In 2014, China announced the epic new silk road 2.0 initiative as a global co-prosperity project. As the factory of the world at that time, it has a gripping power on the material domination of the world, and the vision was to transform itself in the next decade to emerge as the new superpower of the world.
Atlas of the Yellow Magic Era is an art project devoted to observations on the Chinese influences of our future. I am fascinated about the flow of Chinese goods and desires to the rest of the world, and how it soft power infiltrated our everyday lives. From what we eat, what we wear, what we listen to, what we watch and everything around us may be “Made In China” but designed in somewhere else in the world. It is a complex and intriguing process to understand and make sense of the Chinese ambitions.
The project will embark on various expeditions along the trade and logistics superhighway from Yiwu, China, to the western edge of Europe in Madrid.
“Capitalism has a new colour, a yellowing process is taking place, and it changes everything, invisible forces are driving the new order of our future, a future that may already arrived without us knowing. Thus, the questioning of these new norms and new realities are urgent, no matter where and what color we are. ”
A decade since the launch of the New Silk Road 2.0 initiative, the world may have already slipped into the realm of the Yellow Magic Era. Yet, the dominant forces of the West seems reluctant to believe the dynamic shift in global realities. While the West had lingers onto many ideologies still rooted in the resonance of coloniality, they are staring into the possibility of their own eschatology of power and knowledge.
The Atlas of the Yellow Magic Era speculates on the cultural production of a yellow-tinted future, documenting the extraordinary advances of China in technology, science, and economy. We stand on the threshold of an age of automation and intelligence, where emerging phenomenology reshapes human narratives. The Atlas seeks to capture these moments of rupture, the intimate human stories, and the magical moments defining a generation.
Altas of the Yellow Magic Era is a project undertaken by Choy Ka Fai between 2025 to 2035. It aspire to research and document a decade of change and prompt for understanding, critical reportage and intellectual discourse through artistic endeavours.