Imagine stepping into the Art Gallery of New South Wales and being instantly transported into a gleaming, neon-lit cyber city. The streets are buzzing, the walls pulse with digital life, and you’re caught in the paradox of being at once an observer and a participant. Welcome to Cao Fei: My City is Yours, where the line between the real and the virtual isn’t just blurred—it’s practically a digital smudge. This is Cao Fei’s first Australian retrospective, and it’s nothing short of a dazzling, hyper-modern odyssey through urbanization, technology, and the future of humanity, set against the backdrop of China’s rapid evolution over the past three decades.
Think of it as a time-traveling elevator ride, with stops in the late '90s, the Y2K era, and the ever-accelerating present. Designed as a futuristic cityscape, the exhibition sprawls across the Art Gallery’s 1300-square-metre Ainsworth Family Gallery, morphing the space into an urban labyrinth of civic zones. You’re not just viewing art here—you’re living it. One moment, you’re in a crowded plaza, overwhelmed by the hum of virtual life; the next, you’re tucked away in a tranquil haven for contemplation (or, let's be honest, trying to take a breather after a whirlwind of immersive tech and mind-bending visuals).
Cao Fei is a master of creating worlds within worlds, and this exhibition brings her intricate visions of urban and technological transformation into a tangible, almost cinematic reality. The exhibition opens a portal to the future, where you’re greeted by art that spans from video works to pioneering net art, virtual reality, photography, and interactive installations. You might feel like you're on the set of a sci-fi movie—only this time, you’re the protagonist, navigating through a landscape where cities and digital worlds collide in mesmerizing, sometimes dizzying ways.
Let’s talk highlights —because where do you even begin when the entire exhibition feels like a ride on the technological rollercoaster of your dreams? First up: Cosplayers (2004), a video work that brings you face-to-face with China’s creative youth culture, where every cosplay is more than just a costume—it’s an identity, a declaration, a rebellion against the mundane.
Then there’s RMB City (2007–11), a project that defies the very notion of urban development. Cao Fei built a virtual metropolis in Second Life, complete with a functioning economy and a mayor (because why not?). If you’ve ever thought, "Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to be a mayor of a virtual city where everything is possible?"—well, Cao Fei did it first.
Fast-forward to Nova (2019), a retro-futuristic film that takes you on a journey into the digital abyss. Picture a computer scientist trying to turn humans into digital matter. It's Black Mirror meets Blade Runner meets your deepest existential dread—but in the best way possible. You’ll walk away questioning not just your reality but whether or not your phone is secretly plotting against you.
And then, of course, there’s Hip hop: Sydney 2024, a celebration of Sydney’s vibrant multiculturalism, where local artists, community members, and even 86-year-old George Wing Kee join forces to drop some serious beats and break it down to the rhythms of hip-hop. Filmed in more than 20 locations around Sydney’s Haymarket and Burwood Chinatowns, this video is an energetic love letter to Sydney, featuring everyone from renowned writer Benjamin Law to local aunties and shopkeepers—all moving in sync to the grooviest hip-hop soundtrack. If this isn’t the ultimate Sydney experience, we don’t know what is.
But wait, there’s more—Golden Wattle 2024, a deeply personal installation dedicated to Cao Fei’s late sister, Cao Xiaoyun, brings the exhibition full circle. Through archival materials, family photographs, and poignant art, this piece is a tribute to the diasporic journey, tying Cao Fei’s global narrative back to her roots in Sydney and the legacy of her sister. It’s a moment of quiet reflection in the midst of all the digital noise, a reminder that even in a world of rapid change, the bonds of family and memory remain unshakeable.
My City is Yours is a staggering feat of world-building, blending the fantastical with the real, the digital with the physical, the personal with the universal. The exhibition plunges you into an alternate universe where anything is possible and everything is up for reinterpretation.
And let’s be real: as you exit through an installation inspired by Sydney’s beloved (and now-defunct) Marigold yum cha restaurant, complete with salvaged red carpets and dim-sum trolleys, you might find yourself reflecting on the things that make a city truly memorable—the places that exist not just in the physical realm but in the cultural memory of its people. It’s a clever and unexpected twist that pulls you back from the digital and into the warmth of human nostalgia.
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Words by AW.
Photo courtesy of The Art Gallery New South Wales.