Drawing of Transient Rainbow and the real Transient Rainbow are proof of MoMA’s crippling insecurity that no one would show up to their new location in Queens.

So what did they do? They made a very public, very expensive display of desperation and commissioned Cai Guo-Qiang to write in the sky that they will be moving across the East River away from the snooty land that is Manhattan. But even before this, the museum had a three hour long parade across the Queensborough bridge that featured “reproductions of some of the Modern's most famous works - including Picasso's Desmoiselles d'Avignon, Giacometti's Standing Woman and Marcel Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel as well as the artist Kiki Smith, offered as ”a living icon”... whatever that means. The procession was complete “with rose petals, bubbles and music by a Peruvian band, Banda de Santa Cecilia.” It was over the top to say the least.

But the most impressive part by far was Cai Guo-Qiang’s rainbow firework show, which was like a normal rainbow with all the colors and whatnot but except for being made up of water and light, it’s made out of gunpowder and fire. It was a rainbow similar to that of the Disney movie castle intro but instead of panning over the castle, his rainbow pans from Manhattan to Queens. It’s a metaphor for MoMA moving from Manhattan to Queens. Not the most subtle, but still awesome.

Before he could do any of this though, Cai had to practice. Like any good artist/pyromaniac, he made studies for his rainbow piece with his famous gunpowder technique. Basically he lays out a bunch of gun powder and then ignites it, leaving a sort of explosion drawing. Drawing for Transient Rainbow is a little different though. With this piece, Cai put the gunpowder between two pieces of paper - one that represents the rainbow itself and one that would be the rainbow’s reflection on the East River. It’s definitely not as colorful as the actual show, but fireworks last only a couple seconds (15 in this case) and paper, in the right hands, lasts a lifetime.