One of the more spectacular but surprisingly low-key exhibitions in Europe this year – if not in Copenhagen – that happened to have a China focus is Cai Guo-Qiang’s “A Clan of Boats”, the inaugural exhibition at the Faurschou Foundation’s spectacular new space in the Freeport of Copenhagen.
Working around themes of China’s and Denmark’s respective shipping histories, including Vikings and the “china” porcelain trade during the nineteenth-century, Cai demonstrates the continued evolution and refinement of his signature firework-performances and drawings. Some drawings, such as “Nordic Harbour”, even take on a Turner-like atmosphere, apt given his hometown of Quanzhou is also a harbor city. The requisite firework-drawing performance by Cai “transformed the boat into a three-dimensional gunpowder drawing, and this sculpture subsequently [became] a part of the exhibition, generating a dialogue with ‘Reflection – A Gift from Iwaki’ [in the Faurshou collection].”* Notably, The ship-wreck in “Reflection” is filled with broken porcelain (dreams?) from Dehua in Cai’s home province of Fujian.
While not as provocative as his extraordinary “Peasant Da Vincis” exhibition that opened the Rockbund Art Museum in 2010 in Shanghai, “A Clan of Boats” presents a more poetic perspective and importantly demonstrates Cai’s rare ability to communicate across genres, distilling social and art historical themes, whether Chinese or Western.
The Faurshou Foundation, founded in 2007 by former pioneer China gallerists, Jens & Louise Faurschou, has two spaces, one in Beijing’s 798 art district and this new, purpose-built space on Copenhagen’s harbor. As one would expect in Copenhagen, the space is minimalist and beautiful. Clearly Cai has taken advantage of the pristine polished concrete floors to play on the reflections of the neighboring harbor, also the site of Cai’s “Freya” performance (see images).
All images are courtesy Cai Studio and Faurschou Foundation.
*Press materials
