简介:The researchers and the astronaut figure appear again, if briefly, in Cao Fei's new
video MatryoshkaVerse (2022), in which she captures documentary footage of the
incredible border city of Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia. A blend of Chinese and Russian
influences, which are visible in giant Matryoshka-doll buildings and amusement parks,
Manzhouli and its surrounding landscape become the ground for a metaphysical
exploration into multinationalism, cultural hybridity and the complex ways in which
human history continues to imprint itself onto the earth. A utopia of a very different
sort, MatryoshkaVerse, like all of Cao Fei's projects on view, reflects upon the rapid
changes brought about by global developments, both in China and throughout the
world, as well as the points that connect us across these divides