Some people who attended WE ARE, a massive fireworks display by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang in Los Angeles on Sunday, required medical attention from falling debris. The kickoff to the much-anticipated citywide initiative PST ART: Art and Science Collide, Cai’s performance involved many thousands of fireworks creating dramatic, colorful displays of smoke in the blue skies over the city’s Memorial Coliseum.
“Unfortunately, pieces of debris fell on some people,” spokeswoman Alexandra Sivak told the Art Newspaper. “We know a few of them required first aid. Of course, this is distressing to us, and we have expressed our concern to the people for whom we have contact information.”
A visitor identified only as Adam told the Art Newspaper that during the final display, unidentified debris was falling from the sky. One such object, which he said resembled a rock, hit his hand, which he was holding over his ears to protect against the noise. He speculates that he could have been blinded if the debris had hit his face, and he told the paper that he saw a medic attending to a crying woman with what seemed to be a split lip.
Sivak confirmed that the fallout from the show included “pieces of clay caps.”
Scattered debris after Cai Guo-Qiang: WE ARE daytime fireworks at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Photo: Min Chen.
Even those who weren’t there but live in the neighborhood have complained about the display, saying they were not forewarned and feared some sort of emergency or violent attack was underway. The Coliseum is centrally located among neighborhoods like South Central and Exposition Park, and just south of the campus of the University of Southern California (USC).
“This looks like they blew up the Coliseum,” USC student Khalil Mayden told CBS News. “I immediately checked with my friends and stuff.”
“This felt massive and it was so scary,” Astrid Kayembe, who lives near the campus, told CBS. “I immediately looked outside of my window and just saw all of my neighbors from my complex, my neighbors’ apartment complex, and even the one after that, we’re all outside like, ‘What is going on?'”
Even two Los Angeles art writers, quoted by CBS, were critical of the performance.
“The times that we live in, I mean, look at what just happened in Lebanon,” said Carol Cheh, an art journalist, in reference to attacks by Israel on members of the militant group and political party Hezbollah. “Here we are setting off massive explosions with a ton of smoke and no explanation in a major city.”
Scattered debris after Cai Guo-Qiang: WE ARE daytime fireworks at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Photo: Min Chen.
Shayna Nys Dambrot said that people were being hit with cardboard tubes and that the “fallout” was all over people’s hair and clothes, and that her “fight or flight” response kicked in.
PST ART had put out a press release prior to the event, but apparently even these professionals did not feel they had been sufficiently warned.
“We are aware and very much regret that some neighbors and attendees were disturbed by the sound and smoke that marked this kick-off event,” said the museum in a statement quoted by CBS. “The Coliseum followed its normal process for events held at the stadium and notified municipal partners.”
The artist’s studio did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.