Wen-Ying Tsai

Life & Legacy

WEN-YING TSAI (Chinese: 蔡文穎; pinyin: Cài Wényǐng; Wade–Giles: Ts'ai Wen-ying; October 13, 1928 – January 2, 2013) was a Chinese-American artist, best known as a pioneer in the field of cybernetic and kinetic sculpture. Tsai was an early adopter of an extensive array of innovative materials, such as, but not limited to, Day-Glo pigment, LED lights, fiberglass rods, electric motors, stainless steel rods, stroboscopic light, and audio feedback control. As one of the first Chinese-born artists to achieve international recognition in the 1960s, Tsai was an inspiration to generations of Chinese artists around the world.

The philosopher Vilem Flusser wrote of Tsai's work: There can be no doubt that Tsai is a great artist. Not because what he does is pleasant, or because he proposes a play, or because he represents the spirit of our times, but because he reveals to us, through artifice or works of art, the concrete experience of a future full of promise or abysmal danger.