Cao Fei
Cao Fei
Cao Fei
Cao Fei (b. 1978) is a Chinese artist based in Beijing. She is known for her multimedia installations and videos, and is acknowledged as one of the key artists of a new generation emerging from Mainland China. She mixes social commentary, popular aesthetics, references to Surrealism, and documentary conventions in her films and installations. Her works reflect on the rapid and chaotic changes that are occurring in Chinese society today. Her recent project RMB CITY (2008-2011) has been exhibited in Deutsche Guggenheim (2010), Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2009), Serpentine Gallery, London (2008), Yokohama Triennale (2008). I. Mirror by China Tracy, 52nd Venice Biennale (2007), Chinese Pavilion; RMB CITY- A Second Life City Planning has been exhibited in Istanbul Biennale (2007); Whose Utopia, TATE Liverpool (2007), Nu Project, Lyon Biennale (2007). Cao Fei also participated in 17th & 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006/2010), Moscow Biennale (2005), Shanghai Biennale (2004), 50th Venice Biennale (2003). She also exhibited video works in Guggenheim Museum (New York), the International Center of Photography (New York), MoMA (New York), P.S.1 (New York), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Musee d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris (Paris), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo). And Cao Fei is the finalist of Hugo Boss Prize 2010, and won The 2006 Best Young Artist Award by CCAA (Chinese Contemporary Art Award ).
Cao Fei stood in front of the introduction to her work "RMB City", Photo by Qi Rujie
Cao Fei stood in front of the introduction to her work "RMB City", Photo by Qi Rujie
About Cao Fei
Born 1978, Guangzhou, China
Lives and works in Beijing, China
Education
2001 Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
1997 The Affiliated Middle School of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
Awards
Finalist, 2010 Future Generation Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, Ukraine
Finalist, 2010 Hugo Boss Prize, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York (Announced October 2009)
Best Young Artist, 2006, CCAA’s Prize, Chinese Contemporary Art Awards, Beijing, China
Solo Exhibitions
2012
Cao Fei: Simulus, Surrey Art Gallery, Vancouver Canada
2011
Play Time, Lombard-Freid, New York, USA
RMB City Opera, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, USA
Cao Fei, "Live in RMB City", 2010
Cao Fei, "Live in RMB City", 2010
2010
RMB City, A Space Gallery + Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
RMB City Opera Live Performance Tour, Culturescapes 2010, Basel, Bern, Switzerland
Cao Fei: RMB City, CrossFade Lounge, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Cao Fei: Utopia, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
2009
Art 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century, Fantasy: Cao Fei, Season 5 on PBS
NO LAB on Tour, Savannah College of Art and Design Lacoste Campus, Lacoste, France
Cao Fei: Live in RMB City, Shiseido Gallery Solo Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan
Utopia, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Cao Fei: Utopia, Artspace, Aukland, New Zealand
RMB City Opera (world premiere performance) Artissima Art Fair 2009, Torino, Italy
Cao Fei: RMB City, Serpentine Gallery, London, England
NO LAB on Tour1, Galerie Pfriem du SCAD, Lacoste, France
2008
RMB City, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York, USA
Cao Fei, Le Plateau, Paris, France
Cao Fei : RMB City, Serpentine Gallery, (2008-09), London, UK
Cao Fei, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany
2007
Cao Fei: Whose Utopia? , Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA, USA
Whose Utopia, CCA Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu, Japan
Cao Fei, Whose Utopia
2006
PRD Anti-Heroes, Museum Het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands
Hip Hop, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York
SIEMENS Art Project 2006: What Are You Doing Here?, Fu Shan OSRAM factory, Guangzhou, China
COSPlayers, Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong
2005
COSPlayers, Lombard-Freid Fine Arts, New York, USA
COSPlayers, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China
Cao Fei, "Diversionist", 2004; C-print, 75×100cm
Cao Fei, "Diversionist", 2004; C-print, 75×100cm
2004
The San Yuan Li Project, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2012
Cao Fei - The Orchid Pavilion, Wide Open School, London Hayward Gallery, UK
Cao Fei - Hip Hop New York, Lombard-freid Projects, ArtHK12, Hong Kong
THAT FRESH SENSATION, Image Forum festival 2012, Japan
60-minute Cinema, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester,UK
Megacool 4.0. Youth and Art, k/haus Vienna, Austria
Asian Women Artists, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
RMB City Opera, TRACK @S.M.A.K, Ghent, Belgium
Cao Fei's Shadow Life, 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Game On / Re-Newing Media Art: A Touring Initiative, Ireland
