Beijing-based artist Cao Fei is recognised for her highly conceptual practice that deals with a myriad of themes, among them the digital revolution, globalisation, China’s rapid rate of urbanisation, popular culture, the metaverse, architecture, family and sentimentality. Her solo exhibition, My City is Yours 欢迎登陆 gathers nearly thirty years of work across VR, installation, and film mediums. Cao is one of the three major artists featured in this summer’s Sydney International Art Series. Grace Sandles met Cao ahead of My City is Yours 欢迎登陆, one month before it opens at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

GRACE SANDLES What does the title My City is Yours relate to? Your home city is Guangzhou, but your late sister’s chosen city was Sydney. Is the title and exhibition at large a reference to a sense of 'home'?

CAO FEI The digital world, where we don't have the same restrictions as we do in the real world, provided inspiration for one of the exhibition's concepts. There are no rules, fixed identities, or border countries. The show's setting in Sydney, my sister's hometown, influences another idea.

GS What can audiences expect from this exhibition?

CF A world of cyber aesthetics, retro sci-fi and pop culture. A world that is constantly changing, with multi-layered cities; an exhibition that crosses time zones and riffs in the fabric of space. My city resembles an octopus liquid body, soft, floating, seemingly shapeless, evolving. You can spend a day here, but it might feel like a century. You’ll visit the past in the cinema, witness the future in a factory, encounter doomsday on the street corner, touch memory in the restaurant, and finally ascend to the metaverse in the central plaza.

For Australian audiences, I might be a total stranger who they are not familiar with. But then they’ll look at this show, all the very complicated media and large-scale work and learn about my world. It’s hard for me to summarise the expectations because I really want to hear what the audience thinks about me and my art. I do have a philosopher friend that says I am a social activist using art as a medium to connect with society.

GS Could you identify some distinct or memorable experiences that shaped your art practice?

CF My practice is almost 30 years old. Most of my family are artists, my parents included. They informed how I got here. They were very supportive of my art and of me wanting to become another kind of artist, compared to them, as they use traditional mediums like sculpture and painting.

I live in Guangzhou, which is close to Hong Kong and Macau. In 1980 and 1990, we had a lot of access to Western information, including Hong Kong films, advertising and pop culture. Then in the early 2000s, pre-metaverse, pre-virtual reality times, I got to create an avatar and visit a digital city. It was a rich, formative experience. Then I moved to Beijing, which offered me a wider experience and a wider lens to observe our changing society—not just Beijing, but the whole South of China.

GS There are many tensions at work within your art: documentary and (science) fiction, technology and human experience, popular culture and the personal, the individual and the collective/globalisation, the fantastic and the mundane, the 'real’ and the ‘virtual’, play and contemplation, and so on. What is it about these dichotomies or contrasts that are attractive to you?

CF I use a lot of mediums in my work, whereas a lot of artists only use one. I think of myself as part of the general public because my work is usually concerned with topics and issues that are relatable to the majority of people—their daily lives, their social changes. I approach these subjects with very diverse media as a kind of social commentary. Regarding the contrasting elements, like documentary and science fiction, some artists might only choose one documentary or fiction. But when I approach this kind of topic, I don’t like to limit the choice of expression. Take the name of the exhibition for example. There is no boundary between the cities, so I can use them all.

GS In the exhibition, there will be an opportunity to ‘step through the wormhole’. Can you tell us a little bit about this installation? It is an entry and exit point, yes?

CF In the entrance, there is an old Beijing-style cinema from the 1960s, the Hongxia Theatre. When the audience enters, they go back to the past. Once they step out, they enter the collective future. On their journey, they will see works of Sydney's hip-hop culture, reflecting the city’s current time, the now, and the present. As they move towards the exit, they enter Marigold, the iconic restaurant in Sydney that has closed down. Although these monuments are from the past, they seek to represent the future. The Hongxia Theatre speaks to computer science and the digital world, while the act of resurrecting the Marigold restaurant into the museum gives it a renewed life in the future.

GS You’ve created two new works for the show: The Golden Wattle and Hip Hop: Sydney. Can you share anything about these pieces?

CF Hip Hop: Sydney builds on a previous series, but The Golden Wattle means a lot to me personally. It relates to a family story. My sister lived in Australia, and she really loved golden wattle. When my sister told me about the golden wattle, I had never heard about this flower before. It reminds me of my sister, who passed away in 2022. The sister theme continues as Sydney and Guangzhou are official sister cities. I am Guangzhou and my sister was Sydney. Because of my sister, I have feelings for this city, and it represents sisterhood.

GS What role do you think art like yours plays today?

CF Some audiences see art to learn. Some audiences see art to take pictures. Some audiences want to know the meaning and concept of the work. Some viewers want the work to inspire them. I only hope that my art resonates and helps people see something familiar from a new perspective.

Cao Fei: My City is Yours 曹斐: 欢迎登陆 is on show at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 30 November 2024 to 13 April 2025. For more details, please visit artgallery.nsw.gov.au