Whose+Utopia?--Cao+Fei

//**Whose Utopia?**// **by Cao Fei**




 * Identification:**
 * Title: //Whose Utopia?//
 * Artist(s): Cao Fei
 * Date: 2007
 * Period: Contemporary
 * Country of Origin: China
 * Cultural/Ethnic Affiliation:
 * Medium: Video installation
 * Dimensions: 20 minutes
 * Museum/Collection: unknown (traveling)
 * Accession Number: unknown
 * Current Location and Manner of Display: unknown
 * Provenance: unknown

Born in 1978 in Guangzhou, China, Cao Fei is a rising star in China's contemporary art scene. The majority of her work has focused on the interplay of dreams and their conflict with the realities of modern life in China's rapidly expanding industrial cities. In her twenty minute film titled //Whose Utopia?// Cao Fei focused on the dreams of factory workers at an Osram lighting company in the Pearl River Delta. Her video "paints a poignant and insightful portrait of the individuals who make up this rapidly expanding sector of contemporary Chinese society" (Groom et al., 2007, p.49). Cao Fei shows the interaction between workers and machines, the dreams of the workers, and their honest beliefs that their dreams are not a lie and will indeed come true. Simultaneously melancholic and inspirational, //Whose Utopia?// shows the interplay of dreams when confronted with the harsh realities of factory life.
 * Introduction:**

Filmed over the course of six months, Cao Fei's //Whose Utopia?// is a twenty minute video made at the OSRAM China Lighting Ltd. in China's Pearl River Delta. The film is intended to be viewed as part of a larger installation called [|Utopia Factory], which contains separate spaces that represent different aspects of everyday life at the factory: from the entrance to the production line, displaying a variety of light bulbs to the dormitory rooms with bunk beds and scarce personal belongings. Presented media including //Whose Utopia?// consists of //Sound Factory//, //Interview with Employee//, //Questionnaire//, and the newspaper [|Utopia Daily] ([]).
 * Descriptive Analysis:**

The video //Whose Utopia//? is divided into three sections. The opening section focuses on light-bulbs working their way through a mechanized factory setting devoid of people. Following this, the video moves on to show workers going through the tedious process of testing light-bulbs and inserting filaments. The second segment titled "Factory Fairytale," shows four factory workers acting out individual dreams. A peacock dancer moves fluidly among stark steel shelves and boxes, juxtaposing her beauty and grace against a starkly industrial setting. A ballerina dressed as an angel gracefully pirouetting while surrounded on all sides by unmanned machines. A break-dancer fluidly glides through the rigid aisles. A guitar player makes music surrounded by pipes. The entire section is set to a slow and melancholy tune played out on piano and guitar. The three dancers often create articulated gestures with their arms and hand, like the wings of a bird flapping. First, they perform in the empty factory, and then while other workers hunch over their tasks, working diligently, assembling and testing light-bulbs. Towards the end of the sequence, the angel, in her costume, returns to her place at the machine alongside the rest of the factory workers. The peacock dancer changes from her beautiful gown into jeans and a sweatshirt, and dances a little more before returning to work. The break-dancer stops dancing through the aisles and walks through the rows. This scene closes with a worker lying in bed staring out his window which overlooks rows of factories and warehouses with the phrase "You cry and say, fairytale is a lie" appearing on screen.

The final section titled, "My Future is Not a Dream" shows shots of individual workers standing in their assigned positions, among the machinery and other workers, looking directly into the camera. Phrases pop up in front of them from time to time including "To whom do you beautifully belong?".

Below are parts I and II of the video installation. The first part is not available online at this time. Part III is of low quality as it was captured by an iphone camera using a filter. It is not in its intended form. It is here only so that you can see the contents of the segment.

media type="youtube" key="UNId85g9nV4" height="344" width="425" This is segment II: Factory Fairytale from //Whose Utopia?//.

media type="youtube" key="e68P4Y_17Ro" height="315" width="420" This is segment III: My Future is Not A Dream from //Whose Utopia?//.

Below are images from the physical installation, the other part of the Factory Fairytales exhibition.

