Early Life and Education: 1928-1950s
1928
Tsai is born in Amoy (now Xiamen), China.
1930s
Tsai’s early childhood is spent during the “Nanjing Decade,” a period of economic and civil strife. Despite the times, he recalls a joyful childhood spent wandering the countryside, climbing trees, stealing birds’ eggs, catching crickets and cicadas, and flying battle kites. He also received his first art training in Chinese brush work.
1939-48
Tsai moves to Shanghai and studies chemistry at Ta Tung University. During these war years, Tsai encounters several close calls including ‘friendly fire’ by American fighter planes on their family merchant ship as they sailed from Shanghai to Amoy.
Career Beginnings: 1950s-60s
1953-63
After receiving a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Tsai moves to New York. An engineer by day, Tsai finds work as an architectural consulting engineer and project manager for renowned architects, including Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe. By night, Tsai pursues the arts. He enrolls in drawing and painting classes at the Art Students League and learns dance from Erick Hawkins. In the summers, he studies art in Provincetown, where he studies with Hans Hoffman.
In this decade of exploration, Tsai transitions from figurative to abstract painting and makes his first sculptures using wire mesh, plaster, and oxy-acetylene welding.
1961
His first solo show of abstract paintings is held at Ruth Sherman Gallery, New York.
1962
Tsai becomes a United States citizen.
1963-64
Tsai decides to devote himself exclusively to his art practice after he receives the John Hay Whitney Opportunity Fellowship for painting. He resigns from his engineering career and begins to make his first three-dimensional constructions using optical effects, day-glo paints, and ultra-violet light. The first show of these “Superimposed Paintings” is held at Amel Gallery, New York.
Building His Career: 1965-1979
1965
Tsai receives an Edward MacDowell Colony Residency Fellowship, where he begins work on his first kinetic sculpture, Multi-kinetic Wall, which is shown at Amel Gallery. This breakthrough work is also exhibited at the Institute Contemporary Art in Boston. His day-glo paintings receive additional recognition when they are included in the Museum of Modern Art’s show “The Responsive Eye.”
1966
Inspired by his time at the MacDowell Colony, Tsai creates his first cybernetic sculpture, employing harmonic vibration, stroboscopic light, and an electronic feedback control system.
1967-68
Tsai meets his future wife, Pei-De Chang, on a blind date set up by a mutual friend, Emily Cho. The two marry in 1968.
Photo: Tsai Archives
Attended by Nam June Paik (left) and Jasia Reichardt (middle, in white)
1968
Tsai’s career takes off and he has his first solo exhibition at Howard Wise Gallery, New York. Following this, his work is included in “Cybernetic Serendipity” at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London.
At a pivotal moment in his career, Tsai’s Cybernetic Sculpture System No. 1 wins second prize in the Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) competition. E.A.T., founded in 1966 by Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman, aimed to pair artists with engineers/scientists in order to further the collaborative possibilities of the two fields. Cybernetic Sculpture System No. 1 is subsequently exhibited in the seminal exhibition “The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age,” curated by Pontus Hultén at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Tsai co-founds the Art Workers Coalition (AWC) movement with other artists, including Takis, Willoughby Sharp, and Hans Haacke. The AWC forms as a coalition of artists, writers, and museum staff in NYC and pushed for economic and political reforms in NYC museums. Many of these reforms were aimed at turning museums into more democratic institutions, and included free admission to all museums, equal representation of minority and women artists, a restructuring of museums boards to include artists, staff, and patrons, as well as policies that would better the economic status of artists.
1969-70
After accepting Gyrogy Kepe’s invitation to become a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tsai and Pei-De move to Cambridge. A year later, their twin sons, Lun-Yi (London) and Ming-Yi (Gyorgy) are born.
In addition to his new position at MIT, Tsai’s presence in Europe is bolstered by his first solo show in Europe at the Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld, Germany. Back home, he exhibits around the Boston area, including a solo show at Boston’s Alpha Gallery.
1971
As a CAVS Fellow, Tsai exhibits the work created during the fellowship at MIT’s Hayden Gallery. His international career continues to blossom with solo shows at Toronto’s Ontario Science Center, the University of Pittsburgh, and Galerie Françoise Mayer in Brussels. His sculptural work is also celebrated when he wins Best Fine Art in Steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute.
The Tsai family moves to Paris, but Tsai maintains his New York studio.
