In advance of the Association for Public Art’s September 14 world premiere of Fireflies, a large-scale, interactive work by Cai Guo-Qiang, we sat down with the artist to learn about his vision for the project as a celebration of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway’s centennial. Cai says the pedicabs and colorful lanterns that carry passengers along the Philadelphia boulevard will “bring people closer” in a “celebration [that] can be participatory.”
With Center support, the Association for Public Art commissioned Cai Guo-Qiang to create Fireflies, on view September 14–October 8, 2017, as a celebration of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway’s centennial. Composed of 27 custom pedicabs adorned with 900 luminous lanterns, Fireflies was Cai’s largest public art project in the US in a decade.
