Published: 26 January, 2012

An extraordinary array of metal pots, plastic bowls, blankets, bottle caps, toothpaste tubes and toys will be on display in The Curve, the Barbican’s free exhibition space, from February 15-June 12, 2012.

Celebrated Chinese artist Song Dong, known for his conceptual and essentially personal art, is installing this monumental work of more than 10,000 objects – entitled Waste Not – as a tribute to his mother, as well as a meditation on family life during the Cultural Revolution.

During the early post-War Communist years in China, being frugal was the only way for a family to survive. Song Dong’s mother, Zhao Xiangyuan, saved everything, including items we might view as rubbish or junk – including old pieces of used soap and empty toothpaste tubes – for possible future use. Even when things improved a fear of shortage was ever present, leading to a life of thrift.

Following Song Dong’s father’s death in 2002, she sank into deep depression.

Song Dong wanted to make her happy and for her to find renewed purpose in life, to bring her out of the depths of grief, so he proposed that she work with him to make her possessions a work of art. Exhibiting her life, her things, and her philosophy “gave my mother a space to put her memories and history in order”, he says. 

Song Dong’s mother died suddenly in 2009, but did install the first showing of Waste Not in 2005 in Beijing. A neon sign at the front of the Barbican, facing the elements, reads: “Dad and Mom, Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well.”

Born in 1966 in Beijing, China, Song Dong initially trained in oil painting and graduated at the Fine Arts Department of Capital Normal University in Beijing in 1989.

His work ranges from performance and video to photography and sculpture.

Special events

• Song Dong will be speaking about the objects that make up his installation Waste Not at 6.30pm on Thursday February 16 in Cinema 3 in the Barbican Centre. Tickets £4 online and £6 on the door, www.barbican.org.uk

• From February 15-June 12, 2012, in response to Song Dong’s installation, Objects with Stories invites the public to submit one photograph of an object along with a couple of sentences about the memory of the relationship the object brings to mind. A selection of the stories will feature on the Barbican website, www.barbican.org.uk

• Song Dong: Waste Not is at The Curve, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2, from February 15-June 12, 2012. Admission free. Open daily 11am-8pm and every Thursday until 10pm 0845 120 7550 www.barbican.org.uk/ artgallery

Song Dong: Waste Not – developed in partnership with Tokyo Gallery+BTAP