Cry Dragon/Cry Wolf: The Ark of Genghis Khan, 1996. 108 sheepskin floats, branches, wooden paddles, rope, three Toyota car engines, and photocopies of various magazine covers and article clippings, dimensions variable. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,Purchased with funds contributed by the International Director's Council and Executive Committee Members: Eli Broad, Elaine Terner Cooper, Beat Curti, Ronnie Heyman, J. Tomilson Hill, Dakis Joannou, Barbara Lane, Robert Mnuchin, Peter Norton,Thomas Walther, and Ginny Williams, with additional funds contributed by Peter Littmann  97.4523. © Cai Guo-Qiang. Photo: Hiro Ihara

When it was included in the inaugural Hugo Boss Prize exhibition in 1996, Cry Dragon/Cry Wolf: The Ark of Genghis Khan was the first major introduction of Cai Guo-Qiang's work to New York. The artist has often used allegory as a point of entry to raise larger issues for consideration, and for this installation, Genghis Khan's reputation as a skillful warrior and conqueror of Eurasia was adroitly appropriated alongside the cautionary tale of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” to address Western fears of Asian dominance. Asia's expansionism—an actuality in terms of the region's growing economic power—is pointedly, and humorously, emphasized through the artist's choice of symbolically loaded materials. The installation assumes the form of a dragon, formed from large branches affixed with inflated sheepskin bags, which were traditionally used by ancient Mongol warriors alternately to hold drinking water and, when inflated, to use in constructing rafts for crossing rivers. At the lower end of the installation, three Toyota engines remain running, signifying the power of Japanese automobile companies to overtake United States automakers. An earlier version, The Ark of Genghis Khan, was realized in 1996 for a group exhibition that originated at the Nagoya City Art Museum, which is located near the city of Toyota, where the automaker has its headquarters. As part of the installation, the ephemera that line the gallery wall document the mutual dependence—characterized by attraction and repulsion—between East and West in the era of globalization.