French Cognac House Hennessy Celebrates The 150th Anniversary Of Its Iconic XO With Cai Guo-Qiang And Frank Gehry – Forbes

Cai Guo-Qiang is the Chinese contemporary artist who lit up the 2008 Beijing Olympics with giant footprints walking across the sky, stretched his half-kilometer-tall explosive Sky Ladderall the way up to heaven, connecting the earth with the universe (the subject of a Netflix documentary),drew inspiration from Botticellis masterpiece Primaverato illuminate Florence with his City of Flowers in the Skydaytime pyrotechnic display depicting thousands of flowers from the Renaissance, installed 99 wolf replicas frozen in motion as they ran in a pack into a glass wall, and created a gunpowder painting on canvas portraying the birth and demise of a sunflower, merging all moments of the cycle into one image. A Chinese global art star living and working in New York City, hes a cross-cultural artist working on universal ideas and themes. Known for his ephemeral multicolored daytime fireworks performances of epic proportions imbued with an elaborate sense of theatricality, his use of gunpowder is central to his practice, with obvious links to Chinese history and the origins of the world. The nature of his work is fleeting: one second its there, the next its gone. In my creations, I always chase after uncertainty or the unstable factor, the troublemaker that sparks the surprising element that I do not anticipate, he points out. He has introduced gunpowder to contemporary art, transforming the tension, fear and recklessness of destruction into beauty, and redefined the possibilities of what art can be.

The Birth of Tragedy daytime pyrotechnic performance by Cai Guo-Qiang celebrating 150 years of ... [+] Hennessy X.O cognac

Within the oppressive and restrictive context of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in which Cai grew up, he found an outlet through the medium of gunpowder, as playing with fireworks set him free. The-62-year-old artist explains, The question is whether you use gunpowder in a violent or more peaceful way, and also whether you can liberate yourself from this very restrained society. So you have a dialogue with gunpowder, and then through your work, you can find another link. Additionally, using gunpowder is in direct contrast to my father, who was a very conservative, timid intellectual my work breaks away from that. The perpetual cycle of life and death is evident throughout his oeuvre, as he explores connections with invisible powers, interested in connecting heaven to earth. Inspired by Chinese traditions such as Taoism, Buddhism, feng shui, TCM, Qi Gong, Confucianism and shan shui, he converses with the cosmos, the universe and his ancestors. I have a curiosity for the unseen world and unseen energies. They have become the foundation of my art, he notes. His pieces create a link between the material and spiritual worlds, using the things we can see to search for what we cannot see.

This year, to celebrate the 150thanniversary of Hennessy X.O (Extra Old) Hennessys iconic cognac comprising long-aged eaux de vie to perfect the blend that was created by Cellar Master Emile Fillioux at the request of Maurice Hennessy the spirit house founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy reached out to Cai to mastermind an explosive artistic spectacle in its birthplace of Cognac as part of its A World Odyssey anniversary program. Held last September and a year and a half in the making, the three-act performance called The Birth of Tragedyin homage to Friedrich Nietzsches work of dramatic theory of the same name served as a message of hope and unity during a period of uncertainty and was livestreamed to a global audience a first for the Maison and for the artist. The Chinese name for gunpowder, huoyao, means fire medicine, he remarks. It was invented originally with the intention to create the elixir of life; it was never meant to create something explosive, to use as a weapon, so the daytime fireworks is a symbol amidst the pandemic to uplift spirits, heal and carry on with our lives. The pandemic has brought us great difficulties and prompted us to reflect. Were now entering a new chapter of humankinds strenuous odyssey. As Nietzsche elaborates in The Birth of Tragedy, there is a human spirit that, after acknowledging the pain of life, still embraces and enjoys it. After all, mankind is a part of nature, and in life, spring always comes after winter.

City of Flowers in the Sky: Daytime Explosion Event for Florence, carried out above Piazzale ... [+] Michelangelo, 2018, approximately 13 minutes and 30 seconds long, 170 meters tall

Working on water for the first time, Cai staged his 15-minute show from the Charente River running through the town in reference to Hennessys history, as the river had once been the channel through which its cognac traveled to the rest of the world. Seeing the Charente and the barrel workshop along the river in Cognac, I immediately envisioned a picture of wine barrels floating and winding through the river, like a dragon! he exclaims. The three-act fireworks unfold as if on a scroll of calligraphy, a piece of poetic writing and an act of drama. 20,000 fireworks exploded into the daytime sky from 150 oak barrels floating on the rivers surface, starting with a colorful overture of orange oak-colored fireworks, and green and lavender smoke signifying the spontaneous and romantic ethos of France like a group of pleasure-seeking fairies spreading their wings to embrace nature. Act One corresponded with the rhythm of Bring on the Wine, a masterpiece by Chinese Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai who drank and wrote poetry, understood the transient nature of life and all worldly beings, forgot his sorrow and believed in a promising future. Act Two followed with fireworks portraying wild cursive script to echo abstract art, as when Cai had observed his father writing calligraphy as a child. His brush moved swiftly and embodied his emotion and sense of freedom during creation, even though the young Cai couldnt decipher the words. Rather than black calligraphy, the cursive scripts appeared in white in reference to spirits, the sound recalling wolves howling or ghosts wailing. Influenced by Dionysus and Picassos La Bacchanalepainted in 1957, Act Three entitled The God of Wine, A Drama Let the Games Beginsaw thick trails of amber-colored smoke erupt before spitting out white smoke in the shape of a coconut tree, then a flurry of pinks, yellows, blues, greens, oranges, purples and reds intersected chaotically.

