The politics of aesthetics, space and community: An analysis of Same Old, Brand New by Cao Fei

This article analyses the site-specific video artwork Same Old, Brand New by Chinese artist Cao Fei, which was exhibited in Hong Kong during Art Basel 2015. Set in the context of the Umbrella Revolution, it is argued that although the work by Chinese artists who became known in the 2000s may seem apolitical, artists such as Cao Fei have found subtle ways to create political art, to engage the public with politics, to disrupt political hegemony, to go beyond the boundaries of art institutions and to produce ungovernable communities that may evade identity politics. In its intervention in public space and its reworking of popular culture Same Old, Brand New has helped to temporarily constitute a politically engaged public. Using theories by Jacques Rancière, Henri Lefebvre and Jean-Luc Nancy, this study shows how Same Old, Brand New disrupts the distribution of the sensible and the hegemonic production of space and produces a sense of ‘being-in-common’.