UMoCA

The political and cultural history of Colle Val d’Elsa is an important source of stimulus for the project of Cai Guo-Qiang (born in the South of China, educated in Japan and now living in New York), an artist who has always been sensitive to the context in which he works. In this case the work involves setting up and opening a small, new contemporary art museum similar to those already created by Cai in Japan and China. The museum is called UMoCA (Under Museum of Contemporary Art) and has been installed beneath the arches of the bridge of San Francesco, built in the first half of the 14th century to link the town with the Franciscan monastery on the adjacent hill. Cai himself is architect, director and exhibition curator, and there will be yearly shows at future Arte all’Arte events. The UMoCA does not require electricity apart from that needed to power the enormous neon signs that signal the paradoxical presence in the landscape of air conditioning, staff and insurance. It has its own distinctive architecture and contains works of art produced by an artist – in this case Ni Tsai Chin – who has been chosen by the curator Cai with the authority conferred on him by the director Cai. Ni started out as a painter before going on to become one of the most important contemporary art critics in China and Taiwan. When some years ago he was appointed to be director of the National Gallery of Taiwan, he invited Cai to hold the first exhibition. This consisted of one of his typical pyrotechnic works and cost Ni his job. His current participation as an artist for the inaugural UMoCA exhibition therefore marks something of an inversion of roles but at the same time is a further demonstration of Cai’s interest in highlighting the sense of activity of the artist in the cultural period in which we are living.