The film was originally created as a part of a project, called the Siemens Art Program 'What Are They Doing Here?', a project designed so that artist can explore the social aspects of the cultural and economic change of the area. [|Siemens]invited Chinese artists to live among the factory workers of their company at different locations in China for six months. Cao Fei volunteered to travel to Foshan and stay at the Osram lighting factory, where she worked from October of 2005 till April of 2006 (Groom et al., 2007, p.48). However, the installation was not created by Cao Fei alone. It is a collaborative piece, with Cao as facilitator, and the workers generating much of the content. Her objective was to ask them "What are you doing here?" and help them transform their responses into art. She begun by sending out a survey to the employees to gather information, and then divided up the responders into groups with whom she worked to develop the various pieces of her Factory Fantasy installation (Strom, 2006)
 * Formal and Contextual Analysis:**

The Osram Lighting Ltd. factory lies in the [|Pearl River Delta]. This region has been at the heart of China's manufacturing growth for the past twenty-five years and is a source of many jobs in the region. Cao Fei chose to focus on the factory because many of the workers came from poor rural areas, moving to the city in hopes that the factory job becomes a stepping stone to pursuing personal dreams. The workers are singers, dancers, musicians, artists, and many others all hoping to improve their lives. Cao Fei explains, “The nation’s history always credits the good hero, like [|Lei Feng]. I am more interested in the folk. I am interested in common people. Different jobs. History never remembers them. This led me to working with the factory workers...” (Strom, 2006). //Whose Utopia?// reminds us that many of these workers who took their jobs at the factories which fuel China's economic growth also gingerly foster their individual dreams which still remain below the surface.

In the opening of the film, Cao Fei shows a mechanical assembly line rapidly manufacturing light-bulbs in a factory, seemingly devoid of humans. This setup perhaps symbolizes the socialist idea that machines could liberate mankind and create equality. However, the machines are still unable to do the smaller aspects of production and that's where the workers come in. Methodically attaching filaments, testing bulbs, and packing them into boxes, the workers act almost as a part of the machine, matching its pace and finishing the products. (Guz, 2008). The light bulb itself may have symbolic meaning such as it did in //Anthem//, the dystopic novella by [|Ayn Rand], where the light bulb symbolizes individuality amidst the darkness of the collectivistic society. (Guz, 2008).

This metaphor is fitting considering the exploration of individual dreams in the second section of the film, "Factory Fairytale". The factory is built on collectivism, where the workers act as extension of the machine. In a place where collectivism drives economic success, focusing on individuality is a distraction, and thus discouraged. There are rules in the factory that would prohibit the performances that we see in the video (Strom, 2006). This film is a brief chance for the workers to explore these fantasies, and how they feel about their futures considering present circumstances. The placement of artists against the brooding background of the factory, contrasts the beauty of their dreams against the harsh reality of factory life. As the film progresses, As they change back into their standard attire and stop performing, we are reminded of the sacrifices and changes that many of this younger generation of Chinese workers must make in the pursuit of their dreams. At the end of this second segment we see a worker laying down on the bunk bed looking out at the gray sky above factories and warehouses, "You cry and say, fairytale is a lie" appear on the screen, point out the disappointment many factory workers feel.

The third and final segment entitled "My Future is Not a Dream" reminds us of a famous assurance by [|Chairman Mao Zedong]that the future he promised was not simply a dream, which becomes "an ironic, humorous, bitter, yet poignant comment upon the life of the worker as an individual in the China of today" (Groom et al., 2007, p.51). This segment focuses on the individual workers. Rather than working at their stations, they stand resolutely staring into the camera, confronting the viewer with their reality. "Cao Fei reminds us that people might sell their skills and labor, but ultimately not their souls" (Groom et al., 2007, p.50). The line "To whom do you beautifully belong?" appears along with other bits of text in this third segment, which may be a reference to a line from Henry James' play //The High Bid//. (The line is asked by a gentleman of a butler.) Do workers belong to entity that pays them? Is there really beauty in servitude? Cao Fei asks workers to examine these issues.

