Whose Utopia by Cao Fei (曹斐). 2006.
Cao Fei is a contemporary Chinese multimedia artist. She features the mediums of photography, video and performance most prominently in her art practice, often subjecting her work to digital manipulation. Over the past two decades, Cao has participated in international exhibitions, as well as in a number of biennales. She received the Best Young Artist Award and Best Artist Award from the Chinese Contemporary Art Award in 2006 and 2016, respectively.
A 20-minute, single-channel video, Whose Utopia was created during her residency at the Osram lighting factory in Foshan, an industrial city outside Guangzhou. Reinforced with social commentary, Cao’s work is immersed in the aesthetics of Chinese industrialisation and popular culture. The video opens with deadpan documentation of the production line and then transitions to a surreal segment showing the same workers, each transforming into the persona of his or her dreams - illuminating the otherwise invisible emotions, desires, and dreams that permeate the lives of an entire populace in contemporary Chinese society.
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