One of the most high-profile destinations in Paris has closed for a multi-year renovation project. That would be the Centre Pompidou, which is set to undergo a five-year renovation. Before doing so, the building complex held a number of commemorative events to give the current version of the Centre Pompidou a memorable sendoff — but these events haven’t been without some controversy.
Among the commemorative events was a pyrotechnics installation by the artist Cai Guo-Qiang. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he also worked with Arc’teryx this year on a fireworks project in the Himalayas. That installation, Rising Dragon, came under fire as a result of its potential effect on the environment — and the protests have continued, with the artist’s Parisian commission also targeted with criticism.
As Emiline Smith reports at Hyperallergic, protestors showed up to the artist’s Centre Pompidou project, a show titled Le Dernier Carnival that was also a part of Paris Art Week. Protestors were on hand at Centre Pompidou from Students for a Free Tibet France, expressing their anger at the fact that the Tibetan landscape had been used as the backdrop for a literally explosive display.
Arc’teryx Under Fire for Pyrotechnic Display in Tibet
Fireworks are a weird way to show off your environmental commitment“China’s occupation of Tibet continues to wreak havoc on Tibet’s fragile ecosystem,” the group told Hyperallergic in a statement. “And by detonating over a thousand explosives on Tibet’s sacred land, Arc’teryx and Cai Guo-Qiang showed a deep disregard for Tibet’s fragile environment and its people.” This is not the only one of the artist’s installations that has been protested since Rising Dragon. Given the combination of political tension and environmental effects, it isn’t hard to see why Rising Dragon has become such a flashpoint for controversy.
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