Rendering by Cai Guo-Qiang via Sackler Gallery.

The Chinese visual artist Cai Guo-Qiang “blew up” a tree outside the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery earlier today as part of the museum’s 25th anniversary. Although the display was billed as an explosion, the 40-foot pine tree survived its whizbang ordeal just fine.

As seen in this video, Cai’s pyrotechnics began with a massive black cloud enveloping the tree in smoke and fire. But the haze cleared quickly, and drifted behind the pine into a cloud shadowing the tree’s majestic stance. The explosion repeated itself, but no, there were no flying shards of wood or projectile showers of pine needles. Just a bit of fire, a lot of smoke, and a return to normalcy within minutes.