Cao Fei

Cao Fei (b. 1978, Guangzhou) is an internationally renowned Chinese contemporary artist. Currently living in Beijing, she mixes social commentary, popular aesthetics, references to Surrealism, and documentary conventions in her films and installations. Her works reflect the rapid and developmental changes in Chinese society today.

Cao Fei's works have been exhibited at several international biennales and triennials, including the Shanghai Biennale (2004), the Moscow Biennale (2005), the Taipei Biennial (2006), the 15th & 17th Biennale of Sydney (2006 and 2010), the Istanbul Biennial (2007), the Yokohama Triennale (2008) and the 50th, 52nd & 56th Venice Biennale (2003, 2007 and 2015).

Cao Fei's significant projects in recent years include a solo exhibition at MoMA PS1, New York (2016), a solo show at the Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2018), a retrospective at K21 Düsseldorf (2018), a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019), a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Galleries, London (2020). Cao Fei's recent projects include a major retrospective at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2021), and a solo exhibition at the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, and Rome (2021).

Cao Fei is a professor and a master advisor of the School of Experimental Art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Additionally, she was on the jury of The Selection Committee for the Curatorship of the 8th Berlin Biennale (2014), the jury of The Bonnefanten Award for Contemporary (2016), and the jury of the Hugo Boss Asia Art Prize (2019). Furthermore, Cao Fei is the Rolls-Royce Art Program Muse (2019) nominator and the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2021) winner.