Hot or Not

Writing Workshops at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha.


Day 2

Mathaf's exterior

What's This All About Then?
This afternoon we followed Yves Klein by leaping into the void—of interpretation. The first task was look closely at Cai Guo-Qiang's installation Flying Together, and try to sort out what is happening in this artwork. Is the suspended camel being attacked by two-dozen falcons (have you ever seen so many falcons at one time?) or are they holding the desert beast aloft? What do the animals represent? Why are the hanging from the ceiling? 

A dinner of the desert's best meat or an airlift evacuation? Cai Guo-Qiang's Flying Together here at Mathaf, Doha. 

Workshop Attendees' Reflections on Flying Together

There were 27 falcons flying around a camel. They are representing the Arab worlds. The camel looks neutral, it had no expression on its face. Looking at the art, some falcons are trying to eat the camel because their faces are aggressive and thirsty for blood but some look like they want to help the camel from falling. Maybe it means that every falcon is eating parts of the Arab countries, and the countries are not doing anything about it.

— Maha

The ambiguous spectacle of a camel enveloped by falcons suspended in the air evokes violent reactions. Are the falcons attacking the camels or helping it fly? The two symbols of Arabia are intertwined in a controversial embrace.

— Laura

It looks like the camel is falling down because the movement of the body reflects that. If the falcons would try to lift him up, they would use their claws instead of biting him. The image looks very aggressive me, because the falcons are biting and picking at the camel. The movement of the birds shows that they were waiting for prey. When the camel is falling down, they all attack him from different directions.

— Tessel

The camel in the artwork is sample of our Arab world and the attacking falcons are situation that is happening in Arab countries in different way. The camel is dying; at the same time the falcons get the chance to eat him. We can say about the artwork that it has “the smell of death.”

— Nawal

A premature camel that drifted away from its kind, and unfortunately witnessed an attack from falcons. There is no sense of the ground because the camel is tilted in mid-air, and has falcons furiously landing on its upper body. The exciting thrill of harm about to happen creates a sense of curiosity. The artist wants to relate his emotions by saying that he is the camel who is innocently being attacked, or not, by his audience.

— Emelina

I feel strongly that the hawks in this piece are a representation of salvation and therefore are there to help the camel. In my interpretation, the suspension of the camel and the position of its body looks as if he is being carried up to the sky or heaven. The birds all descending with mouths open seem to herald the impending death of the camels, as well as their arrival to help it pass onto the next world. The camel’s expression, for me, is one of peace and resignation to its fate. Its one eye peering out at us symbolizes our world, the one we see, while the hawk pecking at its eye is symbolic of the unseen.

— Bebe

The camel is flying to death. Falcons have no patience to wait for its landing. Congregated around its body, they try to hold it safe. Their beaks will do the job of their claws because the prey is too precious to be held by the claws. It is a sacred ceremony of death.

— Fatema

There are two actions occurring in the artwork. The close picture where you could see a group of falcons eating a small camel which is falling down from a high place. The second one is a wide picture in which four falcons are coming from far away to help in carrying the camel.

— Manal

The camel is under attack from starving falcons because all of them are flying towards the prey with open beaks. The camel is not trying to fight back because he knows that the falcons are all over his body. The prey is falling from a high place because its body is lying on its side.

— Heba

I cannot keep Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds out of my mind. Falcons hunt and kill living prey but not in flocks and not prey the size of camels! Perhaps the artist is suggesting that, with cooperation, they could.

— John

Falcons in this piece are working together towards eating the prey, by carrying it towards a safer place for them. The camel has no expression while the falcons look ferocious. The interaction is between falcon beaks and camel feet, except the one in the eye and camel.

— Pilar

Agonizing (and texting) over what to say about Flying Together. 

What to say, what to say. . .