The Hayward Gallery announces a major Cao Fei exhibition. Take a first look here
In 2027, the London gallery will host the Chinese artist’s largest UK exhibition to date
Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei is set to have her largest UK exhibition to date at the Hayward Gallery in London. Slated to open in spring 2027, the exhibition will encompass many of Cao’s influential works, including The Birth (2026), Whose Utopia (2006), RMB City (2007–2011) and Asia One (2018).
Cao Fei
Guangzhou-born Cao’s immersive works are found at the intersection of the real and the virtual. She is driven by a fascination with a surreal dystopia that takes the form of vast, all-encompassing worlds, from a dizzying expanse of hyperspace (Nova, 2019) to a robot vacuum cleaner, meandering through piles of rubble (Rumba II: Nomad, 2015).
Cao Fei's limited-edition cover for Wallpaper’s November 2021 issue
‘At my 2027 Hayward solo exhibition, from the workers dreaming on the world's factory floors, to the avatars drifting through the virtual city, and on to lives today reorganised by algorithms, robotics and logistical infrastructure – I hope that visitors, stepping into the galleries, might think, from the vantage of the past's future or the future's past, about the future we were once promised: what kind of dream was it, after all,’ Cao says.
Cao Fei, still from Live in RMB City, 2009
Cao, who created a limited-edition cover for Wallpaper’s November 2021 issue, will bring this multimedia approach to her exhibition at the Hayward, divided into five parts. Viewers will begin with the first showing in the UK of The Birth (2026), Cao’s video installation that explores the role of drones in farming across China and Southeast Asia. Elsewhere, part of the gallery will become a factory dormitory, in Whose Utopia (2006), while early projects such as RMB City (2007-2011) follow Cao as she builds a virtual town on the Second Life platform.
Installation view of Cao Fei, My City is Yours, Art Gallery of NSW, 2024
‘It’s in the Hayward Gallery’s DNA to collaborate and introduce groundbreaking artists to our audiences,’ adds senior curator Yung Ma. ‘What makes it particularly exciting this time is the possibility of tapping into Cao Fei’s world-building ethos, turning her unique vision into a series of interconnected environments in our iconic spaces. This collaboration is also meaningful on a personal level, as a continuation of our friendship and conversation that has lasted for more than a decade.’