Bigfoot’s Footprints: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 6 belongs to a series of gunpowder drawings that Cai Guo-Qiang made in Tokyo in the early 1990s as proposals for large-scale outdoor projects. In this drawing, Cai laid out a plan to create gunpowder explosions in the airspace between two nations. Upon ignition, the bursts would appear in the shape of abstracted footprints and generate a sequence of flashes as if the mythical creature Bigfoot had run across the sky, rendering the territorial boundaries porous. The drawing serves not only as an instructive diagram or rehearsal of an event, but also as a standalone work using Cai’s signature medium and method of mark-making: gunpowder explosions, which can destruct and construct at the same time. It therefore encapsulates the conceptual, visual, and philosophical foundations of his oeuvre.
The dark marks and textures in the composition result from the burned debris of combusted gunpowder and charred paper, after the artist exploded gunpowder on the paper substrate. Fifteen clusters that represent "footprints" and linear marks that connect them occupy a diagonal trajectory. From the bottom right to top left, the size of the footprints decreases, which suggests traveled distance and an aerial viewpoint; as the title indicates, the work takes the point of view of extraterrestrials. This elevated perspective is a conceptual and compositional strategy signifying an idealized neutrality inspired by Cai’s wish to transcend cultural differences. He wrote on the drawing in Simplified Chinese alongside diagrammatic ink inscriptions detailing the concept, vision, and the technical and formal specifications for the explosion project. Cai eventually realized the idea with fireworks during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in which Bigfoot "walked" from the Forbidden City to the National Stadium ("Bird’s Nest") along the city’s axis, which was broadcast worldwide.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Bigfoot’s Footprints: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 6
Artist:Cai Guo-Qiang (Chinese, born Quanzhou, 1957)
Date:1991
Medium:Gunpowder and ink on paper, mounted on wood as eight-panel folding screen
Dimensions:78 3/4 in. × 22 ft. 3 3/4 in. (200 × 680 cm)
Classification:Works on Paper
Credit Line:Anonymous gift, 2025
Object Number:2025.277a–h
the artist (1990–2024; sold in 2024 to private collection); private collection (2024–25; their gift to MMA)
Tokyo. P3 art and environment. "Primeval Fireball: The Project for Projects," February 26–April 20, 1991, unnumbered cat. (as "Project for Extraterrestrials No. 6: Bigfoot's Footprints).
Kawaga. Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum. "Cai Guo-Qiang Exhibit," April–July 1993, no catalogue.
Paris. Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain. "Cai Guo-Qiang," April 5–May 28, 2000, unnumbered cat. (pp. 93–95).
Washington, D.C. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. "Cai Guo-Qiang: Traveler," October 30, 2004–April 24, 2005, unnumbered cat. (pp. 8–9).
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," February 22–May 28, 2008, no. 9 (lent by the artist).
Beijing. National Art Museum of China. "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," August 19–September 2, 2008, no. 9.
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe," March 17–September 20, 2009, no. 9.
Taipei Fine Arts Museum. "Cai Guo-Qiang: Hanging Out in the Museum," November 21, 2009–February 21, 2010, unnumbered cat. (pp. 110–11; dated 1990, lent by the artist).
Maastricht. Bonnefantenmuseum. "Cai Guo-Qiang: My Stories of Painting," September 30, 2016–May 1, 2017, unnumbered cat. (pp. 94–95; dated 1990).
Tokyo. National Art Center. "Cai Guo-Qiang: Ramble in the Cosmos–From "Primeval Fireball" Onward," June 29–August 21, 2023, no. 17.
Takashi Serizawa inPrimeval Fireball: The Project for Projects. Ed. Rumiko Kanesaka. Exh. cat., P3 art and environment. Tokyo, 1991, unpaginated.
Cai Guo Qiang inPrimeval Fireball: The Project for Projects. Ed. Rumiko Kanesaka. Exh. cat., P3 art and environment. Tokyo, 1991, unpaginated, ill.
Cai Guo-Qiang inDay Dreaming: Cai Guo-Qiang. Exh. cat., Cherng Piin Gallery. Taipei, 1998, p. 4, no. 1, ill., calls it "Project for Extraterrestrial No. 6: Bigfoot's Footprints" and dates it 1990.
Fei Dawei and Cai Guo-Qiang inCai Guo-Qiang. Exh. cat., Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris. London, 2000, p. 131, call it "Bigfoot's Footprints".
Cai Guo-Qiang and Andrew Ujica inCai Guo-Qiang. Exh. cat., Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris. London, 2000, pp. 96, 140, ill. pp. 93–95 (color).
Dana Friis-Hansen. "Survey: Towards a New Methodology in Art." Cai Guo-Qiang. London, 2002, pp. 51, 54, 160, ill. pp. 52–53 (color).
Serizawa Takashi. "Focus: Going Beyond the Wall: 'Project to Extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 Meters: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 10'." Cai Guo-Qiang. London, 2002, p. 102, calls it "Bigfoot's Footprints".
