Cao Fei, Nova, 2019, Video, 109’. Courtesy the artist, Vitamin Creative Space and Sprüth Magers
The Serpentine reopens at 10am tomorrow, Tuesday 4 August, with Cao Fei: Blueprints.
Blueprints originally opened 4 March 2020 before COVID 19 temporarily closed the Serpentine Galleries. The exhibition will now run until 13 September 2020.
Cao Fei’s immersive, site-specific installation Blueprints expands on themes of automation, virtuality and technology, with a new body of work examining the social history and urban transformation of Beijing’s Jiuxianqiao (Hong Xia) district. This major solo exhibition, the artist’s first in a UK public institution, originally included the world premiere of the virtual reality work The Eternal Wave, produced in collaboration with Acute Art. In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Acute Art has developed an augmented reality version of the kitchen space in which The Eternal Wave begins. This new artwork, visible through visitors’ smartphones, represents the second chapter in Cao Fei’s recent exploration of virtual possibilities.
All visitors must book a free timed ticket via serpentinegalleries.org. Tickets are released in two week blocks.
Visitors can experience two further augmented reality works in the park: The London Mastaba AR (Hyde Park) which recreates Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s iconic sculpture on mobile phone, and The Deep Listener by Jakob Kudsk Steensen, an ecological trail through Kensington Gardens.
On 29th September 2020, Formafantasma’s radical design exhibition exploring wood and the global dynamics of the timber industry, Cambio, will re-open at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery and continue until the end of the year.
Cao Fei at the Serpentine Gallery: where virtual and real worlds meet. Review FT.COM
