The Eternal Wave
A new virtual reality artwork to debut at Serpentine Galleries
Acute Art is delighted to announce its collaboration with artist and filmaker Cao Fei. Due to be completed in early 2020, The Eternal Wave continues the narratives central to the artist’s previous works, such as, Whose Utopia? (2006), RMB City (2008) and Nova (2019).
The Eternal Wave
Produced by Acute Art, The Eternal Wave, is an ongoing exploration of virtuality, reality and the perception of self in relation to technology. Based on the exact scale and scanned models of the artist’s studio, Cao Fei seeks to re-explore and re-imagine the past, reflecting the changing nature of humanity.
Traversing the boundaries between time and space, The Eternal Wave begins with the viewer in a physical reproduction of the “real” kitchen from the artist’s Beijing studio before being immersed in a virtual version of the same kitchen. A deeply immersive experience, visually and literally, the viewer becomes drawn into the deeper realms of the artist’s creative universe, becoming a participant and player—acting out a role in the artist’s production.
The Eternal Wave will debut in Blueprints, Cao Fei’s upcoming exhibition at Serpentine Galleries, opening March 4.
Cao Fei, artist: “While this is not my first time working with virtual reality, every time I do, it’s not the same. The technology is not the same, the team is not the same, concept, etc.—which makes the artwork feel like a new-born each time. 12 years after working on RMB City (on Second Life) in the lobby of the Serpentine Galleries, I am returning for a solo exhibition. Times are different but I am still passionate about technologies in different times. RMB City was created in a pre-virtual reality era, it wasn’t immersive like today’s virtual reality. I used it to spy on our future internet life from that time. No one could predict what’s happening today—the avatar hasn’t replaced us. Instead, we are disrupted by different forms of apps accelerating our lives.”
Daniel Birnbaum, Artistic Director, Acute Art: “Cao Fei is one of the leading artists of her time. As an artist, she is deeply engaged with technology in all areas of her practice from film, installation, VR and AR. Acute Art has had a wonderful collaboration with Cao Fei creating The Eternal Wave and we’re very excited to see the work materialise at her exhibition at the Serpentine.”
About Cao Fei
Born in 1978 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, Cao Fei earned a BFA from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2001.
Cao Fei’s works have been exhibited at a number of international biennales and triennales with exhibitions and screenings of her work at Serpentine Gallery (2006 and 2008) and Tate Modern in London (2002, 2013 and 2014); New Museum (2009), Guggenheim Museum (2011 and 2018), and MoMA in New York (2016 and 2015); Fondation Louis Vuitton (2016), Palais de Tokyo (2005 and 2017), and Centre Pompidou in Paris (2019, 2014, 2003).
Cao Fei’s recent projects include the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at Guggenheim Museum New York, a solo show at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong (2018), a retrospective at K21 Düsseldorf (2018) and a solo exhibition at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019).
Cao Fei lives and works in Beijing.
About Acute Art
Directed by Daniel Birnbaum, Acute Art collaborates with the world’s most compelling contemporary artists including Marina Abramović, Bjarne Melgaard, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Olafur Eliasson, Antony Gormley, Jeff Koons, Alicja Kwade, Ai Weiwei and more. Providing access to cutting-edge technologies, Acute Art allows artists to translate their creative vision into digital mediums—including virtual, augmented and mixed realities.
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