Elegy: Explosion Event for the opening of Cai Guo-Qiang: The Ninth Wave on the riverfront of the ... [+] Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2014, approximately 8 minutes long

Using only non-toxic, reduced smoke, biodegradable and CE-certified pyrotechnic products sourced from a manufacturer aligned with EU environmental regulations, the show was broadcast simultaneously on a big screen in Times Square, at Blends by Hennessy on the Shanghai Bund, across social media platforms and on Hennessy.com. To commemorate the short-lived, intangible performance in a more permanent manner, Cai produced a colored gunpowder painting where he ignited explosives directly onto canvas. Reflecting his vision of the fireworks spectacle he went on to orchestrate, it now forms a part of Hennessys permanent collection and will soon go on a world tour. Hennessy will also be supporting his upcoming exhibition, Odyssey and Homecoming, opening this winter at the Palace Museum in Beijing. In these unprecedented times, what has become particularly clear is that we are one interconnected family, says Hennessy President and CEO, Laurent Boillot. At Hennessy, our roots run deep thanks to longstanding relationships reaching back generations. Today, from his base in New York City, Cai Guo-Qiang reminds us of those time-honored bonds with a masterpiece of universal beauty and resonance. A century and a half after the Hennessy X.O saga began, Cai offers an artistic vision of an odyssey forged by unity, resilience and hope. In the exceptional context of 2020, those values guide us, reminding us how far weve come, and how far we can still travel together.

Cai Guo-Qiang working on a colored gunpowder painting that is now part of Hennessy's permanent ... [+] collection

Hennessys history of artist collaborations dates back to 2000 when Jean-Michel Othoniel created a chest for the limited-edition Hennessy cognac, Beaut du Sicle. Since then, it has partnered with the likes of Kaws, Shepard Fairey, Daniel Arsham, Xavier Veilhan, Zhang Huan, Arik Levy, Futura, Os Gemeos, Ryan McGinness, JonOne, Vhils, Felipe Pantone, Marc Newson, Arik Levy and Tom Dixon. As one of the LVMH Groups biggest moneymakers, Hennessy is a major contributor to French international trade, with 99 % of production sold in export, and a global ambassador for the French art de vivre. First approached by Hennessy at the end of 2017, Cai agreed to the basic concept and collaboration format in early 2019, then conducted his first site visit to Hennessy in July 2019, before creating the artistic content of the explosion event shortly after. After conducting tests in July 2020 in Chinas fireworks capital, Liuyang in Hunan province, he arrived in Cognac 10 days before the spectacle, along with 10 pyrotechnicians from Hunan, 20 French pyrotechnic workers from Toulouse, a technical director from Japan, a documentary film team of seven from China and France and a broadcasting director from Beijing. Due to the pandemic, the event had been postponed from June to September, and the theme altered from celebration to hope and optimism.

Mountain in Heat, 2016, gunpowder on canvas, 239 x 450 cm, private collection

Further commemorating the 150thanniversary of Hennessy X.O, the brand has just released a 150-piece limited-edition decanter designed by world-renowned American architect Frank Gehry. Known for his deconstructivist architecture boasting curved faades, leaning walls and gravity-defying lines that are pure whimsy and poetry, the genius behind the Guggenheim Bilbao, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris found inspiration in the Hennessy X.O blend, terroir, vines and Charente River to conceive a bottle wrapped in a rippling sleeve of bronze dipped in 24-carat gold that mirrors the waters movement reflecting the light, itself sitting within a fractured clear glass glorifier. I wanted to bring it to life, and so I took inspiration from its birthplace and used this crumpling effect of the material that gives it a feeling of movement, Gehry comments. The materials Ive chosen catch the light and make this a really beautiful object on its own, but then you realize it is a bottle of Hennessy X.O.

Frank Gehry and the limited-edition Hennessy X.O decanter he designed

A brass-and-gold long fusil pipette rounds off the experience, this instrument used by the Hennessy cellar master to extract the extra old cognac without spilling a single drop. The decanter, glorifier and fusil are packaged in a sculptural protective case fashioned from compressed cardboard and imprinted with Gehrys signature, in tribute to his iconic 1970s corrugated cardboard furniture series. Priced at $17,000 and sold through Mot Hennessy branches and by direct request, it also comes in a more accessible version retailing for $200 through the usual network of wine and spirits purveyors in markets worldwide. A World Odyssey also supports the global community through charity initiatives such as Unfinished Business, a new Hennessy program that provides immediate relief and long-term support to black, Asian and Hispanic small business owners, and financing the Thurgood Marshall College Fund that helps African-American students through a financial donation of $1 million over 10 years.

Hennessy X.O anniversary edition by Frank Gehry

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French Cognac House Hennessy Celebrates The 150th Anniversary Of Its Iconic XO With Cai Guo-Qiang And Frank Gehry - Forbes