Brilliant Ideas Episode #34: Cao Fei

Fei’s parents greatly influenced her to stand out as an artist in China, where female artists tend to be less active compared to other countries in the world. Both being sculptors, her parents bought a video camera when Fei was young, which was very rare at the time. She remembers her childhood being a little different from others, which she spent acting in front of the video camera, or directly shooting videos with it whenever she had time. Her childhood experiences have been a great help to her accepting the rapid technological changes and applying them to her works today. During her school years, Fei met works of the world’s famous artists such as Picasso or Dali and became naturally close to art. Guangzhou, which is the city she used to live in, also became the basis of her creative world. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Guangzhou city was a gateway that connected China and the rest of the world right after China opened up its market.

<Whose Utopia?>(2006) is about the impact brought by the China’s opening, consisting of a series of videos in which factory workers expressed with their whole body the dreams they wanted to be realized. As told by its title, the artwork questions whose utopia this is, asking us whether the China’s opening brought people only happiness. Humanizing the huge Chinese society in an interesting and experimental manner, Fei’s works are based on the artist’s affection on her home country.

Looking dark and strange and almost creepy, the work contains the artist’s experiences during her hiatus, which makes it seem more mature and conceptual. <Rumba II: Nomad>(2015) is a video of multiple robot cleaners removing the debris left after the studio she has long used was demolished. Using her unique sense of humor, Fei criticizes the fast changes happening in China. The subject she recently focuses on is demolition, which is implemented all over the country for city planning. Recording the busy looks of the city, the people living in it, and the process of buildings being broken down and built again in a great detail, she aims to inform and communicate with as many people as possible about the situations in China. Saying she believes that art can’t change the world, but it can provide people a new perspective, Fei continues her ceaseless efforts to inform the world about China. ■ with ARTINPOST

Multimedia artist Cao Fei is one of the noticeable Chinese artists who are active in the art world. This young artist makes innovative works and is highly acclaimed in the Chinese contemporary art scene. She uses various medium such as video, performance and digital medium, but what embraces them all is the daily life of Chinese citizens. Especially, the artist focuses on the young Chinese generation born after the Culture revolution; the lost dreams, overcoming strategy, escapes from reality. She also considers the rapid and confusing change in China.
Born in 1978, Guangzhou, Cao Fei lives and works in Beijing. She participated in the ‘Venice Biennale’ in 2003, 2007 and 2014, ‘Yokohama Triennales 2008’, ‘15th & 17th Biennale of Sydney’ and many other international biennales and displayed work at world famous museums and galleries; Tate Modern, London, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York(MoMA), and the MoMA PS1.