Two internationally acclaimed exhibitions in Sydney early next year will put the spotlight on daily life in China under Mao Zedong.
Beijing-based artist Song Dong will display household items his mother collected in China over the last 50 years in a work that vividly encapsulates life during that period.
The collection, Waste Not, will be on exhibition from January 5 to March 17 as part of the Sydney Festival. A huge hit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Barbican in London, this is the first time the exhibition has come to Australia.
The New York Times review hailed it as a valuable piece of history: “It is fascinating to be wandering through a time capsule of a lost era of Chinese culture. It is deeply moving to see the span of one person’s life — his mother’s — summed up, monument style, in a work of art that is every bit as much about loss as it is about muchness.”
Carriageworks director Lisa Havilah said she was proud to present this major installation by the renowned international artist.
“Waste Not continues to strengthen the breadth and quality of contemporary visual arts at Carriageworks and is a high-note to kick off our 2013 artistic program,” she said.
The work presents 10,000 domestic objects and family items ranging from household pots and pans to blankets, bottle tops, toothpaste and toys.
Song Dong explained that Waste Not was an attempt to reconnect with the experiences of his mother, who died in2009.
“The exhibition gives space to put her memories and history in order,” he said.
The title Waste Not stems from the Communist Party’s call for “wu jin [qi] yong” during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which encouraged citizens to save and reuse objects to survive. Recycling was a basic life skill in the Mao Zedong era and affected people profoundly over the following decades.
Waste Not is not only the artist’s tribute to his mother and his way of mourning and remembering her; it also reflects a journey of hardship for a whole generation during a period of social and political turmoil in China.
This exhibition is a joint initiative between Carriageworks and the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. 4A director Aaron Seeto described Waste Not as “quite literally a once in a lifetime work”.
“4A is proud to be bringing this work to Australian audiences and to be presenting a selection of historically important artworks.”
A second Dong exhibition, Dad and Mum, Don’t Worry about Us, We are All Well, will be presented at 4A Centre at the same time. This work aims to evoke the experience of social and cultural dislocation and the compelling connections between parents and children.
Waste Not will be on exhibition at Carriageworks from January 5 until March 17 at 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh. Dad and Mum, Don’t Worry about Us, We are All Well will be on display at the 4A Centre from January 5 until March 17 at 181-187 Hay Street.
