{"id":1672,"date":"2025-09-05T20:17:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T20:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/?p=1672"},"modified":"2025-09-09T16:03:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:03:41","slug":"song-dongs-monumental-installations-mirror-memories-globalization-and-impermanence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/05\/song-dongs-monumental-installations-mirror-memories-globalization-and-impermanence\/","title":{"rendered":"Song Dong\u2019s Monumental Installations Mirror Memories, Globalization, and Impermanence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Song<\/p>\n

Mirrors, lights, and household furnishings converge on a grand scale in the luminous installations of Song Dong<\/a>. The Chinese artist\u2019s interdisciplinary practice often combines performance, sculpture, painting, video, and calligraphy to summon memories and create monumental immersive experiences.<\/p>\n

Themes of transition and ephemerality often appear in Song\u2019s pieces, like a series of installations and performances in which tabletop constructions reminiscent of metropolitan skylines were constructed from edible treats, dismantled brick by brick\u2014or biscuit by biscuit\u2014as visitors passed by. Playful and saccharine on the surface, these works examine the artist\u2019s own childhood experiences of food scarcity along with themes of ephemerality and globalization.<\/p>\n

\"an
\u201cWaste Not\u201d (2009), installation performance, Museum of Modern Art, New York<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWaste Not\u201d \u2014which was shown initially at Beijing Tokyo Art Projects before being exhibited in major institutions in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Germany\u2014explores related themes of consumption and impermanence. Incorporating more than 10,000 items his mother had accumulated over the course of five decades, the installation-performance became \u201can act of physical and psychological unpacking,\u201d says Pace Gallery, which represents the artist. Viewers were presented with \u201ca veritable landscape of commodities, ranging from bottle caps, shoes, blankets, toothpaste tubes, metal pots, and toys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the use of old wooden windows, bed frames, doors, mirrors, lamps, color-coated glass, porcelain, and other found objects and \u201cdaily necessities,\u201d Song composes elaborate, structural installations. These evoke dreamy notions of home, belonging, security, and migration while exploring the relationships between memory and fact, humor and trauma. He culls his materials from the streets of Beijing, sourcing discarded furniture, architectural elements, and quotidian objects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese collaged remnants of people\u2019s homes carry with them the history of a city and the lives of its people,\u201d Pace says. \u201cAs viewers are invited to peek inside, they are transformed into voyeurs: imagining their homes, their stories, and perhaps identifying shared experiences, and primed to think of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now on view as part of the vibrant 36th S\u00e3o Paolo Biennial<\/a>, Song\u2019s work appears among ambitious installations by dozens of artists from around the world. His commissioned piece \u201cBorrow Light\u201d takes the form of a mirrored world brimming with lamps that reflect from every surface, not unlike one of Yayoi Kusama<\/a>\u2019s Infinity Mirror Rooms<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"an
\u201cBorrow Light\u201d (2025). Installation view of the 36th Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo, \u2018Not All Travellers Walk Roads \u2013 Of Humanity as Practice\u2019 \u00a9 Levi Fanan \/ Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The artist considers the concept of \u201cborrowing\u201d in terms of its inherent temporality. He positions it as something of an ethos for understanding our short time on Earth, whether life\u2019s cycles or even the presence of humans at all over the course of millions of evolutionary years.<\/p>\n

Song draws inspiration \u201cfrom both a carnival\u2019s house of mirrors and the traditional Chinese feng shui<\/em> method of using mirrors and windows to expand interior space by ushering in the external world,\u201d says an exhibition statement. \u201cBorrow Light\u201d becomes a participatory experience, where visitors\u2019 movements are reflected and illuminated throughout the space. Chairs and lamps, all lent from private homes, provide places for rest and contemplation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying with fluid elements such as light, reflection, and illusion, Song\u2019s installation immerses the audience into an infinite universe, where our images and minds become entwined in a silvery, glowing light,\u201d the biennial says.<\/p>\n

Explore more exhibitions and learn about the artist on Pace Gallery\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"an
Detail of \u201cSame Bed Different Dreams No. 3.\u201d Photo by Damian Griffiths, courtesy of Pace Gallery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"an
Detail of \u201cSame Bed Different Dreams No. 3.\u201d Photo by Damian Griffiths, courtesy of Pace Gallery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"an
\u201cBorrow Light\u201d (2025). Installation view of the 36th Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo, \u2018Not All Travellers Walk Roads \u2013 Of Humanity as Practice\u2019 \u00a9 Levi Fanan \/ Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"an
\u201cBorrow Light\u201d (2025). Installation view of the 36th Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo, \u2018Not All Travellers Walk Roads \u2013 Of Humanity as Practice\u2019 \u00a9 Levi Fanan \/ Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
Detail of \u201cSame Bed Different Dreams No. 3.\u201d Photo by Damian Griffiths, courtesy of Pace Gallery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Song Dong\u2019s Monumental Installations Mirror Memories, Globalization, and Impermanence<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mirrors, lights, and household furnishings converge on a grand scale in the luminous installations of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1672"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1672"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1683,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1672\/revisions\/1683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}