Cai Guo-Qiang: Moving Ghost Town

Drawing upon Eastern philosophy and contemporary social issues as a conceptual basis, Cai Guo-Qiang’s work creates a direct exchange between viewers and the larger universe around them cultivating a site-specific approach to culture and history. For Moving Ghost Town, Guo-Qiang has created an environment where three African Sulcata tortoises roam freely on a section of natural turf similar to local grasslands. With iPads mounted to their backs, the tortoises feature video footage of three local ghost towns, which were filmed by the creatures themselves. Forgotten stories of the once prosperous ghost towns are retold from the tortoises’ perspective.