Life is a Milonga: Tango Fireworks for Argentina
Cai's latest project Life is a Milonga: Tango Fireworks for Argentina will be available to all via livestream.
Life is a Milonga: Tango Fireworks for Argentina is an ephemeral artwork by artist Cai Guo-Qiangthat features conceptual fireworks, tango music and dance, as well as public participation.
Starting at 8pm on Saturday, January 24, the sky of La Boca will be covered in magic, color, and music thanks to Cai Guo-Qiang, the greatest fireworks creator anywhere in the world. Life is a Milonga: Tango Fireworks for Argentina is the first event that Cai Guo-Qiang has designed and produced in Latin America. Tango—its dance and music—is the source of inspiration for this work over the waters of the Riachuelo.
For this work, the artist will use the most advanced pyrotechnics available to coordinate fireworks and music. The event will capture the sensuality of tango and present a poetic exploration of the history of its music and dance.
Tango Fireworks marks a new approach and direction in Cai Guo-Qiang’s oeuvre of pyrotechnic “explosion events.” Over the course of the creative process, he invited specialists such as musicologists, choreographers and dancers to collaborate with him. Dancers’ body movements and that of the bandoneón were filmed from multiple angles to inform the pyrotechnic design; these motions appear as fireworks on the water at Vuelta de Rocha.
Lasting approximately 80 minutes, the event will use over 40,000 shots of fireworks to capture the sensuality of tango and present a poetic exploration of Argentinean history through its music and dance. Innovative pyrotechnics will spell out Spanish phrases in the sky, followed by fireworks that employ three different design approaches: mimicking tango dancers’ and the bandoneón’s movements; taking inspiration from the melody and rhythm of the music; and responding to four historical periods over the twentieth century in a more abstract and symbolic way that defines the characteristics of each time period.
Read more here: http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/cai-guo-qiang-explosion-event/
1. Floating platform on water for Life is a Milonga: Tango Fireworks for Argentina at Vuelta de Rocha, Buenos Aires, 2014
Photo by Wen-You Cai, courtesy Cai Studio
2. Cai Guo-Qiang showing the Director of Fundación Proa Adriana Rosenberg the site for Life is a Milonga: Tango Fireworks for Argentina at Vuelta de Rocha, Buenos Aires, 2015
Photo by Stephanie Lee, courtesy Cai Studio
