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
- © 2024 Song Dong
- Department
- Photography
- Song Dong has 14 works online.
- There are 28,794 photographs online.
Installation views
We have identified these works in the following photos from our exhibition history.
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207: Before and After Tiananmen
Fall 2019–Fall 2020
2 other works identified
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205: Print, Fold, Send
Fall 2019—Spring 2022
8 other works identified
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206: Transfigurations
Fall 2019–Fall 2020
4 other works identified
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205: Print, Fold, Send
Fall 2019—Spring 2022
7 other works identified
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205: Print, Fold, Send
Fall 2019—Spring 2022
8 other works identified
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206: Transfigurations
Fall 2019–Fall 2020
7 other works identified
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207: Before and After Tiananmen
Fall 2019–Fall 2020
1 other work identified
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207: Before and After Tiananmen
Fall 2019–Fall 2020
10 other works identified
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205: Print, Fold, Send
Fall 2019—Spring 2022
9 other works 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.
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