Lombard-Freid Projects

RMB City was a fictional Chinese city constructed in the online virtual world Second Life. RMB City opened to the 'public' in 2009 and remained active until 2011, when Cao Fei ended the project. During its time in operation, the city attracted users from the art world as well as a broader virtual community within the Second Life platform, particularly for its events, which included artist projects, contests, and mayoral inaugurations. This short film features a 3d model of the city prior to its opening in Second Life. "RMB City will be the condensed incarnation of contemporary Chinese cities with most of their characteristics; a series of new Chinese fantasy realms that are highly self-contradictory, inter-permeative, laden with irony and suspicion, and extremely entertaining and pan-political."