Rendering by Cai Guo-Qiang via Sackler Gallery.

Pedestrians and tourists near the Freer and Sackler Galleries at 3 p.m. today are in for a loud, flashy show. But don’t be alarmed when a tree explodes in a cloud of fire and light, it’s all in the service of art.

As part of the celebration of the Sackler’s 25th anniversary, the Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang will explode a 40-foot pine tree on the National Mall. First, the tree will be enveloped in a web of fireworks. After that, comes the big kablooey, in which Cai’s handiwork will release a plume of black smoke in the spectral image of the tree’s shadow.

Cai is one of five artists being honored today by the State Department, which is marking a half-century of its Art in Embassies program. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton honored Cai and four other artists— Jeff Koons, Shahzia Sikander, Kiki Smith, and Carrie Mae Weems—for their participation in the program today.

Cai last blew things up in D.C. in 2005, when his piece “Tornado” backlit the Kennedy Center with a series of cones of fireworks detonating over the Potomac River.

Today’s exhibit goes off at 3 p.m. on the north side of the Freer and Sackler Galleries (1050 Independence Avenue SW). It will also be streamed live on the Sackler’s website.