Cao Fei's Digital Chaos Transformed into Total Art at Fondazione Prada and Kunstmuseum Basel

Chinese artist Cao Fei (born 1978 in Guangzhou) presents two major exhibitions in 2026: "Dash. Cao Fei" at Fondazione Prada in Milan (April 9–September 28) and "Cao Fei, Testimonies of the near future" at Kunstmuseum Basel (May 30–October 11). Her work, spanning over two decades, documents the rapid transformation of Chinese society through a documentary lens, blending reality with fiction. She explores the impact of technology on human life, stating, "If we cannot stop technology, my work as an artist is to witness, understand, and observe human life enveloped in an information landscape." In 2006, she discovered Second Life, creating the avatar China Tracy and building the virtual city RMB City—a collage of Chinese metropolises named after the renminbi, also evoking "remember." RMB City later expanded into an opera and stage performance. Key works include the multimedia installation "Asia One" (2018) and the two-channel video "Dash" (2026), produced by Fondazione Prada. Cao Fei graduated from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2001, first participated in the Venice Biennale in 2003, had her first solo show at Courtyard Gallery in Beijing in 2004, presented RMB City in London and New York in 2008, created RMB City Opera in Turin in 2009, won Best Artist at China Contemporary Art Awards in 2016, had a solo exhibition "HX" at Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2019, and a retrospective at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing in 2021.