Beijing Artist Cao Fei Brings Vibrant Cityscapes to Sydney in Reimagined Exhibition
The Art Gallery of New South Wales has become an immersive cityscape thanks to Chinese contemporary artist Cao Fei. Rejecting traditional, sterile gallery spaces, Fei’s solo exhibition "Cao Fei: My City Is Yours 曹斐: 欢迎登陆" bursts with the energy and dynamism of bustling marketplaces and bustling factories.
"It’s not a criticism of the European [style], but normally we see a lot of video shows [installed] in a white cube … and you see the curator turning down the volume – more quiet or more clean," Fei told the Guardian Australia. "But I want my exhibition to reflect my personality and experience. In my city there is always lots of construction, a lot of demolition and rebuilding. This is my material.”
The exhibition marks Fei’s first major solo show in Australia, showcasing two decades of work that spans film, photography, metaverse experiments, and interactive installations. Her art, often described as "envisioning our metaverse-tinged future," has captured international attention, landing her a spot on ArtReview’s Power 100 list last year.
Fei’s art is deeply rooted in the monumental social and technological changes China has undergone in the past quarter century. Visitors enter the exhibition through a time capsule: the Hongxia Theatre, a 1960s Beijing cinema Fei rented as her studio space for six years before it was demolished in 2021.
Stepping through the mahogany reception desk adorned with garish plastic flowers and surrounded by fading wallpaper, viewers find themselves in a compact auditorium. Here, a dozen spartan seats, salvaged from the original theatre, face a screen playing Fei’s 2019 sci-fi film "Nova." The film tells the story of a computer scientist whose son gets trapped in cyberspace after a fateful experiment. The son has 40 years to find his way back – a period mirroring China’s own post-socialist transformation.
Wormholes and time travel are recurring motifs in Fei’s work. Her desire to “escape the timeline and just swim across it,” she confesses, is palpable throughout the exhibition. Sand pouring from the screen transforms the auditorium floor into a beach, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.
The exhibition also features plaques documenting a bygone era: Fei has rebuilt a portion of the grand dining room from the once-beloved Chinatown restaurant Marigold, which shuttered during Covid-related lockdowns. Familiar white linen-draped tables, ornate red and gold furnishings, and the dim sum trolleys evoke nostalgia for restaurant goers.
Named "Goodbye, Marigold!," this work highlights Fei’s connection with Sydney. In her ongoing series "Hip Hop," Fei captures individuals dancing in Chinese communities across numerous cities. The exhibition showcases this ongoing project with "Hip Hop Sydney," which features more than 60 locals aged nine to 90 dancing to the music of Korean-Australian musicians 1300 – one of Australia’s most popular musical acts.
This enthusiasm for music video culture significantly influences Fei’s work:
"I spent my entire adolescence captive to music-video culture, as well as to Hollywood movies, western television programs, and so on,” she writes in an essay published in Artforum. "These media were an explosive cultural stimulus for my generation in China.”
"I fell in love with MTV for a time, imitating the dances and fashions I saw in the videos. I would listen to pop music on my Walkman on the way to and from school, and the fruits of my diligent study were obvious every time I hit the dance floor. I even danced in some local television advertisements.”
Fei’s exhibition also honors her sister, Cao Xiaoyun, a fellow artist who tragically passed away from cancer in 2022. Xiaoyun resided in Sydney for many years. A shrine-like corner dedicated to her sister features archival material, family photographs, and art pieces by Xiaoyun. The space is titled "Golden Wattle," in reference to Xiaoyun’s affection for Australia’s vibrant national flower.
“Influenced by our parents, we all studied art, but you are more like an ‘artist’ than Cao Dan [Cao’s other sibling] and me,” Fei writes in a four-page letter she wrote to her sister in Mandarin, translated into English, shortly after her death. “You were never bound by material life, and only listen to the call of your heart.”
"My sister never had a show in Sydney,” Fei tells Guardian Australia. “I think of it as a gift for her, even if she can’t see it.”
