Duotopia, a major exhibition by Cao Fei at Sprüth Magers, Berlin, will transform all of the gallery’s spaces and premiere several new works outside of China that delve into the metaverse, virtual reality and the interactions between human and machine consciousness.

Anchoring the exhibition in the downstairs galleries are a group of new videos that each look to the connective and creative possibilities of the metaverse. Viewers first encounter Meta-mentary (2022), in which everyday people are interviewed about their thoughts on the metaverse and the distant future.

Its substructures are shaped like massive aquatic figures that seem to bridge ocean and air. The 'duo' in Duotopia refers to the mandarin word 'duō 多', meaning many—thus a layering of many possible futures, environments and aesthetics.

In Oz (2022), presented nearby on vertical screens reminiscent of mobile phones, Cao Fei has imagined a powerful new avatar for Duotopia, fifteen years after the birth of China Tracy and RMB City. Poised, androgynous and likewise water-related with her bionic tentacles, Oz emits a serene aura that suggests a hopeful eternity.

A Holiday (2023)—an installation comprising a campground picnic, faux greenery, fences, a video filmed in Beijing in 2022, and other objects—refers to the desperate need for nature that many people craved in reaction to the confines and stresses of long-term remote living.

Still Alive (2023), Cao Fei's newest video, presents a poignant tribute to her mother amid the grief and loss of her husband, the artist's stepfather, to COVID-19 complications.

In the upstairs gallery, Cao Fei presents two videos that explore the concepts of time, space and the fictions of history and geopolitics. In the nonlinear narrative of Nova (2019), a Chinese scientist and his fellow researchers attempt to solve the problem of time travel, assisted by a Soviet scientist with whom he falls in love.

In a desperate move, he accidentally traps his son in an alternate space-time continuum. Dressed in a space suit and attempting to find his way home, the son wanders amid a series of retro-futuristic locales that are echoed in the nostalgic details of Cao Fei's lush installation.

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.