Edited and co-ordinated by Honey Luard 
Editorial assistance by Miranda Yates 
Proofreading by Louise Parfitt 
Designed by (Studio) Jonathan Hares  
Texts by Cai Guo-Qiang, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rachel Rivenc  
  
Printed by Verona Libri, Italy 
305 x 245mm, softback 
178 pages, colour illustrations throughout 
ISBN 978-1-910844-80-9 
Published by White Cube, September 2025 
  
Published to mark Cai Guo-Qiang's solo exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey (September – November 2025), this catalogue charts a decade of the artist’s experimentation with gunpowder. Detailing monumental works which shift between registers of the figurative and abstract, this publication profiles Cai’s distinctive engagement with a volatile and transformative medium.  

Over 30 years after their first meeting, Cai and Hans Ulrich Obrist are reunited in conversation for this publication, discussing the artist’s early forays with gunpowder, and the many public commissions which have punctuated his career. Additionally, Rachel Rivenc explores the conceptual and material complexity of the artist’s practice from her unique perspective as Head of Conservation and Preservation at the Getty Research Institute.

Hans Ulrich Obrist is Artistic Director of Serpentine in London, and Senior Advisor at LUMA Arles.

Rachel Rivenc is Head of Conservation and Preservation at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.