The man behind Beijing's spectacular Olympics fireworks

One of my favourite lifestyle magazines, Theme has a story about Cai Guo-Qiang, the Beijing Olympics artistic director of visual and special effects who is responsible for the pyrotechnic display for the Game's opening and closing ceremonies. From Theme:

In 2005, Cai submitted a bid to be chosen as one of the team members of the Olympic Games creative team. The team was finalized a year later and Cai was named artistic director, working alongside filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who serves as an artistic consultant. The rest of the team is made up of artists from a multitude of disciplines such as music and dance. According to Cai, the bar is high. “Our team has been trying to reinvent the Olympic ceremonies by having artists contribute and make the art in the ceremonies more international and modern,” he says. To that end, Cai is reportedly planning four entirely different fireworks shows, though it’s not clear if any of them will be shown.