CAO FEI:
My name is Cao Fei. I was born in Guangzhou. Most of my work combines documentary with fiction; it has a consistent focus on the development of our generation, particularly how the process of city modernisation transforms human beings and our society.
In 2007, with the global economy booming before the Beijing Olympics, people were extremely hopeful for the future. It was around then that I discovered ‘Second Life’—an online virtual world in which I created my own avatar ‘China Tracy’. Through Tracy, I explored half the virtual world: Time Square in NYC, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Venice, Amsterdam, and many other places. However, I realised none of them were in ‘China’. So, I wanted to create a modern Chinese city that was dynamic and full of energy in this digital world.
‘RMB City’ is almost like the digital version of a Chinese landscape long-scroll painting, and it’s a space that is filled with the most iconic symbols from contemporary cities in China: the upside down CCTV, the Oriental Pearl Radio & Television Tower in Shanghai, the massive bicycle wheel spinning on the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Bank of China Tower, the reservoir and dam, abandoned buildings, construction sites, urban villages, high-rise apartment buildings built on newly filled-in water bodies, shipping containers in the harbour, and the floating shopping city.
PRESENTER:
To help fund the project, Cao Fei actually sold virtual spaces in ‘RMB City’ to art institutions to use as virtual galleries. She also invited a wide range of people—including collectors, artists, and poets, as well as schools and artistic biennales—to take part in the development of ‘RMB City’. She even set up a Mayoral office for ‘RMB City’; M+ donor Uli Sigg was the first Mayor and gave his inaugural speech in the RMB City Hall.
As Cao Fei told us, it was a world totally different to our own:
CAO FEI:
‘RMB City’ is a city in the virtual world, there’s no air or dust, it comes without the conflicts and contradictions we see in real life—even if it’s parallel to the reality, it’s a world without risks.