Kristen Hileman and Jennifer Ma, ed. Cai Guo-Qiang: Traveler, Unlucky Year: Unrealized Projects from 2003–2004. Exh. cat., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. [New York], 2004, pp. 8–9, 20, ill. (color).
Vincente Valero inCai Guo-Qiang: Fuegos Artificiales Negros/On Black Fireworks. Exh. cat., Institut Valencià d'Art Modern. Valencia, 2005, pp. 83–84, 370, ill. p. 147 (color), generally discusses "Project for Extraterrestrials" series.
David Rodriguez Caballero and Cai Guo-Qiang inCai Guo-Qiang: Fuegos Artificiales Negros/On Black Fireworks. Exh. cat., Institut Valencià d'Art Modern. Valencia, 2005, pp. 107–8, 379, generally discusses "Project for Extraterrestrials" series.
Irene Bonilla inCai Guo-Qiang: Fuegos Artificiales Negros/On Black Fireworks. Exh. cat., Institut Valencià d'Art Modern. Valencia, 2005, pp. 304–6, 391, generally discusses "Project for Extraterrestrials" series.
Ariane Grigoteit inCai Guo-Qiang: Head On, Deutsche Bank Collection. Exh. cat., Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin. Ostfildern, 2006, pp. 21–22, 121, fig. 5 (color), calls it "Bigfoot's Footprints, or "Project for Extraterrestrials No. 6" in text.
Sandy Brooke. Drawing as Expression: Techniques and Concepts. 2nd ed. [1st ed., 2002]. Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2007, pp. 221–22, fig. 9.16, dates it 2002, discusses it in relation to Exh. Washington 2004–5 as an unrealized event meant to occur at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2002.
Michelle Yun in Thomas Krens and Alexandra Munroe. Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe. Exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, 2008, pp. 102, 192, no. 9, ill. (color) pp. 102–103 (overall), 193 (installation photo, Exh. Tokyo 1991).
Chia Chi Jason Wang inCai Guo-Qiang: Hanging Out in the Museum. Exh. cat., Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Taipei, 2009, p. 30.
Cai Guo-Qiang inCai Guo-Qiang: Hanging Out in the Museum. Exh. cat., Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Taipei, 2009, p. 109, ill. pp. 110–111 (color), [reprints Ref. Guo-Qiang 1991].
Cai Guo-Qiang and Philipp Kaiser inCai Guo-Qiang: Ladder to the Sky. Ed. Jeffrey Deitch and Rebecca Morse. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Los Angeles, 2012, p. 77, date it 1990.
Cai Guo-Qiang inCai Guo-Qiang: Ladder to the Sky. Ed. Jeffrey Deitch Rebecca Morse. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Los Angeles, 2012, p. 112.
Alexander Etkind inЦай Гоцян: Октябрь/Cai Guo-Qiang: October. Exh. cat., Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. [Moscow], 2017, ill. p. 43 (color), dates it 1990.
Cai Guo-Qiang inThe Spirit of Painting: Cai Guo-Qiang at the Prado. Exh. cat., Museo del Prado. Madrid, 2017, figs. (color) 41 (overall), 43 (installation view, Exh. Tokyo 1991), dates it 1990.
Yu Hui inCai Guo-Qiang: Odyssey and Homecoming. Ed. Simon Schama. Exh. cat., Palace Museum, Beijing. New York, 2021, p. 36, fig. 7 (color), dates it 1990.
Simon Schama, ed. Cai Guo-Qiang: Odyssey and Homecoming. Exh. cat., Palace Museum, Beijing. New York, 2021, p. 348, ill. p. 336 (color, overall, and installation photo, Exh. Tokyo 1991), dates it 1990.
Erica Osaka inCai Guo-Qiang: Ramble in the Cosmos–From "Primeval Fireball" Onward. Ed. Reiko Tomii et al. Exh. cat., National Art Center, Tokyo. [Tokyo], 2023, pp. 7, 250.
Takashi Serizawa inCai Guo-Qiang: Ramble in the Cosmos–From "Primeval Fireball" Onward. Ed. Reiko Tomii et al. Exh. cat., National Art Center, Tokyo. [Tokyo], 2023, pp. 14, 244, fig. 8 (color, installation photo, Exh. Tokyo 1991), calls it "No. 6: Bigfoot's Footprints".
Wu Hung inCai Guo-Qiang: Ramble in the Cosmos–From "Primeval Fireball" Onward. Ed. Reiko Tomii et al. Exh. cat., National Art Center, Tokyo. [Tokyo], 2023, pp. 30, 32, 226–227, figs. (color) 7 (installation photo, Exh. Tokyo 1991) 12 (installation photo, Exh. New York 2008).
Cai Guo-Qiang inCai Guo-Qiang: Ramble in the Cosmos–From "Primeval Fireball" Onward. Ed. Reiko Tomii et al. Exh. cat., National Art Center, Tokyo. [Tokyo], 2023, pp. 39, 86, 219, colorpl. 17, ill. p. 87 (detail), [p. 86 revises Ref. Guo-Qiang 1991].
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