普希金国家艺术博物馆荣幸宣布，历时两年构思打磨，当代艺术家蔡国强在俄罗斯首次大型个展《蔡国强：十月》于2017年9月12日盛大开幕。面对十月革命百年历史节点，艺术家为普希金国家艺术博物馆打造一系列重量级全新作品，亦延续其与世界不同族群交流合作的艺术观念和方法论，邀请当地民众参与创作火药作品。《十月》既是对艺术家独具创造性的艺术手法的全面介绍，更思考个人在历史中的角色，以及个人梦想与人类理想的关系。
普希金国家艺术博物馆是俄罗斯最重要博物馆之一。1912年成立至今，近70万件馆藏艺术精品横跨古希腊到二十一世纪初，历经十月革命、二战、冷战、苏联解体，深具历史意义。此次蔡国强的大型当代艺术装置、火药绘画、多媒体视频和手稿，从馆外庭院贯穿馆内展厅，诗意拥抱亦颠覆美术馆的古典建筑空间。
开幕两周前起，馆外装置《秋》每天围满当地好奇民众拍照，并在社交媒体上激起话题讨论：美术馆百年大殿入口，渐渐堆起一座几百个摇篮组成的16米高山，淹没美术馆入口台阶和高耸的古典柱廊。此后吊车连续三天细雨作业，自上而下，每个摇篮中种下一两棵3、4米高白桦树，婴儿车中种下小树苗；大树呵护小树，形成葱茏丰满的白桦林。装置过程中，白桦树林已随天气转秋开始发黄。想象展览期间黄叶落满山坡，一根根白桦树干，将与摇篮山结构主义般的骨架一并显现……
观众遭遇被堵住的美术馆正殿入口，已是全新视觉感官经历，进入馆内，空间再次被艺术家拉伸变形：美术馆主轴、巨大古典台阶上空，横贯二十米火药书法丝绸《声音》， 挑高天井被切成两半；艺术家把书法、绘画的平面艺术，转换为磅礴诗意的空间装置。观众迎着《声音》拾级而上，头顶柔软白绸上黑火药爆破的《国际歌》箴言“从来没有救世主，也不靠神仙皇帝” ，几乎碰到时，已置身“白厅” ……
白厅头顶一片银色镜面，让本已高大的空间放大一倍，观众情感随层层空间经历曲折波澜…… 两侧墙上各二十米长的火药绘画《河流》和《花园》，簇拥展厅中间近三百万棵金黄麦草形成的《大地》田野。《大地》是蔡国强希望重现儿时苏联电影和俄罗斯油画中，阳光被云彩遮住、投影大地麦田的神秘感，也是少年蔡投射脑海中对自由美好生活的浪漫想象。《大地》头顶的镜面天空，映照出田野中的神秘符号，也倒影出黑色显影般波涛汹涌的历史《河流》与其中的人民，迷幻彩色《花园》中的罂粟、康乃馨和苏联海报，以及观众自己。倒立的幻影，引导观众思考自己和作品的关系。另两个侧廊，展出一批亲切的小型作品——从艺术家为展览所作铅笔手稿、激光刻纸技术手法，到火药试验等，让观众看到他的构思和创作过程。
展览在大型视频作品《十月：为红场所作的白天焰火》中达到高潮。柴可夫斯基的弦乐里，白天焰火从红场和莫斯科河岸升起，空中形成一幅幅悲怆深情、催人泪下的画卷。最后在百秒震耳欲聋的雷鸣闪电中结束，留下白色的闪光失明……
9月4日起，艺术家在莫斯科志愿者协助下，于全俄展览中心（VDNKh）22号馆现场，先后爆破火药作品《河流》《声音》和《花园》。 志愿者将一百张人民照片摆出历史的河流，教艺术家写俄语书法，帮助刻出巨大花朵纸模；艺术家点火后，扑灭画布的小火星… 共同经历一个个悬念的爆炸瞬间，见证作品诞生。（蔡国强工作室提供）
Moscow – The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts announces the long-anticipated opening of renowned international artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s first solo exhibition in Russia: October. On the occasion of the October Revolution’s centenary, Cai specifically created for the Pushkin Museum a series of bold new works that reflect on the role of individuals in history and the relationship between individual dreams and collective ideals. The exhibition was held with the support of Sberbank and was in the main building of the museum from September 13 to November 12, 2017, as a crucial component of the “Pushkin XXI” project.
During the past two weeks prior to the exhibition’s opening, local passers-by often gathered outside the Museum to photograph the installation Autumn, their posts stirring curious discussion on social media about the classical architecture’s transformation. A 16m-high mountain constructed out of hundreds of stacked baby cradles, cribs and strollers gradually rose at the entrance of the centuries-old museum, engulfing the front steps and colonnade. Then over three days, a crane planted one to two white birch trees of 3-4m in each cradle and birch saplings in each stroller. The larger trees shelter the small, forming a verdurous birch forest. During the installation process, this forest has already begun to yellow from the oncoming autumn. Over the course of the exhibition, the fallen leaves will blanket the mountainside, revealing the white trunks of the birches and the Constructivist-like structure of the mountain itself.
Literally obstructing the museum entrance, the dominating Autumn marks the beginning of an entirely original visual experience. Inside, the artist continues to manipulate the museum’s space. Hovering over the central staircase is The Sound, a 20m-long piece of silk scorched with gunpowder calligraphy that divides the lofty space in half. The two-dimensional art of calligraphy and painting is transformed into a poetic, spatial installation work filled with momentum. As viewers ascend the staircase, hovering overhead on the smooth white silk is a cautionary lyric from The Internationale: “There are no supreme saviors: neither God, nor tsar, nor hero!” By the time the words seem within reach, the visitor will have entered the White Room.
The ceiling of the White Room is covered with a silver mirror, extending the already expansive space. Two 20-meter-long gunpowder paintings, River and Garden, stretch along the facing walls that surround the installation Land in the center of the room. With this installation, created from nearly three million stalks of golden reeds, Cai hopes to recreate the sense of mystery found in the Soviet films and Russian paintings of his childhood: sunlight filtering through the clouds and shining on the wheat, and likewise projecting into an adolescent mind romantic ideas of freedom and the beauty of life. The symbols hidden within the crop circle of Land are only discernable in the reflection in the mirror overhead: hammer, sickle, and scattered five-pointed stars. Simultaneously reflected are the countless images of civilians embedded within the black-and-white River, the colorful poppies, carnations, and Soviet posters found in the fantastical Garden, and the viewers themselves. The inverted illusion leads viewers to reflect on their own relationships with the works.
The exhibition reaches its climax with the video projection October: Daytime Fireworks on Red Square. As the orchestral arrangement of Tchaikovsky sounds, daytime fireworks launch from Red Square and the Moskva riverbank, painting one image after another in the sky, each filled with somber sensibility. The performance concludes with one hundred seconds of earthshattering, thunderous explosions, leaving behind a blinding white flash.
Beginning on September 4, Cai worked with local volunteers on-site at VDNKh No.22 to ignite the gunpowder works River, The Sound and Garden. The volunteers laid out a river of history with one hundred photographs depicting the lives of ordinary people; they taught Cai to write Russian calligraphy, and etched out enormous stencils of flowers. After Cai ignited each work, they rushed in to extinguish the sparks remaining on canvas. Together with the artist, they experienced the moments of suspense prior to each explosion and witnessed the birth of each work.