It’s much easier for humanity to hit a glass wall than a brick wall. “Head On” is part of an installation by Cai Guo-Qiang entitled “I Want to Believe” (currently on exhibit at The Guggenheim).
In this tableau, a pack of 99 life-sized wolves gallops at full force toward a transparent glass wall, leaping through the air in a unified arc, only to collide head on into the unyielding barrier. The wall—first realized to the exact height and thickness of the Berlin Wall—represents society’s tendency to search only for the obvious, missing instead what may not be immediately evident but ultimately more dangerous. In Cai’s artistic iconography, wolves possess a ferocity and courageousness similar to tigers and achieve heroism through their collective unity. In this installation, however, their cohesiveness leads to their ultimate downfall.
