Cai Guo-Qiang’s Flying Carpet uses the fairytale motif of the flying carpet to make a more or less clear political commentary. Countless arrows pierce the laboriously hand-knotted fabric like projectiles. The object can be understood as a symbol of an ancient practice of human culture, which bears the arrows as warlike signs of its destruction. Thus, the idea of flying and freedom associated with the fairytale motif also appears violently limited.

Carpet, synthetic resin, 200 arrows (bamboo, brass, feathers)
80 × 210 × 250 cm

Marta Collection, since 2006

© Cai Guo-Qiang
Photo: Hans Schröder