Song Dong 36 Calendars Exhibition 

Last Saturday we went to the Song Dong 36 Calendars Exhibition in Quarry Bay. It was an art project in a calendar style recorded Song Dong's personal perspectives rather than objective and precise memories of the past. The calendars are in style of traditional hanging calendars, they represented their significant position in the past and contrast to the modern world. Hanging calendar is one of my favourite traditional decorations. When I first got in the exhibition, I felt strongly related to the theme and I was very impressed - there were 864 calendars there!

The place of the exhibition was quite spacey. I love how they put the original calendars on the wall and display the rest (edited ones) in the middle of the room. It used the space efficiently but it wouldn't make us feel oppressive.

I like how Song Dong paid attention to minor daily matters and brought them in the calendars. This postman repeated the same actions every hour/day but probably most of the people did not notice that.

This drawing recorded how Song Dong fixed his relationship with his dad. It was one of the most important moments in his life.

Song Dong drew the famous artwork by Damien Hirst (he is one of my favourite artists!) in the calendar of August 2007. He commented on the controversy of the artwork sarcastically.

One of my favourite sketch from Song Dong. In April 2011, Ai Weiwei got arrested by the government.
The annotation was very sarcastic by questioning "Where is Ai Weiwei? He disappeared!". Song Dong  used the art to mock the corrupted political issue in China.






I am very impressed by Song Dong's project. His sketches are very simple yet detailed. His work includes social and political issues, individual experience and sarcasm.  I like he added annotations of his feelings for each event which bring out the collective memories and reflection for us. It added meanings on the plain drawings.

I love the idea that the public can involve in this project and let everyone express their own thoughts on the particular issues the calendars. It created a greater interaction between the artist himself and the public. It allowed the participants created another level of interpretation. All calendars were interpreted in unique ways, some were abstract, some were plain, some were colourful. Surprisingly, when they were put together in the same area, they merged with each other well even they had different styles. It was like a diversity in our society. Different people have different personalities and style, but we still get on well in the society.

The artist chose to cross out all the squares and put colours in the sketch. It created contrast of the calendar.

The calendar was full of passionate kisses!

I like the colour which blended and dropped  from the top  on the calendar. This  work created a soft  and delightful feeling.

This is one of my favourite edited calendar. The artist used black watercolour to cover the whole page. It is more abstract in a sense of expression. I like the artist expressed himself radically to evoke his moods on this calendar.

This was a mixed media artwork. The artist put some  ash on the calendar. I am not very sure the meaning of it but I like the way of expression.

This artist chose to tear a part of the calendar

This artist chose to write A LOT intensively in this calendar. Compare to other calendars, this one is relatively plain. The artist tried to express the messages by words rather than picture/colour. 

This drawing reminds me of my childhood - watching Japanese cartoon everyday.

This artist used a more creative way to express himself. He tore the calendar and rolled it.

This exhibition is, by far, my favourite contemporary art exhibition in Hong Kong. I felt strongly connected with the themes that Song Dong mentioned and I got some deep thoughts when I was looking at his work. He brought out some old memories of us and caught our emotions. The public involvement was definitely a highlight of this exhibition. I was so glad I can enjoy unique artwork from 433 artists (including Song Dong, of course) in one exhibition. It inspired me a lot on the way of expression and interpretation of different artwork. I really wish in the future I would have the chance to involve in Song Dong's artwork!