Cai Guo-Qiang, one of China’s most celebrated living artists, is venturing into unfamiliar territory with his latest exhibition in Macau, part of the 2025 Art Macao festival. Known for his explosive gunpowder paintings and large-scale outdoor pyrotechnic displays, Cai now experiments with artificial intelligence in “cAI Lab 2.0 – Is It Your Gaze That Meets Mine, or Mine That Seeks Yours?”, on show at MGM Macau.
This new body of work is created not by Cai alone but by cAI, an AI model developed by the artist and his team after seven years of research. The exhibition features a wide array of AI-generated experiences—twelve poetic texts projected onto corridor walls, interactive phone booths where visitors converse with cAI, and digital fireworks rendered on massive screens. Among the most striking works are gunpowder paintings created using a humanoid robotic arm that replicates Cai’s own signature process of sprinkling powder and igniting controlled explosions.
Cai views AI as a natural extension of his long-standing fascination with unpredictable materials like gunpowder. He draws parallels between alchemists discovering explosives and humanity’s current engagement with artificial intelligence. The exhibition’s centrepiece involves cAI generating digital fireworks in real time, using data from cameras that track visitors’ movement—although, during previews, technical issues caused the installation to falter, highlighting the unpredictability that mirrors Cai’s traditional medium.
The artist fed cAI a vast archive of his past works, lectures, writings, and even themes from fields like astrophysics, feng shui, and spirituality. Over time, the AI was imbued with twelve distinct personalities—ranging from Einstein and Nietzsche to Ptolemy and even a bipolar disorder model—creating what Cai describes as a self-reflective community.
Despite the ambition, Cai admits that progress with cAI has been slower than expected. He hopes to eventually reach a stage where AI can move beyond mimicking humans and act as a new form of life—one that offers insight into dimensions we cannot yet access.
Criticism about AI’s role in art doesn’t bother Cai. He believes that only the replaceable artists are at risk. As for himself, Cai continues to create traditional works led by his body and spirit, and says he is preparing a new project that does not involve AI at all.
READ MORE: