Artist Cai Guo-Qiang has made a name for himself with an original practice that explores the creative potential of an extremely unconventional medium deeply rooted in ancient tradition: gunpowder. Soon, he’ll bring his visionary messages to the skies above the United States capital with the world premiere of Interspecies Love Letter: Sky Painting for Earth to Space, created in collaboration with cAI, his custom A.I. model.
The night performance will be part of “EARTH to SPACE: Arts Breaking the Sky,” a three-week festival in Washington, D.C., organized by the Kennedy Center to offer new perspectives on our universe through artistic discovery and scientific research. Observer spoke with the artist ahead of his upcoming gunpowder performance, which comes at both a delicate time for relations between his home country and the United States and a moment marked by global geopolitical instability.
Transforming gunpowder from a weapon of destruction into a tool for creation, Cai links past and present while projecting art into alternative cosmic and poetic dimensions. Though his sky drawings reference traditional Chinese ink painting, calligraphy and painted landscapes, they also elevate these forms into a spiritual and philosophical realm defined by Taoist principles such as wu wei (effortless action) and qi (vital energy). Embracing the unpredictability of the fluid system of energies and forces that control matter, the works reflect Taoist ideas of inherent harmony within the very principle of entropy that shapes the cosmos.
Cai was commissioned for this project last May and followed his long-standing fascination with the observable universe. “Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the stars, and the cosmos theme has always been central to my artistic pursuit,” he told Observer. “I also resonate with the festival’s call for ‘cooperation and care’ on an interplanetary scale.”
Coming to life on March 28 over the Potomac River outside the Kennedy Center, the work will pair large-scale projections, spotlights and daytime fireworks with a custom program that lets the audience “paint” the night sky together in real time to create a romantic cosmic story. “The work is inspired by the ‘graveyard orbit’ 36,000 kilometers above Earth,” the artist said. “It will follow the journey of a satellite named Stella as it searches for extraterrestrial civilizations while also paying tribute to the Hubble Space Telescope.”
With the Kennedy Center recently undergoing major political shifts, the artist hopes Interspecies Love Letter will transcend the gravitational pull of politics and instead embody ideals of diversity, cooperation and universality to offer a vision of creative openness that stretches beyond the confines of Earth. Cai Guo-Qiang’s choice to work with gunpowder has never been expressly political, yet he admitted the results inevitably carry political significance. “As I remarked at a recent Nobel Prize event, ‘Using explosives to create beauty rather than warfare and violence provides a sliver of hope for our shared human future.’”
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Cai is no newcomer to the exploration of harmonious cosmic coexistence between beings, a theme that aligns with the notion of “Interspecies,” which envisions new forms of interconnectedness and symbiosis among species—human and non-human alike. In Japan in the late 1980s, he was already exploring cosmic perspectives and extraterrestrial viewpoints, hoping contemporary art could rise above the binary of East and West. The notion of the alien, from the Latin alius, meaning “other,” suggests the potential of an alternative future. The result of his early explorations was a series of “projects for extraterrestrials,” as he described them: works positioned as extraterrestrial themselves, both in their imagined audience and as a conceptual lens through which to view humanity from a distant, otherworldly perspective.
“Ironically, while globalization and the pursuit of diversity and equality face setbacks, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence seems to be shaking the foundation of humanity’s long-standing sense of centrality,” Cai Guo-Qiang said, adding that the rise of A.I., quantum mechanics and space exploration are challenging traditional definitions of the universe and the essence of life. “Questions such as ‘Will A.I. ever develop self-awareness?’ and ‘Can it remain merely a tool?’ are still rooted in a human-centric perspective. A.I., a silicon-based intelligence, and extraterrestrial civilizations alike may not require self-consciousness in how humans understand it. The same applies to aliens.”
Cai Guo-Qiang’s works often demand a shift in perspective, and “Earth to Space” is an open invitation to reconsider our place within a broader cosmic system and find a sense of synchronicity with it. “When gazing at the starry sky and pondering the universe’s origins, I often recall Buddha’s teachings,” he said. “‘The universe is not within time; time is within the universe. The seeker is also that which is being sought. All answers reside in the awareness of the present moment.’”
He pointed out that in 1969, humanity set foot on the Moon for the first time, marking a monumental milestone in space exploration. “Now, as A.I. and other emerging technologies propel us toward an exhilarating yet uncertain future at an unprecedented pace, humans are once again preparing to return to the Moon—and even venture into deep space. I hope this festival will inspire reflection on our self-consciousness as part of the cosmos and our shared responsibility toward Earth and society.”
In that sense, “EARTH to SPACE” is not just the theme of a festival but, as the artist suggested, something much more significant. With Interspecies Love Letter, he hopes to offer not just a performance but also a glimpse into an alternative way of looking at the universe—one that might ensure a more harmonious coexistence and the survival of all beings.
“EARTH to SPACE: Arts Breaking the Sky” will be at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from March 28 through April 20, 2025.
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