Cao Fei

APT9

Born 1978 Guangzhou, China
Lives and works in Beijing, China

Working predominantly in film, video and installation, Cao Fei has produced significant works in such unorthodox media as dating platforms, the online virtual world Second Life, and the 490-metre-high facade of a Hong Kong skyscraper. Concerned with daily life in a rapidly changing China, Cao’s work is notable for its seamless blending of astute social observations with recognisable popular and subcultural motifs — from sources ranging from communist history to cosplay and cult cinema — into strange, beautiful, compelling imagery and environments. One of a generation of artists born at the end of the Cultural Revolution (1965–76), her practice reflects the impact of the influx of Western popular culture into China, as well as the shift in values as the country embraced globalisation and the concept of individualism. In her recent practice she has been investigating different ideas of economic life and labour relations.

A photograph of seven young people in androgynous contemporary fashions walking through a well-lit industrial space.

Cao Fei / China b.1978 / Asia One 2018 / HD video installation: 63:20 minutes, sound, colour / Purchased 2018 with funds from Tim Fairfax AC through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: QAGOMA / © Cao Fei

Cao Fei’s work in video, installation and digital media explores daily life in a rapidly changing China. Cao’s latest project focuses on the futuristic logistics hub of online retail giant Jingdong, or JD.com, one of the most technologically advanced manufacturing and distribution facilities in China. Granted unprecedented access to interview JD.com employees, as well as to film onsite, the artist has created two new works on display in APT9, the narrative video Asia One 2018 and the documentary 11.11 2018.

For Cao Fei, JD.com represents the integration of sophisticated automated logistics with mass consumption, globalisation and technological acceleration. The company’s operations suggest myriad possibilities for the evolution of industry, but also significant changes for the daily experience of its workers. In her works, Cao Fei asks what role these present-day glimpses of the future might play in the grander narratives of historical development, especially in a China undergoing constant change.