Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling back to earth

148 149 Another new year Because of the prevalence of feudal gender values and the establishment of the one-child policy in China, many Chinese parents give up their first-born daughters in the hopes of having a son to carry the family name. In New York alone, there are several thousand such Chinese-born girls who were adopted by American families. Living and working in New York City with two daughters of my own, I had been troubled by this phenomenon for some time. I think about these children, especially around Chinese New Year. I have always wanted to do something for or with them. In 2008, I finally had the opportunity during my retrospective, ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe’, at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York. From what I understand, these girls are generally left by their parents at dawn in a safe place where they can be easily discovered. Many large cities in China have orphanages that take the girls in. When China began permitting the foreign adoption of orphaned children, strict regulations were established. Adopting couples were not able to choose the child: instead, they were to accept the one assigned to them. After adopting, the parents were then obligated to routinely report to the orphanage, informing them about the child’s development. A number of my colleagues in the arts have gone through this process; these adoptive parents, mostly highly educated, never conceal the truth from the girls and actively expose them to Chinese tradition, culture and language. On the occasion of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I worked with the education department at the Guggenheim to invite the girls and their parents to the museum for a special after-hours tour of ‘I Want to Believe’. First, I guided them through the rotunda; I introduced myself and explained that I, like the girls, came from China, but was now an artist living in New York. I hoped that after meeting me, these girls would no longer view China as a foreign concept about which their Western parents or teachers preached. I wanted to help them better understand the culture into which they were born. At the end of their visit, the museum lights dimmed. I counted down into the microphone: ‘Five, four, three, two, one . . .’ The girls, who were standing around the spiralling rotunda, switched on the lanterns they were given at the beginning of their visit, one after the other. The sight resembled a Milky Way that led to the top of the museum. We enjoyed sharing this evening and felt as if we were part of one big family. Another New Year 2008, realised at Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, 24 February 2008 for ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe’ Above and opposite Participants holding lanterns around the rotunda of the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York Opposite Cai Guo-Qiang introducing himself and his family to participants of Another New Year Photographs: Mariluz Hoyos. Courtesy: Cai Studio