Cao Fei

Cao Fei (b. 1978, Guangzhou) is an internationally renowned Chinese contemporary artist currently living and working 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, triennales, and major art museums including MoMA and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Cao Fei’s recent projects include a major retrospective at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2021); solo exhibitions at the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome (2021), Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2022), Pinacoteca Contemporânea, São Paulo (2023), Lenbachhaus, Munich (2024), SCAD Museum of Art (2024), Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai (2024)，Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2024), Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (2024).

Cao Fei was nominated for the Hugo Boss Prize and the Future Generation Art Prize in 2010. She received the “Best Young Artist” award at the China Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) in 2006 and the 'Best Artist' award in 2016. In 2021, she won the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, and in 2024, she was awarded the SCAD deFINE ART Award.