Cai Guo-Qiang: Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City VR artwork and installation 2020 Palace Museum in Beijing and Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai Role: Producer, HTC VIVE Arts Cai Guo-Qiang's first VR work, Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City, was conceived as an integral component of his major solo exhibition, Odyssey and Homecoming, at the Palace Museum in Beijing (December 15 2020 - February 5, 2021). The exhibition then toured to become the inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) in Shanghai (July 8, 2021 - March 7, 2022). The installation is comprised of a large-scale alabaster model of the Forbidden City, a richly layered gunpower painting and a VR film. The 8-minute VR film is created in partnership with HTC VIVE Arts, using a unique production process that incorporates 3D scanning and modeling, 360° filming of a full-scale daytime fireworks ceremony, and CGI. Through the VR headset, the audience enter a solemn Forbidden Palace made of alabaster to witness the magnificent daytime firework ceremony that gradually transforms the surroundings into a dreamy, richly colorful world. Using the ancient medium of gunpowder, the artist challenges the adaptability, control and precision associated with VR technology, imbuing the virtual world with the authentic touch of artisanship and explosive energy of the fireworks. Cai Guo-Qiang says, “I grafted different languages and mediums together despite being raw and contradictory. The conceptual quality born from the collaging and conflicting of different languages is more important to me as an artist.” Image credit: Stills for VR work Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City and installation view at the Palace Museum, courtesy Cai Studio