Cao Fei

Since the early 2000s, the work of this Bejing film and installation artist has dealt with the challenges of defining the self in a global society where the traditional boundaries that once determined indentity have broken down. In one of the artist’s better-known works, she inserted herself as an avatar in the online role-playing game, Second Life; other works have similarly referenced the offline world of cospaly. While her works are populated by Chinese subjects, the issues they raise apply to everyone struggling to maintain a sense of individuality in the Information Age.