“When the Sky Blooms with Sakura”: Spectacular Daytime Fireworks

Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang staged an extraordinary daytime fireworks display at the end of June 2023. Titled "When the Sky Blooms with Sakura", he combined artistically staged billows of smoke with traditional fireworks. On the coast of Iwaki in Fukushima, he thus created a graceful, bold and ephemeral memorial commemorating the people and the region devastated by the 2011 tsunami.

The pyrotechnic installation unfolded with meticulous precision and artful composition over a width of 400 metres. Fascinating formations appeared in three different acts, symbolising white chrysanthemums and blue waves, among other things.

The 65-year-old artist has been dealing with gunpowder as an artistic working material for a long time and staged various performances with pyrotechnical effects. He transforms the destructive powder into beauty and gives explosions meaning and grace.

The excellent and impressive video footage by filmmaker Nathalie Canguilhem extends and expands the work with a further and media-effective component.

A spectacular production commissioned by Saint Laurent that also refers to the artist's solo exhibition at the National Art Center Tokyo: "Ramble in the Cosmos - From Primeval Fireball Onward".