Chinese artist Cao Fei’s dystopian art tackles themes such as the automation of labour, hyper-capitalism and the effect of a global pandemic.
, her research project on the history and current state of Jiuxianqiao, the Beijing neighbourhood she works in and which was the birthplace of China’s electronics industry., 2020, which documents Cao’s experience of living under lockdown. The chairs come from the now-demolished Hongxia Theatre, formerly Cao’s studio– which debuted at her Pompidou show ‘HX’ in 2019 – is a retro-futurist tale of a failed secret science project that attempts to turn humans into digital mediums.
Confined to a Singapore family apartment with her children and husband, the Singaporean conceptual artist Lim Tzay Chuen, Cao imagined her then nine-year-old daughter, Qing, as the last surviving human on an island, marooned with the detritus of the virus – bottles of hand sanitiser, bread bag clips and thermometers – but still unaccountably hopeful about the future.
In other words, Cao’s work, for all its elements of fantasy, is rooted firmly in a genuine social concern, which Tan says explains her enduring connection with her audience. ‘Her work resonates because of the subjects they centre on – the effects of neoliberalist capitalism on our environments, particularly in China where it has taken hold rapidly.
Tan also agrees: ‘With the effects of global capitalism being the central focus of her work, I think it speaks to a likewise global audience. While she does take a particular interest in developments in China, due to how rapidly and profoundly economic change has taken hold there, perhaps the need to pigeonhole her as a Chinese artist is ambiguous.’
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