Chinese contemporary artist Song Dong has gained international recognition for his monumental installations that combine mirrors, lights, and household furnishings to create luminous, immersive experiences. His interdisciplinary practice spans performance, sculpture, painting, video, and calligraphy, consistently exploring themes of memory, transition, and the temporary nature of human existence.

Song's work often examines personal and collective experiences through unexpected materials and formats. In one notable series of installations and performances, he constructed tabletop arrangements resembling metropolitan skylines using edible treats. These sweet constructions were gradually dismantled piece by piece—or "biscuit by biscuit"—as visitors passed by. While playful and colorful on the surface, these works address deeper themes from Song's childhood experiences of food scarcity alongside broader concepts of impermanence and globalization.

One of his most significant works, "Waste Not" (2009), was initially exhibited at Beijing Tokyo Art Projects before traveling to major institutions across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany. This installation-performance incorporated more than 10,000 items that Song's mother had collected over five decades. According to Pace Gallery, which represents the artist, the work "became an act of physical and psychological unpacking." Visitors encountered what the gallery described as "a veritable landscape of commodities," including bottle caps, shoes, blankets, toothpaste tubes, metal pots, and toys.

Song's creative process involves sourcing materials directly from Beijing's streets, collecting discarded furniture, architectural elements, and everyday objects. Through the use of old wooden windows, bed frames, doors, mirrors, lamps, color-coated glass, porcelain, and other found objects, he composes elaborate structural installations. These works evoke what observers describe as "dreamy notions of home, belonging, security, and migration" while exploring the complex relationships between memory and reality, humor and trauma.

As Pace Gallery explains, "These collaged remnants of people's homes carry with them the history of a city and the lives of its people." When viewers peer into these installations, they become voyeurs, imagining the homes and stories of former owners while potentially identifying shared experiences and contemplating future possibilities.

Currently featured in the 36th São Paulo Biennial, Song's work appears alongside ambitious installations by dozens of international artists. His specially commissioned piece "Borrow Light" (2025) takes the form of a mirrored environment filled with lamps that reflect from every surface, creating an effect similar to Yayoi Kusama's famous Infinity Mirror Rooms. The installation transforms the exhibition space into what the biennial describes as "a participatory experience, where visitors' movements are reflected and illuminated throughout the space."

The concept of "borrowing" holds particular significance for Song, who considers it in terms of its inherent temporality. He positions borrowing as an ethos for understanding humanity's brief time on Earth, whether considering individual life cycles or the presence of humans over millions of evolutionary years. According to exhibition materials, Song draws inspiration from both carnival houses of mirrors and traditional Chinese feng shui practices that use mirrors and windows to expand interior spaces by incorporating the external world.

"Borrow Light" includes chairs and lamps borrowed from private homes, providing spaces for rest and contemplation within the mirrored environment. The biennial's exhibition statement notes that by "playing with fluid elements such as light, reflection, and illusion, Song's installation immerses the audience into an infinite universe, where our images and minds become entwined in a silvery, glowing light."

Another significant work in Song's portfolio is "A Quarter" (2021-2024), an interactive installation combining steel, mirrors, collected daily objects and furniture from different households, lighting fixtures, small stools, and carpets. Like his other works, this piece transforms everyday materials into a contemplative space that invites viewers to consider themes of domesticity, memory, and shared human experience.

Song Dong's installations continue to resonate with international audiences by transforming discarded materials into profound meditations on memory, impermanence, and our interconnected human experience. His work demonstrates how art can transform the ordinary and forgotten into spaces for reflection and connection, making the temporary nature of life both visible and meaningful.