Song abruptly stopped making art in 1989, after China’s violent military response to the Tiananmen Square protests. Though he had been trained as a painter, he turned to performance, photography, and video installation when he resumed making art a few years later. For his performance Breathing, the artist laid face down on the ground of Tiananmen Square in subzero conditions, remaining for forty minutes until the condensation from his breath formed a thin layer of ice. When he repeated the act on the frozen surface of Lake Houhai, an artificial lake in Beijing, the ice remained intact. These performances embodied the conflict between the individual and stronger natural forces.

Song Dong Breathing 1996
- Medium
- Two color transparencies (diptych), two light boxes, printed 2018
- Dimensions
- Each: 61 1/2 × 91" (156.2 × 231.1 cm)
- Credit
- Carl Jacobs Fund
- Object number
- 298.2018.a-b.x1-x2
- Copyright
- © 2021 Song Dong
- Department
- Photography
- Song Dong has 14 works online.
- There are 21,377 photographs online.
Installation views
-
206: Transfigurations Oct 21, 2019–Sep 7, 2020 7 other works identified
-
205: Print, Fold, Send Ongoing 8 other works identified
-
205: Print, Fold, Send Ongoing 7 other works identified
-
205: Print, Fold, Send Ongoing 9 other works identified
-
205: Print, Fold, Send Ongoing 8 other works identified
-
206: Transfigurations Oct 21, 2019–Sep 7, 2020 4 other works identified
-
207: Before and After Tiananmen Oct 21, 2019–Sep 7, 2020 10 other works identified
-
207: Assembly Ongoing 2 other works identified
-
207: Assembly Ongoing 1 other work identified
In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.
If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
All requests to license audio or video footage produced by MoMA should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in MoMA’s Film Collection cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. For access to motion picture film stills please contact the Film Study Center. More information is also available about the film collection and the Circulating Film and Video Library.
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].