Whose Utopia? (2006)
Single-channel video. 20’. Courtesy: the artist and Vitamin Creative Space, Canton.
Whose Utopia? was shot at OSRAM China Lighting Ltd. factory in the Pearl River Delta, which has led the massive boom in China’s economy since the late 1970s and has drawn workers from throughout China in search of economic opportunities and a better life. The project explores the life of these migrant factory workers and the effects of globalisation on local economies. Cao Fei uses the factory and its production systems as a stage for poetic reflection, juxtaposing heavy machinery with the delicate light bulbs they produce. Pushing the boundaries of normality within the spaces of the factory, she questions the relationship between utopia and the new dreams and realities created by economic “progress.”
