Writing Time with Water Beijing

Born in Beijing in 1966, Song Dong is one of the most important behavioral artists in China. Song is in favor of taking the emerge and disappearance of water and air as metaphor for the uncertainty in Daoism and the presence of Zen. The signature works are Stamping Water and Breathing. Another theme of his creation is the conversation with his beloved parents. Also, the works contain his reflection and reminisce about the gradual erosion of past Beijing under rapid city development.

Song likes to write on stones with brush and water since he was a child. He enjoys writing, and he is rather fascinated by the evaporation of water and the slow process for words to disappear. Writing Time with Water Beijing arises from his thinking about the essence of time. With a brush dipped into the water, Song wrote down the detailed time of the creating moment in the alleys of Beijing. The written numbers  in water always evaporate instantly to the air. The alley, which is like a tunnel of time, accentuates the fact that no matter how people live their lives, the time will “passes on just like the water, not ceasing day or night” as Confucius said. 

All the labor in life seems to be in vain. All the writing will disappear, however, the unrestraint and freedom of the moment will exist beyond physical form.