Powerful photos of rainbow exploding over New York
Cai Guo-Qiang – Transient Rainbow, 2002, 1,000 3-inch multi-color peony fireworks fitted with computer chips, explosion radius approximately 200m. Realized over the East River, from Manhattan to Queens, 15 seconds explosion event in celebration of the opening of MoMA QNS, New York City
Photo: Hiro Ihara, courtesy Cai Studio
Introduction
The Transient Rainbow by Cai Guo-Qiang was a minute-long show of color and light and it was held at the East River, just over the southern tip of Roosevelt Island. The event was held by the Museum of Modern Art, New York to commemorate MOMA’s temporary move to Queens. The Transient Rainbow was displayed for the public on June 29, 2002. The Transient Rainbow was one among many special projects by other contemporary artists that had been commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art to celebrate the establishment of the Queens branch.
Cai Guo-Qiang – Transient Rainbow, 2002, 1,000 3-inch multi-color peony fireworks fitted with computer chips, explosion radius approximately 200m. Realized over the East River, from Manhattan to Queens, 15 seconds explosion event in celebration of the opening of MoMA QNS, New York City
Banned from the Guggenheim: Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s controversial video
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu – Dogs Which Cannot Touch Each Other, 2003, 8 Bull Terriers, 8 Running Machines Without Drive
Introduction
The video work titled Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other has only recently been removed from Guggenheim Museum’s exhibition series known as Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World. The video series has been met with disapproval and disparagement not only by some art critics but animal lovers and welfare organizations as well. Critics claim that the exhibition would have featured a series of various distinct video presentations depicting instances of unmistakable and unacceptable animal cruelty in the name of art.
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu – Dogs Which Cannot Touch Each Other, 2003, 8 Bull Terriers, 8 Running Machines Without Drive
Abbas Kowsari’s surprising photos of veiled female police squad in Iran
Abbas Kowsari – Police Women Academy, 2006
Tehran’s first all-female police unit
In 2003 the first females ever graduated from Iran’s police academy in the capital city Tehran, after undergoing training of three years. Spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei himself had to give permission to Tehran’s police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf to create the first all-female police unit.
Why did Olafur Eliasson try to recreate the sun in a museum?
Olafur Eliasson – The Weather Project, 2003, Monofrequency lights, projection foil, haze machines, mirror foil, aluminium, and scaffolding, 26.7×22.3×155.4m, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London
Photo: Olafur Eliasson / Tate, London
About the Weather Project
Olafur Eliasson has created a gigantic installation which in 2003 took over all space in Tate Modern, London. The artwork, a sun rising out of a mist was bound to keep any visitor in awe. In this project named The Weather Project, the Scandinavian artist recreated the sun and the sky to occupy the Turbine Hall. The whole space was covered with a fine mist that seeps into the whole space like it was coming from the outside space. Looking ahead to see if the mist escapes into the outer space, visitors saw in place of the ceiling, a replica of the space below – like a mirror. There were 200 low-sodium mono-frequency lamps at the extreme end of the hall as well. Mono-frequency lamps are mostly used in street lights and the frequency at which they emit light is so low that any other color besides black and yellow are invisible. These lamps, therefore, change the view and landscape of the environment into one with two tones.
Kaarina Kaikkonen’s installations: Why are hundreds of shirts flying in the air?
Kaarina Kaikkonen – Helsinki, Finland
Kaarina Kaikkonen’s biography
Kaarina Kaikkonen is one of the most important artistic sculptors of our time. She is best known for her inventive use of second-hand pieces of clothing (mostly jackets & shirts) and molded craft paper to transform public places like churches, streets and plazas into memorable jacket installations. The environment is incorporated into these installations in some way, resulting in a beautiful, colorful cloth landscape. Each garment individually tells a story as an extension of its past wearer, and as a group, they come together to create a history and visual retelling of their space. Born in 1952 in Iisalmi, Finland, Kaarina Kaikkonen studied medical physics briefly at the University of Kuopio before switching to Finnish Academy of Fine Arts (Bildkonstakademin) where she graduated with top honors in 1983.
Profane messages hammered into rocks in stunning scale
Wim Delvoye – Sweetheart, 2003
With the advancement of technology, delivering messages has never been this easy. All we do is create emails, text messages and even twitter posts, and it’s just a click away! Except for the Belgian artist who puts great effort in delivering such message, Wim Delvoye.
This artwork looks like an accident scene
Elmgreen & Dragset – Short Cut, 2003, Mixed-media installation, 250 x 850 x 300 cm
About Short Cut
In Short Cut (2003), Elmgreen and Dragset installed a run-of-the-mill white Fiat Uno in Milan’s quintessential strolling and gathering place for all tourists and residents, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
The work is a metaphor for global tourism, but also a symbol for the precarious nature of today’s world. It also describes a universe in movement that travels along endless, unpredictable paths towards fanciful destinations. The first impression of passers-by is that they have come across an accident scene: the floor is cracked and the wheels of the car are stuck among shards of the mosaic. Short Cut sparks reactions and debate throughout the city; animated clusters of people gather around the installation. On the morning that the exhibition opens, the traffic police leave a ticket on the car for parking in an unauthorized area, and two members of the city council ask for it to be removed; to demonstrate their disapproval, they stage a protest in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, eating a pizza next to the installation.
Most visited arts non-profit online. Established in 2011 in Seoul, South Korea. Projects in 96 countries.