SHOW TIME: Choreography in Contemporary Art, Denmark
Experimenta-Utopia Now, Albury Library Museum, Albury, Wales, Australia
One World Exposition, Videotage, Hong Kong
Cao Fei, "Back to the Garden", 2011; C-print, 90×120cm
Cao Fei, "Back to the Garden", 2011; C-print, 90×120cm
2011
Cao Fei's Shadow Life, Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, Texas, USA
Once Upon A Time: Fantastic Narratives in Contemporary Videos, Deutsche Guggenheim, Germany
Moving Image in China 1988-2011, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Spectrum: Chinese Independent Animation, Contemporary Arts Center, ChengDu, China
China Independent Film Festival, Nanjing, China
Community without Propinquity, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK
Terra Incognita, 2011 Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale, Seoul, Korea
3rd Yebisu International Festival, Tokyo, Japan
Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Montreal, Canada
BodyTalks-Video Art & Cinedans in Public Space, Maastricht, Holland
Dream-WhiteLight, Samsung Media Art Exhibition, Daegu, Korea
Double Democracy Exhibition, Art Gwangju:11, Korea
Apocalypse Tomorrow: Surf in RMB City, Art Basel 42, Switzerland
Future Generation Art Prize, ILLUMInations - 54th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2011, Venice, Italy
Daydream Believer!!, Yebisu International Festival for Art&Alternative Visions, Tokyo, Japan
Video from the New China, Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
NO LAB on Tour #4 at SCAD Gallery, Hong Kong
Watch Me Move: The Animation Show, Barbican Art Gallery, London
Alter Scrinium, Vladivostok International Film Festival, Russia
i.City, Digital Art Center, Taipei, China
Eye of The Dream -Video Art From China, Customs House of Sydney Harbour, Australia
The Way it Wasn't, Culturgest, Porto, Portugal
INDUSTRIAL 2012-2013, Hartware MedienKunstVerein at the Dortmunder U,Dortmund, Germany
Happy Tech. Macchine dal Volto Umano, Arte e Scienza in Piazza 2011, Bologna, Milano, Italy
The Coming Community, Haifa Museum of Art. Haifa, Israel
Real Virtuality, Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, New York
Ai Weiwei and Cao Fei
Ai Weiwei and Cao Fei
2010
Future Generation Art Prize 2010, PinchukArtCentre, Kiev, Ukraine
i.Mirror becomes part of the Media and Performance Art Collection, MoMA PS1, New York, USA
32nd Edition of Festival des 3 Continents, Nantes, France
CHINA POWER STATION, Contemporary Chinese Art from the Astrub Fearnley Collection, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy
Cao Fei: Room 608, Frieze Art Fair 2010, London, UK
RMB City, 29th Bienal se Sao Paulo 2010, Brazil
Art 41 Basel, Switzerland
Roundtrip: Beijing-New York Now -Selections from the Domus Collection, UCCA, Beijing, China
The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age, 17th Sidney Biennale, Sidney, AU
Liminality: A Mixed Reality Exhibition of Second Life Art, Antena, Chicago, USA
Timelapse, CentrePasquArt, Biel, Switzerland
I Shot The Sheriff (Héroes y Villanos-Open Studio 4.0, Carlos Garaicoa Open Studio 4.0, Madrid, Spain
The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age : The 17th Biennale of Sydney, AU
EVERYDAY(S), Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg
Contemplating the Void, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Utopia Matters: From Brotherhoods to Bauhaus, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
CUE: Artists Videos – January 23 to March 21, 2010’, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Spatial City: An Architecture of Idealism, touring exhibition: Inova, Milwaukee; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, USA
Cao Fei and Yoko Ono Lennon
2009
NO LAB on Tour, ACA Gallery of the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Atlanta 2009, USA
Reversed Images: representations of Shanghai and Its Contemporary Material Culture, MoCP Museum of Contemporary Photography, Shanghai, China
Space Invaders: Art in the Computer Game Environment, FACT, Liverpool, UK
Dress Codes: The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, International Center of Photography, New York, USA
Chinese Art Generation, Breaking Forecast, 8 key Figures of China’s New Generation Artists, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China
Timelapse, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China
The Girl Effect, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York, USA
The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, The New Museum, New York, USA
Utopics, 11th Swiss Sculpture Exhibition, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
Cao Fei Utopia, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
The Storyteller, iCI travelling exhibition- Salina Art Museum, KansasThe ‘The Girl Effect’, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York, USA
There Goes the Neighborhood, MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
The World is Yours, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
