned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Public Art Program, for Sloan School of Management
• “Odyssey”, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, commissioned by Museum of Fine Arts

2007
• “One Stone”, Bronx Criminal Court, New York, USA, realized, commissioned by the City of New York: Percent for Art Program Commission, for building designed by Rafael Vi ñoly

2003
• “Lighthouse”, Bandai, Niigata, Japan commissioned by the city of Niigata
• “High Mountain Flowing Wate: 3-D Landscape Painting”, Roppongi Hills, Mori Arts Center, Tokyo, Japan, commissioned by Mori Arts Center

2002
• “Turtle Fountain”, Dentsu Headquarters, Shiodome district, Tokyo, Japan, commissioned by Dentsu

2000
• “Skylight”, Oak Forest, Gramsbergen / Laar, Netherlands, commissioned by Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, for the public art project Kunstwegen

1999
• “Dragon Boat”, Hakataza Theatre, Hakata Riverain, Fukuoka, Japan, commissioned by Hakata Riverain

1998
• “Eighteen Saints”, Tocho-ji Temple, Tokyo, Japan, commissioned by Tocho-ji Temple

1994
• “Lion: Feng Shui Project for Mito:Chang Sheng”, Mito Train Station, Mito, Japan, commissioned by Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Center for the exhibition “Mito Annual ’94: Open System”