Cao Fei Transports Her Sci-Fi Futuristic Installations to Savannah College of Art and Design
The exhibition probes into the ways in which technology has altered our understanding of self in the 21st century.
Chinese artist and Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) deFINE ART 2024 honoree Cao Fei has transformed two galleries of the SCAD Museum of Art into immersive installations that conflate the familiar with the futuristic. Based in Beijing, Fei is known for creating inquisitive films and multi-media artworks that investigate the ways in which technology has altered our understanding of self in the 21st century.
At the Edge of Superhumanity blends utopian and dystopic elements to explore themes related to automation, virtuality and how technology has both integrated and dictated the flow of daily life. Fei is showcasing a series of past works, such as MatryoshkaVerse (2022), consisting of a series of large inflatable Matryoshka dolls next to surrealist films that reflect on the relationship between Communist China and Russia, whom share the largest land border in the world.
Standout works also include Nova (2019), a retro sci-fi feature film that depicts a Chinese scientist longing to understand the mysteries of time travel. In the latter tale, the researcher is on a secret mission to digitize humans, where suddenly, he traps his own son into cyberspace — setting the stage for a retro-futuristic journey that floats between fantasy and reality.
Fei “reveals how the spaces we inhabit shape our identities and social interactions, and ultimately redirect our search for meaning and purpose in life,” wrote SCAD in a release. At the Edge of Superhumanity will be on view in Savannah until July 29.
SCAD deFINE ART
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