Cao Fei Exhibition to Open April 3 at MoMA PS1

MoMA PS1 presents the first museum solo show in the United States of Beijing-based artist Cao Fei, April 3 - August 31, 2016.

One of the most innovative young artists to have emerged from China, Cao Fei creates multimedia projects that explore the experiences of young Chinese citizens as they develop strategies for overcoming and escaping the realities of a rapidly changing society. Mixing social commentary, pop aesthetics, references to Surrealism, and documentary conventions in her films and installations, the artist reflects on the swift and chaotic changes occurring in Chinese society.

The interplay between fantasy and reality animates much of the artist's work. In COSPlayers (2004), a work comprised of video and photography, the artist embedded in Chinese cosplay communities, groups of young people that gather to dress up as imaginary Japanese anime characters. In wild and complex outfits, they romp around the artist's hometown of Guangzhou, a city known less for its imaginative character than for its industrial manufacturing. In RMB City (2007) the artist worked through an avatar named China Tracy, spending several years developing a virtual city in the online role-playing game Second Life, combining what the artist terms "overabundant symbols of Chinese reality with cursory imaginings of the country's future." The result is a Technicolor playground of floating architectural icons and aerial shopping malls bedecked with Mao statues. In her video Whose Utopia? (2006), workers at a lighting factory wildly role-play their own personal fantasies-dancing or playing guitar-within their mundane industrial environment. In all of these works, by collapsing extreme versions of the everyday and the fantastical into one, the artist is able to vividly underscore the interior and exterior worlds of global, digital citizens navigating extreme change. The presentation at MoMA PS1 presents a summary of the artist's work to date across a range of mediums, including video, photography, sculpture and installation, and will takes place in MoMA PS1's First Floor Main Galleries.

On the occasion of the opening Sunday, April 3rd at 4:00 pm, Cao Fei joins Chinatown based rap group The Notorious MSG for a performance entitled STRAIGHT OUT OF TIMES.

Cao Fei (b. 1978, Guangzhou) recently had a solo exhibition at Secession Museum, Vienna (2015). Her work La Town (2014) was on display in the Arsenale Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, as part of All the World's Future. Whose Utopia? (2006) was screened in Poetry and Dream, Tate Modern. Her online project RMB City (2008-11) has been exhibited in Deutsche Guggenheim (2010); Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2009); Serpentine Gallery, London (2008); and the Yokohama Triennale (2008). She also exhibited video works at the Guggenheim Museum, the International Center of Photography, MoMA, MoMA PS1 (New York) and Palais de Tokyo (Paris). Cao Fei was a nominee for the Future Generation Art Prize 2010, a finalist for the Hugo Boss Prize 2010, and winner of the 2006 Best Young Artist from the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards (CCAA).

Organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Director, MoMA PS1, and Chief Curator at Large, The Museum of Modern Art, with Jocelyn Miller, Curatorial Associate, MoMA PS1.

The exhibition is made possible by Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley. Major support for the exhibition is provided by New Century Art Foundation, and The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Hours: MoMA PS1 is open from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Thursday through Monday. It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. artbook@MoMA PS1 is open from 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Thursday through Sunday.

Admission: $10 suggested donation; $5 for students and senior citizens; free for New York City residents*, MoMA members and MoMA admission ticket holders. The MoMA ticket must be presented at MoMA PS1 within thirty days of date on ticket and is not valid during Warm Up or other MoMA PS1 events or benefits.

*Free admission as a Gift to New Yorkers in honor of New York artists, made possible by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation. Through October 15, 2016 all residents of New York's five boroughs receive free entrance to all exhibitions during regular museum hours; excluding concerts, fundraisers, and ticketed events. Upon arrival please present proof of New York City residency such as a driver's license, state-issued identification card or a New York City utility bill.

MoMA PS1 is located at 22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Ave in Long Island City, Queens, across the Queensboro Bridge from midtown Manhattan and is easily accessible by bus and subway. Traveling by subway, take either the E or M to Court Square-23 Street; the 7 to 45 Road-Courthouse Square; or the G to Court Sq or 21 St-Van Alst. By bus, take the Q67 to Jackson and 46th Ave or the B62 to 46th Ave.

MoMA PS1 Background: MoMA PS1 is one of the largest and oldest organizations in the United States devoted to contemporary art. Established in 1976 by Alanna Heiss, MoMA PS1 originated from The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, a not-for-profit organization founded five years prior with the mission of turning abandoned, underutilized buildings in New York City into artist studios and exhibition spaces. P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, as it then was known, became an affiliate of The Museum of Modern Art in 2000.

Pictured: Cao Fei, Haze and Fog, 2013; C-print, 70 x 105 cm; Courtesy of artist and Vitamin Creative Space