Artist, Cai Guo-Qiang: My name is Cai Guo-Quang.
I was born in China and am now based in New York City. The title of this artwork is Borrowing Your Enemy's Arrows.
It alludes to an ancient story that is widely known in China. Every Chinese child can recite it. In the story, a famous general, Zhuge Liang, needed to replenish his supply of arrows. He ordered his men to fill boats with straw dummies. The boats were sent out across the Yangtze River through the thick mist of early dawn. The enemy thought Zhuge Liang had sent a large envoy filled with soldiers for a surprise attack. They showered the decoys with arrows, giving Zhuge Liang 100,000 borrowed arrows.
This boat was excavated from my home town of Quanzhou, which is a port city. The city is over a thousand years old and historically has had a very open-minded attitude towards different cultures. It has inspired the cultural pluralism and inclusiveness of my work.
For me, this boat represents many important traditional Chinese values and beliefs. When China sailed onto the world stage, it came into contact with different values and cultures from across the world; and through these collisions, it was wounded. So these arrows represent those wounded moments. But if you look at it from another aspect, they also represent how many rich gains China has achieved as a result of these cultural exchanges.
The image of a flying boat fascinates me. Most boats travel on the surface of the water, but this boat is different because it is filled with feathers from the arrows. It suddenly transforms into a bird and seems able to fly.
Director, Glenn Lowry: To hear Cai describe his discovery of the boat—and the collaborative method he used to install the arrows—enter 2-0-3-1.