For the fourth Open Research Program, Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 will invite internationally renowned contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang (蔡国强) to engage in a conversation in Japanese with prominent philosopher and critic Akira Asada about his work in recent years.
For this dialogue, Cai Guo-Qiang brought video footage introducing three of his latest works: his project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this summer, Da Vincis do Povo; his large-scale gunpowder drawing, Homeland, made in front of an audience at Union Church for Christie’s Shanghai on September 25; and his project for Nuit Blanche 2013 in Paris, One Night Stand (Aventure d’un soir), which had just taken place on October 5.
With these works and several others—such as Black Fireworks: Project for Hiroshima (2008)—as examples, Cai spoke about the responsibility of the artist and the risk that must be taken by the organizers of such events. Cai and Asada delved into the heart of the matter, and captured the audience’s rapt attention with their sharpness and wit. There were also many questions from the audience, which expanded the dialogue further and brought even more intellectual stimulation to the afternoon.
278 audience members were present for this conversation. The Parasophia Office would like to thank the thirteen students from the Kyoto University of Art and Design and five students from Doshisha University, the Kyoto Institute of Technology, and Osaka University for their assistance. An abridged record of the report will be made available on this website.

Open Research Program 04 [Dialogue] Cai Guo-Qiang in Conversation with Akira Asada
Date: Monday (holiday), October 14, 2013 3:00–5:00 PM
Venue: Galerie Aube, Kyoto University of Art and Design
Presented by the Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture Organizing Committee, Kyoto Association of Corporate Executives (Kyoto Keizai Doyukai), Kyoto Prefecture, and Kyoto City
Co-presented by Kyoto University of Art and Design
With the cooperation of the Kyoto University of Art and Design Graduate School Academic Research Center
Under the auspices of The Japan Foundation

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About the Open Research Program
The Artistic Director and his curatorial team will conduct part of their research for Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 publicly, in the form of lectures and other events in this program.