III. Post-Primeval Fireball
Inflation and Expansion: Development in Japan and Beyond, February 1991-August 1995
After Primeval Fireball, I was unstoppable. In September 1991, my explosion event The Immensity of Heaven and Earth: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 11 was included in the exhibition of contemporary Chinese art Exceptional Passage in Fukuoka. In 1992, I realized the explosion event Fetus Movement II: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 5 at a military base in Germany. In 1993, I carried out another explosion event, Project to Extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 Meters: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 10 in the Gobi desert near Jiayuguan in China, and had a three-month residency at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris.
Looking back at my diary, I see the gradual growth of my overall abilities in devising strategies, tactics, planning, and production—and even obtaining my artist visas—during that era of challenges. I worked extremely diligently, flying around to realize large-scale art events, and became an alluring “rising star.” However, I also faced the contradiction of earning less as I became more active, coupled with the unease of an “unsettled” life and livelihood and a sense of estrangement from loved ones and friends.
#23
The Immensity of Heaven and Earth: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 11
1991
Gunpowder and ink on paper, mounted on canvas; refrigerator
Gunpowder drawing: 182 x 455 cm
Refrigerator: 108.8 x 52.2 x 53.3 cm
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
The explosion event The Immensity of Heaven and Earth was realized in Fukuoka, at the exhibition of contemporary Chinese art Exceptional Passage. I constructed a parallel track alongside the operating railway, burying gunpowder and fuses along it. At the end of the track, on a small hilltop, a kite was connected. Additionally, a wooden coffin containing an ice block of seawater infused with microorganisms was buried inside a cave within the hill.
At dusk, as the train approached, the ignition was lit! The audiences on the ground and the passengers on the train are at “different times,” witnessing the flames racing along the track, moving up the small hilltop and extending into the sky along the kite string—revealing the immensity of heaven and earth. As the train moves further away, the kite disappears into the night sky, and the life buried in the hill falls into deep slumber.
I believe one day humans will leave the earth. When extraterrestrials, or even humans as extraterrestrials, return to earth, they can melt the frozen seawater to sustain life and revive civilization.
#24
Fetus Movement II: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 9
(Seismogram, Electroencephalogram, and Electrocardiogram)
1992
Silkscreen on paper
Approx. 56 x 76 cm
#25
Fetus Movement II: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 9
(Gunpowder Bag)
1992
Recycled plastic bag originally used to hold
gunpowder for the explosion event with original
gunpowder label and photograph decals
35 x 23 cm
#26
Fetus Movement II: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 9
(Gunpowder Bag)
1992
Marker on recycled plastic bag originally used to hold
gunpowder for the explosion event with original
gunpowder label
35 x 23 cm
#27
Drawing for The Earth Has Its Black Hole Too: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 16
1994
Gunpowder and ink on paper
55 x 63.5 cm
This is my final project during my time in Japan, commissioned by the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art. At Hiroshima Central Park at the site of a former military headquarters, near the A-Bomb Dome, I formed a spiral with helium balloons suspended at different heights. The balloons lifted fuses and gunpowder, tracing the trajectory of a celestial spiral. The explosion began from the outermost, highest point, then followed along the concentric circles, before disappearing into the small “black hole” dug into the ground, with the ignition’s sound resonating throughout the city.
The fusion of light and heat in the spiral explosion is a metaphor for the gravitational pull of a black hole, as well as the implosion of a nuclear weapon. Will human advancement in technology, represented by nuclear power, lead to the creation of our own black hole on the earth?
#28
Drawing for Myth: Shooting the Suns: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 21
1994
Gunpowder and ink on paper
70 x 95 cm
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
In 1994, at the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, I realized the explosion event Drawing for Myth: Shooting the Suns. It was inspired by the legend of Hou Yi shooting down nine surplus suns to save humanity. In a barren field, I had nine trees uprooted and inverted. At the top of the roots, which now faced skyward, I placed nine bundles of explosives, while the ground-level fuses formed a massive bow and arrow shape. Upon ignition, the flames shot forth like arrows, igniting the sun-like fireballs on the treetops one by one. In the 20-second explosion, the chaos of the primordial universe could be experienced, while Shooting the Suns resonated with the anxieties of global warming.
#29
Poster for Exhibition Chaos (Rubbing)
1994
Ink rubbing on paper
Approx. 115 x 76 cm
In 1994, when the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM) held their first conference in Asia, my solo exhibition Chaos opened at Setagaya Art Museum, the main venue for the conference. The exhibition featured Grave Robbing, a project which involved digging an underground tunnel beneath the museum. This rubbing is the poster for the exhibition.
In the same year, I realized Universal Design: Feng Shui Project for Mito: Chang Sheng at Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito. I also realized Project for Heiankyō 1,200th Anniversary: Celebration from Chang’an, which was commissioned by the city of Kyoto, in front of the city hall. Both works revolve around the themes of feng shui and the unseen world.
The year also witnessed my work featuring live turtles “promenading in Asia” (a reference to the title of the exhibition) at the Shiseido Gallery.