After asking //"Whose Utopia?"//, Cao Fei doesn't give a direct answer within the art work, but it is apparent that this is not the utopia of the factory workers. Workers move to the city with hopes of improving their lives, only to find that they still have very little power (Strom, 2006.) It is suggested, however, that the workers are indeed building a utopia, but for "commerical and industrial capitalist." (Guz, 2008). According to Strom, China provides corporations with "inexpensive labor, minimal reguation and socially conditioned submission." The desires of the workers are disregarded in exchange for China's economic growth. Cao Fei's piece aims to examine and acknowledge this conflict (Strom, 2006).

//Print Sources//
 * References.**
 * Groom, S., Smith, K. & Zhen, X. (Eds.) (2007). //The real thing: Contemporary art from china.//Liverpool: Tate.
 * A reflection on contemporary art in China and an overview of eighteen Chinese artists, inclueing Cao Fei.
 * Grosenick, U., & Schubbe, C. (Eds.) (2007). Cao Fei, In //China art book//. (pp.48-55) Koln: DuMont Literatur.
 * Review of Cao Fei's work with illustrations.
 * Nuridsany, M. (2004). //China art now.//Paris: Flammarion.
 * This book reviews the works of several contemporary artist and the contextual motives for their creations.

//Online Sources//
 * 2bis2do. (2011, August 22). //Cao Fei - Whose Utopia - Part 3: My Future is Not a Dream.// Retrieved from @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e68P4Y_17Ro
 * Video of //Whose Utopia? Part III.// The video is shot by a visitor to the Deutsche Guggenheim through an iphone camera using a "1920s" filter. The quality of the capture is not good, and certainly not true to the artist intention, but provides an idea of what part III of film contains.
 * Artlicker. (2009, January 8). Cao Fei in "I still believe in tomorrow: Contemporary video from Asia.", Retrieved from http://artlicker.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/cao-fei-in-i-still-believe-in-tomorrow-contemporary-video-from-asia/
 * Blog about Cao Fei's //Whose Utopia?// and //Cosplayers//.
 * Artnet. (2011). Whose Utopia Installation. Retrieved from[| http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425433538/139009/cao-fei---34--whose-utopia-installation.html]
 * Identification information for //Whose Utopia?// and //Utopia Factory// installation photo.
 * Fei, C. (2011). Cao Fei. Retrieved from @http://www.caofei.com/
 * Cao Fei's website where her works, projects, and exhibitions are presented along with her biography and bibliography. She also posts a video excerpt from //Whose Utopia? Part I//.
 * Guz, S. (2008, June 5). Viewing China through Cao Fei's 'Whose Utopia' at the Carnegie International. //Pittsburg City Paper.// Retrieved from [| http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/content?oid=oid%3A47436]
 * Detailed description of //Whose Utopia?// video.
 * MA Digital Arts. (2007, October 9).1w4 Whose Utopia?--Chinese artist Cao Fei, Retrieved from[| http://start006.blogspot.com/2007/10/1w4-whose-utopia-chinese-artist-cao-fei.html]
 * Brief biography and synopsis of //Whose Utopia?// video. This site also provides video stills from Part I.
 * Orange County Museum of Art. (2004). Cao Fei: Whose Utopia? June 30 - September 2, 2007. Retrieved from[| http://www.ocma.net/index.html?page=past&show=exhibit&e_id=2112]
 * Provides cultural and geographic context for //Whose Utopia?// video.
 * Strom, J. (2006). Your utopia is ours. //Fillip 4// (Fall 2006). Retrieved from []
 * Artist interview where Cao Fei discusses the meaning of her works, including //Whose Utopia?//
 * Tararyerson (2008, Oct 1). //Whose Utopia.//Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNId85g9nV4
 * Video of //Whose Utopia? Part II.//
 * Walker Art Center. (2007). Brave New Worlds. Retreived from @http://www.walkerart.org/calendar/2007/brave-new-worlds
 * Source for video still from //Whose Utopia?.//
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 * Images from //Factory Fantasy// Installation.