Sui Jianguo, Milky Way, Stainless Steel, 18.5m (H).
Work Title: 《银河号》
English Title: Milky Way
Media: Stainless Steel
Dimension: 18.5m (H)
Sui Jianguo graduated from Department of Fine Arts, Shandong University of Arts in 1984 and Department of Sculpture, Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989. He was the director of Department of Sculpture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
“The Central Mobile Intelligence District (CMID) had a plan to build an IT-Electronic industry architectural complex that integrates various industries, based on the former site of Beijing Sanyuan Milk Factory. Mr Huang, who was in charge of the program, invited me to create a sculpture for the new architectural complex, using the various stainless steel parts that were removed from the old milk factory, in hopes that the postmodern IT innovation industry and the traditional milk processing industry could somehow be linked together.
When I saw a pile of dusty stainless steel jars, pipes and various other components in the warehouse at the center, I came to realize that this cite was jumping from base of food industry, whose product is daily supplies as common as milk, to base of the advanced technology industry in the 21st century. The strong contrast between them and the huge leap from one to the other reminded me that this transformation is almost equivalent to humans entering outer space from the earth. That was when it came to me that I could use these large and small jars and tubes to make an art piece that looks like a multistage rocket.
The final work of the sculpture presents an imaginary spacecraft, made from a combination of polished discarded tubes and jars – round or square, large or small – collected from the old dairy factory. The whole sculpture is shiny, as if all the brilliance and splendors of the galaxy are condensed in it. I named this space rocket ‘银河号’.
The English name for ‘银河号’ is Milky Way - a path paved with milk. It reminds people in a delicate way that the Central Mobile Intelligence District was built on the site of a milk factory. "
- Sui Jianguo