1972-73
Tsai continues to exhibit internationally with solo shows at the Galerie Denise René in Paris and New York, Musée d’Art Contemporain in Montreal, and at the Galerie Denise René/Hans Mayer in Dusseldorf. He also exhibits in Washington, D.C. at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
1974
Tsai’s first foray into making work in the world of dance comes in the form of a collaboration with composer Wen-Chung Chou and the choreographer/dancer Chiang Ching. Together, they create a cybernetic production at the Hunter Playhouse, New York. As a result, Tsai receives a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to create a group of sculptures for the Chiang Ching Dance Company.
1975
One of Tsai’s most popular solo shows is held at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas in Venezuela.
Tsai co-founds “The Committee for Chinese Artists Intercultural Movement – 中华海外艺术交流委员会 (CCAIM)” together with Chiang Ching, Chou Wen-Chung, Hsiao Chin, Chu Teh-Chun, and Peng Wan-Ts to introduce more contemporary Chinese artists to the U.S. The CCAIM operates with the goal of promoting contemporary Chinese art in the U.S. and fostering cross-cultural relationships between the two nations. Pei-De Tsai becomes the nonprofit’s director.
1976
The Tsai family returns to New York, but from this point onward, they still spend most summers in Paris.
1977
Tsai develops one of the most important creations of his career, Upward Falling Fountain, a cybernetic waterwork. Originally named “Double Helix,” the fountain creates the illusion that water droplets defy gravity and flow upwards at a viewer’s command (via clapping, yelling, or other noises).
1978-79
Tsai’s commitment to fostering cross-cultural relations continues and he travels with Chinese-American composer Wen-Chung Chou to the People’s Republic of China as members of the first U.S. Arts delegation to China. His first solo show in Asia is held at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
Continued Success & Experimentation: 1980s-1990s
1980
Starting in the 1980s, Tsai takes on more architectural work and is frequently commissioned to design cybernetic fountains for public spaces. The first of these is the Landmark Fountain commission in Hong Kong.
1981
Tsai is granted U.S. Patent No. 4,265,402 for his invention of the “Upward Falling Fountain.”
1982
Tsai receives another cybernetic fountain commission, this time for Raffles Plaza in Singapore.
1983
The 1980s also marks the start of Tsai’s experimentation with a critical aspect of his work for the next two decades—computer-controlled artworks. He creates Multiple Light Computer Array, which relies on a computer program to create dazzling patterns in a grid of colored lightbulbs.
Galerie Denise René and Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris exhibit Tsai’s work, the latter being a cybernetic sculpture installation at Frank Popper’s “Electra” exhibition.
1984
The Tsai family purchases a late 19th century Dutch barn on a property just outside of Saugerties, a couple-hour drive from NYC. The family spends weekends and summers at the property, where Tsai takes advantage of tall ceilings to make very large sculptures.
1986-88
Tsai is invited to participate in the Venice Biennale, where he shows a large water installation. He also unveils Living Fountain, a special commission by IBM, in a show titled “Computers and Art” at the IBM Gallery of Science of Art in NYC. Fittingly, he is granted Japan Patent No. 1299159 for “Strobed Liquid Display Device.”
1989-90
Public commissions resume, this time for a Science/Art Park in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture. In Taiwan, Tsai has a solo show at Taiwan’s National Museum of History in Taipei and a solo show at the Taiwan Museum of Art in Taichung.
1991
Tsai wins the ARTEC Grandprix at the 2nd International Biennale in Nagoya, Japan.
1995
At the urging of his friend Nam June Paik, Tsai participates in the Kwangju Biennale. He is awarded, but declines, the Suntory Prize for sculpture at the Osaka Triennale.
1997
Tsai has his first solo retrospective show at China National Museum of Fine Arts (now National Art Museum of China) in Beijing.
Establishing His Legacy: 2000-2013
2001
Tsai receives the University of Michigan Alumni Merit Award. Shortly after, he begins to focus his time and effort on establishing a foundation for art, science, and technology.
2006
Five years later, after much research, Tsai establishes the Tsai Art and Science Foundation with Pei-De. At this point, he turns down exhibition opportunities and dedicates his time to maintaining his works and making new sculptures for the foundation. In the interest of preserving his legacy, he also stops selling artworks in order to keep his oeuvre together and as complete as possible.
2008
Tsai makes one of his largest cybernetic sculpture installations for the Beijing Olympics.
2013
With Tsai’s health in decline, he passed away in New York City with Pei-De and Lun-Yi at his side.
