Stuff I did

I’ve been getting through winter blues and maternity madness by hitting the (art) shows. So far Hockney – lovely, full, posh visitor – and Grayson Perry – funny, full, multi-visitor.

Yesterday was bonanza day with a visit to The White Cube Bermondsey and Waste Not by Song Dong at The Barbican. Two opposite experiences, here’s the first:

I went for the building more than anything – a former warehouse reworked by Casper Mueller Kneer Architects – and guess what, you’re not allowed to take photos inside. It’s just as you’d expect probably – vast, white, polished concrete floors and a bit of a quiet relief. I confess the Anselm Kiefer exhibition was a bit much for my frazzled brain. And so to Song Dong:

For his first major London exhibition, the Chinese artist has installed over 10,000 household items in one room partly in tribute to his mother Zhao Xiangyuan, who, like the rest of her generation, learnt to hoard as a way of surviving poverty during Chairman Mao’s revolution. It’s an extraordinary collection of her stuff – empty toothpaste tubes, broken plant pots, paint brushes, fabric samples, bottles and bottle tops, pegs – everything you can think of.

After the death of his father in 2002, Song Dong wanted to pull his mother out of her grief by engaging her in creating this work and she helped to instal Waste Not in Bejing before she sadly died in 2009.

*

Now, when Song Dong remakes Waste Not his sister and wife help him so that the family is always a part of the work. Go see, it’s incredible.

*Chinese Calendar supersize!