The fifth of November calls for fireworks, and this colourful explosion comes courtesy of Chinese artist and pyrotechnics pioneer Cai Guo-Qiang. The piece, dubbed Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City, featured in Cai’s 2020 retrospective, held in Beijing’s Forbidden City and was inspired by a dream the artist had in the build-up to the show. Because it wasn’t feasible for Cai to set off his usual plethora of fabulous fireworks over the imperial palace, he and his studio embarked on a virtual reality display instead, conjuring up a fully immersive, five-minute-long experience that proved no less beguiling than his IRL creations.
