Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang brought an exploding Christmas tree to Washington, DC’s National Mall as part of a State Department arts program. (I’m kind of surprised they had the courage to do this, controversy-wise.)
Atlantic Cities walks us through the show:
A 40 feet tall pine tree will be suspended with 2,000 purpose-built black smoke air burst fireworks. Upon ignition, black smoke puffs will ‘light up’ simultaneously from all points in the tree, as though they are twinkling Christmas lights at a tree-lighting ceremony, followed by a cascade of black ink-like smoke that mimics the flowing beauty of traditional Chinese brush drawings. The black tree-shaped cloud of smoke drifting through the air will create a spectral scene of two trees, one real and one ethereal.
The video is fun. Still, I suspect they’re gonna get letters.
My favorite part is the countdown:
“10, 9, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…”
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