Video Art: Replay, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Louis Vuitton: A Passion for Creation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
Double Take, the Anne Landa Award for Video and New Media Arts, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
Alternate Realities, Spencer Museum of Art Lawrence, Kansas, USA
HBOX, Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA), Newport Beach, USA
Perfromatik 09, Kaaitheatre festival, Brussels, Belgium
NO LAB in RMB City Prospect 1. New Orleans Biennial, USA
Cao Fei, "RMB CITY: A Second Life City Planning 05", 2009; Digital print, 120×160cm
Cao Fei, "RMB CITY: A Second Life City Planning 05", 2009; Digital print, 120×160cm
2008
The Possibility of an Island, MOCA at Goldman Warehouse, Miami, FL
Sprout from White Nights, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
The Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture, Shenzhen, China & Hong Kong SAR, China
Our Future Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Far West Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Prospect.1 New Orleans, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, LA, USA
Frieze Art Fair 2008, London, UK
Yokohama Triennale 2008, Tokyo, Japan
Life on Mars, 55th International Carnegie International, Pittsburg, PA, USA
Panoramica-ciclo, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico
Montage: Unmonumental Online, The New Museum, New York, USA
ART IS FOR THE SPIRIT: Works from The UBS Art Collection, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2007
Art Basel Miami Beach 2007, USA
10th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
52nd International Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Brave New Worlds, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
China Power Station: Part II, Astrup Fearley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway
Playback, ARC / Musee d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Everyday Miracles, 52nd Venice Biennale, Chinese Pavilion, Venice, Italy
Infiltration and Sound(e)scape, Senda-Espai 2nou2, Barcelona, Spain
Laughing In A Foreign Language, The Hayward Gallery, London, England
Lyon Biennial, Lyon, France
Moving Targets: Business As Usual/ New Video from China/ Cao Fei and Yang Fudong, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ, USA
RED HOT- Asian Art from the Chaney Family Collection, Houston, TX, USA
The Real Thing, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
World Factory: Resistance and Dreams, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA
Cao Fei, Utopia Factory, 2006
2006
China Power Station: Part 1, Battersea Power Station, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Panoramica- Ciclo de video: Mascaradas: disfraces, espejos, mascaras, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico
Totalstadt. Bejing Case, ZKM/Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany
New Photographers 2007, Cannes Lions Festival, Cannes, France
Singapore Biennale, Singapore
Empire and back, Westfaelischer Kunstverein, Muenster, Germany
China Contemporary Exhibition, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Gaermany
People, Land, State, The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel
Japanimation, Tokyo Gallery, Beijing, China
Guangzhou: Cantonese Artists in the Sigg Collection, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
AllLookSame?, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
Busan Biennale, Busan, Korea
2006 Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Guangzhou, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Territory, Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Political Equator, University of California, San Diego, CA; Tijuana, Mexico
Good Vibrations-le Arti visive e il Rock, Palazzo delle Papesse Centro Arte Contemporanea, Sienna, Italy
The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA
Joy, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg
15th Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia
Beijing Case: Culture of the High Speed Urbanism, The Center for Art and Median(ZKM), Karlsruhe, Germany
Never Go Out Without My DV cam - Video Art from China, Museo Colecciones ICO, Madrid, Spain
Fantasy Landscapes, Asia House, London, UK
Festival of Love: Video Art Series, Asia Society, New York, USA
Astrup Fearnley Collection: Photo and Video, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway
Cao Fei, "Hello! Kitty", 2005; C-print, 90×120cm
Cao Fei, "Hello! Kitty", 2005; C-print, 90×120cm
2005
Irreality, Para Site, Hong Kong,China
Zooming into Focus: Chinese Contemporary Photography from the Haudenschild Collection, NAMOC National Art Museum Of China, Beijing, China
Mahjong, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Exchange Value of Pleasure, Busan Museum of Modern Art, Busan, Korea
Art Basel Miami Beach Art Video Lounge: A Kind of a Portraiture Program, Miami, FL
Sweet Taboos, 3rd Tirana Biennale, Tirana, Albania
We Are the World, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Riena Sofia, Madrid, Spain
