Cao Fei Solo Exhibtion at Le Plateau, Paris
Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, Le Plateau and Zhang Wei, Hu Fang, Vitamin Creative Space
(Pdf Exhibition plan attached at bottom of page)

Exhibition date: 13 March to 25 March 2008
Venue: Le Plateau
Place Hannah Arendt
F-75019 Paris
France
Tel : +33 1 53 19 84 10
Web: www.fracidf-leplateau.com

Once Again, We're On the Road by Hu Fang
Extract from the publication Cao Fei: Journey
Published by Frac Ile-de-France /Le Plateau & Vitamin Creative Space, 2008

Creation is a journey back to one's true innermost emotions.

It is only with this foundation that we can have the possibility to talk about a work's social functions and effect on others.
From here, we can now truly understand why Deleuze once said, "Books are not for repeated reading, but should be used to do other things."
If we use this line in a work, perhaps articulating it in this manner will not violate the spirit behind the philosopher's idea:
"Works are not meant for repeated viewing, but should be used to do other things."

Cao Fei's works are very lovely to look at, but they are not merely meant for looking.
Take for instance, RMB City, which is a work to revolve around the viewer, far beyond works that are only meant for looking, Rather, it encourages and invites people to participate and interact with it, and through this propose questions about the construction of systems that will broaden the horizon towards greater developments in new directions. As Cao Fei said, "I feel that contemporary art should be more open and inclusive. Because we don't have a term to describe our own work, for the moment, we are temporarily using the term 'contemporary art'. But perhaps there could be other names, or even ones which are more free in nature."
I would like to name it: that which embodies motion, freedom, the spaces between systems.

I•Mirror depicted the beauty of the wilderness at the end of the world. However, it was not a work about the future, but rather about the present - this very moment in time.
The end of the world and the chilly, callous fairy dreamscape.
Should we hold idealised expectations for aesthetics of the future?

If we take the title of one of Lu Chun Sheng's works: One of the most stupid attacks against science fiction is that it is unable to forecast the future, then maybe this is not an era during which we can have the aesthetics for fore-knowledge of the future, because we can't even predict the present.
Alternatively, we could say that in reality, the aesthetics of the future is nothing mysterious.
It exists in the blurry, fused fringes between reality and imagination. It will gradually intergrate more with everyday actions of life. Meanwhile, artists will once again surreptitiously reside in their various tribes in different corners of the world, raising their voices in their own ways; they will not simply rest in the convenient pigeonholes allocated to them by the art system. The system will not get its way that easily.

Artists will commit themselves more into life. Through their own personal observations and creations, they will link up seemingly unrelated entities, such that ties previously severed in the world can be conjoined again and allowed to be mobile. On this note, perhaps through the opening query in Whose Utopia?, Cao Fei had already burrowed into her past sufficiently for it to lead into her future route:
The title acts as both a question as well as a statement. Utopia needs to be constructed by us working together - or to put it another way, some people truly need Utopia. I reckon that I am someone with a Utopia complex. I am not an anti-Utopia activist, although I am not entirely clear about its prospect, it does possess an inexplicable power to push me forward - and I would then move accordingly in that direction.

And there's more - let's say one day, if necessary, I can just toss out my artist status and go do something that involves more direct action. That is certainly possible.

As I pass that bus stop everyday, I see that blind erhu player , bracing himself against the chilly winds at the street corner. The strains of his instrument would hover in the air, floating away to a distant land away from the cacophony of this mortal world, and taking with them his deep melancholy and emotions.
I think that to a large extent, perhaps Cao Fei's works are prepared and meant to revolve around these homeless nobodies.

As I look at these ordinary people in her photos and videos, I wonder: is that middle agad man at the corner of the street who was blowing kisses to others still dancing now? Is that dreaming milkman still in his small flat continuing with his dream? Are those dislocated young people now swept away by the currents of today's society? I suddenly realised that this so-called time has already slipped away; our so-called youth has gradually lost its vibrancy; and life's journey now seems even more drawn out.

I figured that these images will always remain embedded within her consciousness. In this society that is constantly in flux, we should collectively preserve these memories of the future.
As such, I am willing to go on the road too.

Images and text courtesy of Cao Fei, Vitamin Creative Space (Beijing and Guangzhou, China) and Le Plateau (Paris, France).

RMB City: A Secondlife City Planning

China Tracy: i.Mirror part 1

China Tracy: i.Mirror part 2

China Tracy: i.Mirror part 3

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

Solo Exhibitions

2007
Cao Fei: Whose Utopia?, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA

2006
PRD Anti-Heroes, Museum Het Domein, Sittard, Netherlands
Hip Hop, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York
What Are You Doing Here?, SIEMENS Art Project 2006, Fu Shan OSRAM factory, Guangzhou, China
COSPlayers, Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong

2005
COSPlayers, Lombard-Freid Fine Arts, New York
COSPlayers, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China

2004
The San Yuan Li Project, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China

2003
Skowhegan Art Residency, Skowhegan, Maine

Selected Group Exhibitions

2007
10th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
Brave New Worlds, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Everyday Miracles, 52nd Venice Biennale, Chinese Pavilion, Venice, Italy
Infiltration and Sound(e)scape, Senda-Espai 2nou2, Barcelona, Spain
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
RED HOT- Asian Art from the Chaney Family Collection, Houston, TX
The Real Thing, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
World Factory: Resistance and Dreams, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

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
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
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, NY
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
Festival of Love: Video Art Series, Asia Society, New York
Astrup Fearnley Collection: Photo and Video, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway

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, NY, New York
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
Millennium, Mori Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1st Montpellier Biennale, Montpellier, France
The 2nd Guangzhou Triennial: BEYOND an Extraordinary Space of Experimentation for Modernization, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Yoko Ono’s Water Event 2005, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
London Chinese Film Festival 2005, SOAS (The School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London, London, England
Borders in Asia, World Social Forum, Porte Alegro, Brazil
Dialectics of Hope, 1 Moscow Biennial, Moscow, Russia

2004
Do It, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, Florida
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, California
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
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, NY
Tatig Sein, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst e.V. (NGBK), Berlin, Germany
China Now, Gramercy Theatre, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
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, NY
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, California
Public Space and Personal Eyes, Kampnagel, Hamburg
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
The Minority Is Subordinate to the Majority, BizArt, Shanghai

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
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, NY

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

Film Projects

2006
Yuannan New Film Project, Yuannan Provincial Teleplay and Film Creation Supervision Panel, Yuannan and Beijing.

2005
Milkman

1999
Imbalance 257

Fellowship Program

2005
Beijing Case: Culture of the High Speed Urbanism, German Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes), Germany.

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