Chinese Art Today: Cao Fei and Yang Fudong

With a critical eye on China's culture and its ever-expanding urban environment, Cao Fei and Yang Fudong are breaking new ground in film and video art. This program will feature Yang Fudong's acclaimed work “Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest, Part 1” (2003) and Cao Fei's recent sensation “Whose Utopia?” (2006). Melissa Chiu, Director and Curator of Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art for the Asia Society Museum, will discuss these works following the screening. In “Whose Utopia?”, Fei portrays workers who left their small hometowns to pursue dreams of becoming dancers, singers, and musicians in the big city. Instead, they found work in factories. Focusing on employees at a light bulb plant, Fei shows these workers performing their greatest dreams amid their austere reality. Fudong's five-part film, “Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest,” is based on the account of seven gifted intellectuals in the Chinese ancient Wei and Jin Dynasty known for their remarkable passion, talent, and camaraderie. Through stunning visual imagery, Fudong updates this tale by portraying a group of present-day Chinese youths responding to an almost overnight cultural transformation from agrarian culture to post-industrial society. Exclusive sponsorship for this program is generously provided by Toby Devan Lewis.