「オブジェクトのコレクション」とシンプルに呼ばれる展示だが、典型的なイメージを覆す内容となっている。まずオブジェクトの数１万個以上、そしてそれらは全てアーティストの母親が保持していた個人的な日用品である。 椅子、箪笥、洋服、バッグ、靴、子供のおもちゃ、半分使いかけの石鹸、スーパーの袋、空のペットボトル。 彼女が使ったもの全てがあると言っても過言ではない。一つ一つ全てが使い込まれており、個人的歴史が含まれている。最初ギャラリーに入った瞬間は、とにかくモノの数に圧倒されたが、しばらくするとこれらの日用品に心を動かされるのが驚きである。キチンと並んだ数十個の、真っ平らになるまで使い切ってある空の歯磨き粉チューブの前に立った時には、何とも言えない深い悲しさに似た感情が広がった。「収集」と「執着」はお互いに極めて近い関係で属し合っていて、分けて考える事は不可能だと思う。彼女の執着心はおそらくモノ自身ではなく、モノが持つアイディアのようなものにあったのではないか。モノを集めるという事で時間をヴィジュアルにとらえる事ができ、まるで失われた時間を所有できるかのようなイルージョン。夫を亡くした後の心の穴を埋めるためであったかもしれないし、もしくは自身の存在を証明するような概念的なものだったかもしれない。

この展示でもう一つ興味深いと感じたのは、彼女がモノを集めだした時期が１９６６年の文化大革命と同じという事だ。多数の死者を出し、国内の文化／歴史的破壊を押し進め、経済状態にもネガティブな影響を与えたこの革命を生き延びる事と、モノを集める事、この二つは深く関連しているような気がする。７、８冊のThe Little Red Bookと呼ばれる「毛主席語録」が赤いリボンで束ねられて展示の一部として置いてあった。貧困時代をサバイバルするためにモノを無駄にせず、使えそうな物は全て保持することにはじまり、社会全体が過去の遺産を破壊する事を強制された中で個人的な過去を収集し保存し続けた彼女。勇気があると私は思う。意図的ではなかっただろうと思うが、社会の均質化が強制的に進められている下での、一人の人間としての抵抗と私には感じられた。個人の歴史と生き方がもつパワーと影響力は計り知れない。この展示が証明してくれた気がする。

キーティング敦子

展示内部の写真はここをご覧ください。

The exhibition is described as “a collection of objects”, however, it is not a typical one. The collection includes literally everything Song Dong’s mother owned – anything she could lay her fingers on were exhibited, including chairs, cabinets, clothes, bags, shoes, children’s toys, half used soap, used plastic bags from super market, empty plastic bottles of soft drinks… the list goes on. Every item was well used and each contained a long personal history. At first I was overwhelmed by the volume of collection as I stepped into the space, but gradually was affected by them. When I stood in front of dozens of empty tubes of toothpaste that were thoroughly used and perfectly placed in line on a wooden board, I had an unexplainable deep feeling growing inside of me. It is impossible to draw the line between collection and obsession when the two belong to each other. And her obsession was probably not about the actual things but about the idea of them – the idea that she could visually see an accumulation of time, the time that she had lost and left her feeling empty after her husband’s death.

In addition to the extremely personal and intimate nature of this collection, it is crucial to mention that Song Dong’s mother started to collect items when Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution started in 1966. The notorious socio-political movement that gave negative influence on the Chinese economy and the whole nation was forced to destroy historical relics and artifacts. A pile of The Little Red Book neatly tied together with a red ribbon showed a different side of the exhibition. In order to survive as a family it was necessary not to waste anything and keep all the items that would possibly be useful someday. It had also a meaning of protecting the past, while the country’s past is being destroyed. I found her act of collecting brave. Probably she did not mean it any way intentional but I felt as if it was her personal resistance against the political homogenisation of Chinese society under Chairman Mao. I believe that the power of individual lives and each history is stronger than one could possibly imagine, and the exhibition did prove this point.

Atsuko Keating

See our previous post for full photographs of the exhibit HERE.

Despite a whole gallery full of gathered items, I guess she never filled that void that was left after her husband died. Song Dong’s exhibition in the Barbican’s Curve Gallery was as moving as it was overwhelming.

See the details and more photographs in our previous post HERE.

A small team were filming the skateboarders at the undercroft and actually although there weren’t many people there, the few that were there were really good. It’s rare to see so many stunts actually executed and I started to understand better how rewarding it must be to actually pull off some of those complex tricks. They were jumping from a great height, much to the admiration of the younger skaters. Oh, and the skateboards that do get snapped, they get thrown onto the pillar of the Hungerford Bridge.

Linear Code will be on display until 22nd February, so I truly recommend that you pay a visit when you get chance. The ICN Gallery can be found here.

You get an overwhelming sense of calm standing in front of such beautiful strokes, and can easily lose yourself for ages uncovering detail differences between each letter. The circular forms were part of Miyamura’s previous collection and work in the same way. Although the direction of the text is not always clear, Miyamura pointed out to me that his hanko is stamped in red at the end of each work. It was a joy to photograph the space, a delight to meet the artist himself and a good chance for some (much needed) Japanese practice.

You can see more of Miyamura’s beautiful work here.