Focus on the ordinary

Factory utopia

Born in the port city Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Cao is drawn to her birthplace, a manufacturing center greatly contributing to China's economic boom. The large number of factories in Guangzhou and nearby cities helped the country to be the "world's factory" in the 2000s. Factories and workers thus became constant subjects in Cao's works.

From 2005 to 2006, Cao spent half a year working at a light bulb factory in Foshan, a city 40 kilometers away from her hometown, and shot her signature film Whose Utopia.

She asked 500 workers questions like what they were interested in and which songs they would listen to before starting work. She then selected 30 workers and taught them how to create artworks using the products they produced.

Cao found that after their busy shifts on the assembly lines, some workers will play the guitar, practice tai chi and dance in their spare time. A young woman in her ballet leotard with angel wings dancing in the workshop. A man practicing tai chi as bulbs move along an assembly line behind. These are scenes that she had included in Whose Utopia.