I still believe in miracles, Part II, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Trouble with Fantasy, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany
Out of Sight, De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam, The Neatherlands
Get It Louder, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China
Unspeakable Happiness, Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art, Mexico City, Mexico
Women by Women IN PHOTOGRAPHY part two, Cook Fine Art, New York, USA
CIRCULAR-domas, 2005 Milan Furniture Fair, Milan, Italy
Parallel Realities: Asian Art Now, The 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka, Japan
Follow Me!: Contemporary Chinese Art at the Threshold of the Millennium, Mori Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Emergency Biennale in Chechnya: A suitcase from Paris to Grosny, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Borders in Asia, World Social Forum, Porte Alegro, Brazil
Dialectics of Hope, 1 Moscow Biennial, Moscow, Russia
Cao Fei, "HiJacking", 2004; C-print, 75×100cm
Cao Fei, "HiJacking", 2004; C-print, 75×100cm
2004
Do It, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, Florida, USA
Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Taiwan, China
Nuit Blanche, Art Public Contemporain, Paris, France
Impakt Festival, Netherlands
Past in Reverse: Contemporary Art of East Asia, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, USA
Die Chinesen: Contemporary Photography and Video in China, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
5th Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai, China
China Moon, Watermill Center, Watermill, New York, USA
A l'Est du Sud de l'Ouest, Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Villa Arson Nice, France
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video From China, ICP and Asia Society, New York, USA
Tatig Sein, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst e.V. (NGBK), Berlin, Germany
China Now, Gramercy Theatre, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Chine: Generation Video, Maison Européenne de la Photogrqaphie, Paris, France
Out the Window: Spaces of Distraction, The Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo, Japan
Heads & Portraits, Produzentengalerie, Hamburg, Germany
Feverish Unconscious, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
Generation Video, Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
Out the Window: Spaces of Distraction, Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan Darling Art Foundation, Seoul, South Korea
2003
Left Wing, Left Bank Community, Beijing, China
Screening Programme: San Yuan Li Project, MK2 (Bibliothèque), Paris, France
Fabricated Paradises, Le Parvis centre d'art contemporain, Ibos, France
10th Biennial of the Moving Image, Geneva, Switzerland
Zooming into Focus: Chinese Contemporary Photography from the Haudenschild Collection, San Diego State University & San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, USA
Public Space and Personal Eyes, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany
Alors la Chine?, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Z.O.U. (Zone of Urgency), 50th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
+system, Short Videos from the World 2002-2003, BizArt, Shanghai, China
The Minority Is Subordinate to the Majority, BizArt, Shanghai, China
Cao Fei, "Unattainable Love", 2002; C-print
Cao Fei, "Unattainable Love", 2002; C-print
2002
In/Video, Milan. Italy
Kino Film Festival, Manchester, UK
Reinterpretation: A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art – The 1st Guangzhou Triennale, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Media City Seoul The 2nd Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Seoul, South Korea
Pause: The 4th Gwangju Biennale 2002, Gwangju, South Korea
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, France
Making China, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, USA
2001
Weightlessness, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin, Germany
The New Media Art Festival: Non-linear Narrative, National Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
Living in Time: 29 Contemporary Artists from China, Hamburger Bahnhof Contemporary Art Museum, Berlin, Germany
City Slang, Art Village, Hong Kong, Japan
The 2nd Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
Take Part, Galerie Urs Meile, Luzern, Switzerland
Virtual Future, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
2000
Fuck Off: Uncooperative Approach, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China
Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival: Leaving the Island, Pusan, South Korea
PhotoEspana 2000, Madrid, Spain
1999
8th Biennial of Moving Images, Saint-Gervais Geneva, Switzerland
4th Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macau Student Film & Video Festival, Hong Kong, Japan
Video screening, Galerie Büro Friedrich, Berlin, Germany
Fellowship Program
2005
Beijing Case: Culture of the High Speed Urbanism, German Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes), Germany
Courtesy of Cao Fei.
