About the artwork

The enormous nobori-gama (climbing kiln) created by Cai Guo-Qiang, called “the Dragon Museum of Contemporary Art,” was filled with nearly one ton of Chinese ink by the artist, Jennifer Wen Ma. The black-ink-filled climbing stairs became an other-worldly mirror, reflecting images of the visitors, who were confronted by themselves as they entered. The plants around the kiln were also painted black, giving the impression that they had absorbed the blackness from inside the structure. The plants continue to growth over the exhibition period, gradually new green emerges from the black. As the plants changed their appearance over time, the work matured under the watchful eye of nature’s life-force.