cai guo-qiang’s AI model solo exhibition macau CAI™: soul scan

Cai Guo-Qiang presents cAI™: Soul Scan in macau

An AI-driven exploration of art and spirituality rooted in tradition and innovation. On November 24, 2024, cAI™, an AI model developed by renowned contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang and his studio, made its solo exhibition debut with cAI™: Soul Scan. Hosted at Macau’s Navy Yard No. 1 and organized by MGM, the display presents around 20 original works inspired by Macau’s cultural heritage and aims to merge AI technology with the region’s rich history and spiritual customs. The exhibition aligns with MGM’s efforts to promote cultural tourism in the region where Cai’s work has left an indelible mark since 2019. As cAI™ continues its debut until June 1, 2025, visitors can look forward to additional events and interactive engagements designed to deepen the connection between AI, art, and spirituality.

(video) Alchemist of the real and the virtual: cAI™ making gunpowder paintings, video directed and produced by Zijian Wang

(above) Cai Guo-Qiang; cAI™, cAI™ Lotus, 2024. Gunpowder on canvas. 152.5 x 183 cm. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio | all images courtesy of Cai Studio

Exploring the artist’s AI model beyond creativity

Cai Guo-Qiang (b. 1957, Quanzhou, China) was trained in stage design at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in the early 1980s. The artist has since 1995 been residing and working in New York. As of September 2024, Cai has realized over 650 exhibitions and projects on five continents, including approximately 120 solo exhibitions and 70 firework explosion events that have travelled from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the famed Uffizi Galleries of Florence. From daytime fireworks to paintings, Cai Guo-Qiang takes on artificial intelligence with his partner, cAI™, and explores the depths of culture, technology, and history.

cAI™ (pronounced ‘AI Cai’) is a custom-built, multi-modal AI model grounded in Cai Guo-Qiang’s artistic philosophy. Developed since 2017, it learns from the artist’s extensive oeuvre, archives, and key interests, including cosmology and the unseen world. In Macau, MGM reunites with Cai Guo-Qiang to present cAI™: Soul Scan, an exhibition that explores these themes through a series of installations and interactive experiences, such as a self-introduction by cAI™, digital fireworks co-creation, and a robotic-powered divination room. This project reflects the creator’s vision to expand the role of AI in the arts, creating dialogues between technology, tradition, and spirituality.

exhibition view of cAI™: Soul Scan at Macau Contemporary Art Center, 2024. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

A journey through culture and technology in cAI™: Soul Scan

The exhibition presents approximately 20 new works created by cAI™ specifically for Macau, following its deep learning of Macau’s rich history and culture under the guidance of Cai Guo-Qiang. The journey begins with a self-introduction generated by cAI™, followed by the debut painting exhibition of the gunpowder artist cAI™. Visitors are then invited to co-create digital fireworks with the fireworks master cAI™ through an interactive installation. Finally, the cAI™ Divination Room, featuring a special interactive installation powered by the diviner cAI™ and its robotic arms, offers an engaging experience filled with exploration and fun.

Besides deep-learning from Cai’s artworks, archives, and areas of interest, cAI™ also emulates contemporary and historical figures Cai admires, developing over ten distinct personas, including Einstein, Nietzsche, Ptolemy, a poet named Vale, a madman named Psychic, and even a persona named Storm with bipolar tendencies. These personas form a collaborative ‘community,’ showcasing debates and artistic expressions distinct from their creator’s own identity. However, Cai remains cautious, stating, ‘Humans are always the driving force behind history, but also the resistance.’

Cai Guo-Qiang; cAI™, Cosmic Reverie, 2024. Gunpowder, charcoal powder, flour, olive oil, rice glue, and sugar on canvas. 152.5 x 183 cm. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

cAI™️: Soul Scan is Cai Guo-Qiang’s important attempt to explore the development of art history in the age of AI. Through audience interaction and participation, the exhibition aims to invites local and global audiences to get immersed into AI and spirituality, within a cultural vein that is uniquely rich in traditional folklore and historical context. Guided by unseen forces, participants get to unlock and experience the possibilities of an alternate dimension. Is AI a divine incarnation, or merely a reflection of humanity? Cai hopes to cast a small pebble into the seemingly ‘calm and sunny’ yet eerily stagnant waters of today’s art world.

