Dan Harlow

Titled ‘Head On’, this instillation was created by the artist Cai Guo-Qiang after a visit to the Berlin Wall. Consisting “of a pack of 99 life-sized wolves barreling in a continuous stream towards—and into—a constructed glass wall”, the wolves were:

From Deutsche Guggenheim:

…produced in Quanzhou, China, from January to June of 2006. The commissioned local workshop in Cai’s hometown specializes in manufacturing remarkable, life-sized replicas of animals. First, small clay models were created as movement studies, out of which Cai subsequently developed Head On’s artist editions of cast resin wolves. However, the realistic and lifelike 99 wolves that grew out of these models and drawings possess no literal remnants of wolves: they are fabricated from painted sheepskins and stuffed with hay and metal wires, with plastic lending contour to their faces and marbles for eyes.

The artist created the exhibit “With few wolves scattered in the front gallery, all ninety-nine wolves run, gallop, and jump toward the far end of the exhibition hall, where a wall stands. The bravery of the wolves is met head on by the unyielding wall. As the leading wolves go down, many more follow with force and determination. As those in the front fall and pile up, those behind take up their positions.”

For me what I get out of this work is the relentless persistence of the predatory nature of governments and dictators (such as Burma or North Korea) that are now forced to explain their actions to a world that can clearly see the brutality of their terror. We live in such a transparent world which has a camera on every phone in every neighborhood in every city that reports of the cruelty of these terrorists can reach even the most remote audience. The trouble is that most of us just stand on the other side of the glass wall and only watch the wolves pile up while we remain safe at home.

It’s also interesting (maybe even funny) that the wolves are made out of sheepskin.

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