12月11日下午，費城是攝氏零下的氣溫，費城美術館前方的廣場卻聚集了滿滿的人群。眾人頂著風寒，為的是觀看蔡國強的〈花開花落：爆破計畫〉。這項爆破計畫為時一分鐘左右：開頭的四秒鐘，火焰由中心向外蔓延，接下來的大約五十秒，一朵遮蓋美術館整面大門的花朵在火焰中燃燒，而最後的幾秒鐘，則在逐漸「凋零」的花朵中有數個爆炸點，於打雷般的聲響中結束整個爆破計畫。
〈花開花落：爆破計畫〉為費城美術館及紡織工房美術館攜手展出的「蔡國強：花開花落」特展揭開序幕。這次的展覽靈感，來自於紡織工房美術館創始人瑪莉安．博爾頓．斯特勞德（Marion Boulton Stroud，或稱「凱皮」〔Kippy〕）對於2008年過世的前費城美術館館長安．特哈農庫特（Anne D’Harnoncourt）的悼念，並以她們之間四十多年的友誼為主軸，探討記憶、逝去、時光等概念。兩間美術館的展出作品各有特色，也多有呼應之處。
●費城美術館
〈花開花落：爆破計畫〉的花朵，是蔡國強手繪後，再以等比例搭建上費城美術館的東邊大門。整個爆破過程，呈現了花朵短暫的美麗，也暗指人生的稍縱即逝。除此之外，美術館內展廳並展出了〈時光〉（2007）及〈99艘金船〉（2002）兩件作品。
〈時光〉由四幅火藥草圖所組成，分別表現春、夏、秋、冬四季，大尺幅的作品覆蓋著展廳兩側牆面，頗富氣勢。抬頭一望，則可看到懸吊在天花板、從展廳一邊延伸到另一邊的〈99艘金船〉，由黃金做成的葉形小船有如漂浮在隱形的河流上。這兩件作品一起展出，使展廳充滿詩意，並創造出時光如流水般的意象。
●紡織工房美術館
開幕當天，在費城美術館進行〈花開花落：爆破計畫〉之後，蔡國強即前往紡織工房美術館，點燃〈時光畫卷〉。裝置作品〈時光畫卷〉為一道金屬製成的人造河，裡面鋪著一條接近40公尺的絲絹，以安的故事為基礎，於絲絹之上放置紙形圖樣並灑上火藥。蔡國強點燃火藥後，絲絹上便留下燒過的圖象痕跡，而在三個月的展期內，這些痕跡將被流水漸漸洗淨。
另一項作品〈日月如梭〉則有湖南湘西土家族的五位編織工藝家的參與。這五位來自傳統村落的紡織者之前從未出國過，僅憑著凱皮懷念安而述說的故事，以想像設計出掛毯圖樣。展覽期間，她們每天都在館內，以傳統的紡織機，將圖樣一幅一幅編織出來，參觀者可以觀看她們紡織的過程。由於她們以往多編織傳統、較抽象的圖樣，而本次設計了具象的圖樣，因此對她們來說，也是一種新的嘗試。
除了上述兩件作品之外，紡織工房美術館也展出編輯過的〈花開花落：爆破計畫〉錄像。
●友誼、回憶、時光
「蔡國強：花開花落」是蔡國強的首次費城個展，策展人卡洛斯．巴蘇阿多（Carlos Basualdo）表示：「這整個展覽特別適合費城的背景，因為歷史及回憶向來在這座城市的市民生活中扮演重要的角色。它以一種既普遍、又私密的方式探索並呈現這項主題。」紡織工房美術館的展覽將展至3月7日，而費城美術館則展至3月21日。
（原文刊載於《藝術家》雜誌416期2010年1月號）
Fallen Blossoms in Philadelphia
-- Cai Guo-Qiang's First Solo Exhibition in Philadelphia
A huge crowd gathered at the East Terrace of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the evening of December 11th, 2009, regardless of the twentish-degree weather. They were there to watch Cai Guo-Qiang's Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project. The explosion project lasted for about a minute: in the first four seconds, a flame spread out from the center of the flower that covered the façade of the museum entrance. The flower remained burning for another fifty seconds, and in the last few seconds, there were a few explosion spots among the petals of the "withering" flower, ending the whole project with thunder-like sounds.
Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project opened up the curtain of Cai Guo-Qiang: Fallen Blossoms, an exhibition collaborated by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Fabric Workshop and Museum. Marion Boulton Stroud (Kippy), the director of the Fabric Workshop and Museum, and Anne d'Harnoncourt, the late director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, shared a forty-year friendship. Inspired by Kippy's memories of their friendship, Cai explores the themes of life, memory, and the passage of time in the exhibition.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The flower frame of Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project was put up on scale according to Cai's drawing. The explosion process not only presented the ephemeral beauty of flower blossoms, but also implied the transience of life as well. Besides the explosion project, two other pieces of art, Light Passage (2007) and 99 Golden Boats (2002), are on view in the Honickman Gallery inside the museum.
Light Passage is composed of four gunpowder drawings, each representing one of the four seasons. Covering the walls of the gallery, the large scale of the drawings creates quite a spectacular scene. Hanging down from the ceiling is 99 Golden Boats, an installation extending from one side of the gallery to the other. The leaf-shaped golden boats suspended from the top in a wandering row as if they are floating in an invisible river. Displaying the two pieces together generates a poetic atmosphere and refers to the idea that time flows like a river.
Fabric Workshop and Museum
After doing Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the opening evening, Cai went directly to the Fabric Workshop and Museum and ignited another project, Time Scroll. In this installation, a metal artificial river flows through the length of the gallery. A 40-meter silk scroll was placed inside the river. Before the ignition, pieces of paper cut with patterns according to the pictures of Anne were placed upon the silk. Cai spread gunpowder through the river and ignited it, which left imprints on the silk. The last step was to allow flowing water gradually wash away the imprints during the exhibited period.
Time Flies Like a Weaving Shuttle is a piece of work done by Cai's collaboration with five Tujia weavers from Hunan Province, China. The five weavers, never been to a foreign country before this exhibition, creates twenty tapestry images according to the transcribed stories of Anne told by Kippy. During the exhibition period, they weave the tapestries with traditional looms shipped from China. Visitors could see their weaving process and are encouraged to interact with them. Since the weavers are used to weave traditional and abstract images, the figurative design in this project is a new challenge for them as well.
The Fabric Workshop and Museum also displays an edited video of Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project, which shows the explosion process in slow motion.
Friendship, Memory, Time
Cai Guo-Qiang: Fallen Blossoms is Cai's first solo exhibition in Philadelphia. Curator Carlos Basualdo states, "the exhibition is especially suitable for the background of Philadelphia because history and memory have always played an important role in the lives of people in this city. Cai explores and presents the theme in a way both prevailing and private." The exhibition goes through March 21st.
(The original article was published in Chinese in Artist Magazine, vol. 416, January 2010.)
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