Cao Fei - My City is Yours
#sydney Miss and I visited Cao Fei at the @artgalleryofnsw a few weeks ago and wandered through the ‘city map’ that the artist left for us to use. By way of background, Cao Fei is a leading Chinese contemporary artist and Cao Fei: My City is Yours 曹斐: 欢迎登陆 is the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Australia. Her art is influential and representative of China’s rapid urbanisation, digital revolution and globalisation that have taken place over the last two decades.
We particularly liked the music video Hip Hop: Sydney 2024 which features local artists as well as chefs, shopkeepers performing hip-hop moves to new music by Korean-Aussie musicians 1300. I loved that it was filmed in Sydney Haymarket and Burwood Chinatowns and featured Claudia Chan Shaw, Benjamin Law and more!
The exhibition also features some of Cao Fei’s work in photography, video games and immersive installations where visitors can sit at the now-closed Sydney yum cha restaurant the Marigold. You can also try the VR installation and don’t miss the little dark rooms too. Such an interesting and unique exhibition!
There is a children’s trail available as well as cool stamps to collect in some areas of the exhibition. Kids will enjoy the foam pit and videos in this contemporary space as well as a cool video game too! Miss loved those parts of the exhibition. Cao Fei: My City is Yours 曹斐: 欢迎登陆 is on now until the 13th April 2025 in the North Building of the Art Gallery of NSW. #hosted #invited #caofei #caofeimycityisyours
Ps: This is the first time, I’ve had to chop my landscape photos to fit Instagram’s silly format, not sure how I feel about it but one must evolve with the times I guess. I think it brings a different perspective to my vision of the spaces but will upload originals to the blog soon if you are keen for more.
Photos credit @busycitykids below.
Opening on 30 November, Cao Fei: My City is Yours will introduce Australian audiences to the cyber futurism of Guangzhou-born, Beijing-based Cao Fei (b1978). Voted by ArtReview magazine in 2023 as one of the art world’s ten most influential people, Cao Fei has documented China’s rapid urbanisation, globalisation and digital revolution for more than two decades, interpreting the energy of the contemporary metropolis into mesmerising films, photography and large-scale interactive and immersive installations.
Cao Fei: My City is Yours heralds the artist’s first retrospective in Australia. The exhibition is designed by the artist and Beau Architects (Hong Kong) and will bring the energy of a buzzing megacity right into the heart of the Art Gallery of the NSW.
Spanning an interactive 1300-square-metre space in Naala Badu, the Art Gallery’s north building, Cao Fei’s exhibition explores China’s rapid urban, technological, and social transformations from the Y2K period to today. The exhibition will also debut two major Sydney-specific commissions by the artist.
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