Waste Not- art show at Barbican

Wednesday 22 February 2012

 I stumbled across an exhibition at the weekend, which I found quite moving.  A Chinese Artist called Song Dong has filled the Curve gallery in the Barbican with thousands of his mothers possessions.  
His father died quite suddenly and his mother slipped into a deep depression, so he decided to dedicate his art work to helping her deal with her grief and get her out of her depression.
Here are a few snaps I took of the show, even the most mundane objects look so beautiful set out in multiples. From a family of hoarders myself I could sort of relate to it!
Textile students would like this show I think. excuse my bad phone photos.













5 comments:

  1. Wow! This is amazing! Is it still on at the Barbican? Thanks so much for sharing! :-)

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  2. Yes I think it's on till June
    http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=12878

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  3. Reminds me of my husband's shed. After he died I found amazing things. Like a paint tin full of all the tin-openers we'd ever owned. I wonder did this cheer his mother. I think the energy will be flowing in her house with all the clutter gone. I pray she is feeling free and wonderful! Thank you for sharing this.

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  4. That's amazing, all those objects that by themselves would be ugly/ boring/ dull/ uninteresting; are suddenly given a new purpose, a new life, a new beauty - in their organisation and classification. There is interest and intrigue in their order. Oh my, that is a lot of shoes! It is so interesting seeing things laid out in this way - much more fascinating when you take a few minutes to set things in line for display, rather than cluttered in a heap. I'd love to go and see this, but I live in France and can't quite make it this winter, so thank you for taking and sharing the photos. Katie. xxx

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  5. Thanks for sharing Donna, I will definitely get myself down to the Barbican once I'm back in April.

    It reminds me of the sunday morning market under Ellis Bridge in Ahmedabad (India) every week. Here is a photo by Meena Kadri so you can see what I mean-http://www.flickr.com/photos/meanestindian/3248185596/in/set-72157614119543189

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