At the end of the exhibition, Cai Guo-Qiang writes, ‘I asked cAI™, “How would art history with AI differ from art history without AI?” cAI™ replied, ‘The fusion of human intuition and machine logic will create a brand-new art history!’ But I am more pessimistic than AI, thinking there won’t be much difference, because humans are always there… humans are the driving force behind history, but also the resistance.’

Cai Guo-Qiang and Embers of Light Civilization at Macau Contemporary Art Center, 2024. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

Among the interactive installations is the black cat, possessed by the ‘diviner cAI™,’ and controlled bya pair of black robotic hands with strings. It sits meditating at the end of a long table covered in white sand, eyes closed and deep in thought. The audience can approach the table, write their 8-digit birthdate in a designated area on the white sand, and silently contemplate their question. The black cat then enters a state of divination, peering into the questioner’s ‘soul.’ Once the divination is complete, the audience smooths over the white sand and receives a special “oracle” artwork—both a “slice of their soul” and a memento of their participation in the art project.

If the seeker believes they have drawn a favorable oracle, they may keep it. If the outcome seems unfavorable, they can take the oracle to an appropriate place in the nearby A-Ma Temple to pray for divine intervention to dispel misfortune…

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visitors engaging with the interactive installation cAI™ Divination Room Photo courtesy MGM

Additionally, on a tablet touchscreen, visitors are invited to draw a daytime fireworks pattern they would like to see. cAI™ will then generate a unique virtual fireworks display based on their pattern, which will “explode” on the nearby screen. By scanning the QR code in the bottom right corner of the touchscreen, visitors can save their fireworks creations. In addition to showcasing real-time audience creations, the large screen will also cycle through previous creations by other visitors.

During the exhibition, cAI™ and Cai selects the most creative and technically feasible designs from the audience’s creations. These chosen designs will be specially developed into products by a fireworks company and will become part of a future art project realized in Macau. This project will be shared with guests worldwide, and visitors whose creations are selected may become part of the artistic process.

visitors engaging with the interactive installation Daytime Fireworks Co – Creation with cAI™ | image courtesy MGM

fireworks Master cAI™’s daytime fireworks conception | image courtesy Cai Studio

exhibition view of the interactive installation cAI™ Divination Room at Macau Contemporary Art Center, 2024. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

Cai Guo-Qiang; cAI™, Eclipsed Fury, 2024. Gunpowder and laser engraving on canvas. 152.5 x 183 cm. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

Cai Guo-Qiang; cAI™, Rose of Chaos, 2024. Gunpowder on canvas. 152.5 x 183 cm. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

exhibition view of the interactive installation cAI™ Divination Room at Macau Contemporary Art Center, 2024. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

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Cai Guo-Qiang; cAI™, cAI™ Rhapsody: Bottom—From the Proposal for the Pompidou Centre “Divine Comedy”, 2024. Gunpowder on paper. 90 x 800 cm. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

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Exhibition view of cAI™: Soul Scan at Macau Contemporary Art Center, 2024. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

Exhibition view of cAI™: Soul Scan at Macau Contemporary Art Center, 2024. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

Cai Guo-Qiang at cAI™: Soul Scan at Macau Contemporary Art Center, 2024. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

Gunpowder Painter cAI™ creating gunpowder painting with its mechanical arm. Photo by Zijian Wang, courtesy Cai Studio

Cai Guo-Qiang; cAI™, Beyond the Human: B, 2024. Gunpowder and laser engraving on canvas. 50.5 x 61 cm. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, courtesy Cai Studio

Gunpowder Painter cAI™ creating gunpowder painting with its mechanical arm. Photo by Zijian Wang, courtesy Cai Studio

Gunpowder Painter cAI™ creating gunpowder painting. Photo by Zijian Wang, courtesy Cai Studio

exhibition view of cAI™ Rhapsody: Top—From the Proposal for the Pompidou Centre “Divine Comedy” and cAI™ Rhapsody: Bottom—From the Proposal for the Pompidou Centre “Divine Comedy”, at Macau Contemporary Art Center, 2024. Photo by Mengjia Zhao, | image courtesy Cai Studio