That was what my friend gushed at when she watched Eclipse and saw Jacob Black (acting as a werewolf) in action. She meant that wolves are fluffy and nice to hug.

I just couldn’t understand.

Wolves, in my twenty over years of knowledge, are a pack of furry creatures. I just couldn’t associate them with anything near fluffy. So having heard of Cai Guo-Qiang’s Head On Exhibition, I made my way down to the National Museum of Singapore, hoping to see his art installation of 99 life-sized wolves.

Boy, it’s massive!

Flying wolves doing…Flying Fox?

Cai Guo-Qiang’s exhibition was inspired by German history, where he made relations to Berlin’s past and present, underscoring deep historical issues between the former East and West Germany.

The other two of his three works – the explosion project Illusion II and the large-scale gunpowder drawing Vortex – were produced on site in Berlin.

Video documenting how the drawing came about. Challenging work!

I’m particularly drawn to Vortex, for its two-dimensional representation of the art installation of the wolves. The use of gunpowder seems to suggest that violence is an underlying force which may unite or destroy a population.

Crashing into the glass wall

The highlight of this colossal installation is the glass wall. It puts a sudden and disruptive halt to the continuous arc of force created by the leaping wolf pack. Its symbolic meaning serves as a reminder that invisible walls are usually the hardest to pull down. Even with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of former East and West Germany, there still seem to be much intractable historical issues between both sides. I believe this exhibition provokes us to ponder over such issues and question the fact that humanity is prone to repeating history, even to the most inconceivable extent.

And the wolves come tumbling down!

By the way, if you are curious – I came out of the exhibition more affirmed than ever before – that wolves are furry, not fluffy That said, do visit this thoughtfully presented exhibition at the National Museum on now till 31 August! Oh, and it’s free admission!