Song Dong. Soul Out

Location: MAO – Museum of Oriental Art. Address: via San Domenico, 11 Turin (TO) Conceived as a site-specific project involving the entire MAO Museum of Oriental Art in Turin, the exhibition path transforms the historic architecture of Palazzo Mazzonis into a narrative device in which Song Dong’s works dialogue with the permanent collections. The exhibition retraces over thirty years of research by the Beijing-based artist, highlighting a practice capable of intertwining private memory, individual experience and the social transformations of contemporary China. Song Dong’s research has its roots in the Taoist philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi and in Zen thought, combined with the languages of Arte Povera, Mono-Ha, Minimalism and Conceptual Art. Through minimal gestures and the use of everyday materials, the artist reflects on the impermanence and fragility of existence. Among the main focuses stands out the monumental installation Waste Not, inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s ready-made, which gathers over 10.000 objects accumulated by the artist’s mother, Zhao Xiangyuan. The exhibition also presents works on family relationships such as Touching My Father and My Daugh