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 on the rapid and developmental changes that are occurring in Chinese society today.

Cao Fei's works have been exhibited at a number of international biennales and triennales, 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), the 50th, 52nd & 56th Venice Biennale (2003, 2007 and 2015), the Aichi Triennale (2022), and Sharjah Biennial (2023).

Cao Fei’s major 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), a solo exhibition at the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome (2021), a solo exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2022), a solo exhibition at Pinacoteca Contemporânea, São Paulo (2023), solo exhibition at SCAD Museum of Art (2024), Lenbachhaus Munich (2024), and Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai (2024)

Cao Fei is the winner of the SCAD deFINE ART (2024) and Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2021). Cao Fei was nominated for the Hugo Boss Prize and the Future Generation Art Prize in 2010 and was awarded the "Best Young Artist" and "Best Artist" at the China Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) in 2006 and 2016 respectively. Cao Fei 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), the jury of Hugo Boss Asia Art Prize (2019). Cao Fei was the nominator of the Rolls-Royce Art Program Muse (2019) and the juror of Chanel Next Prize (2021 and 2024).