Song Dong, a leading figure in Chinese contemporary art, uses video, photography, and performance to reflect on history, memory, and personal freedom. Following China’s crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Song Dong photographed himself lying prone in Tiananmen Square, breathing onto the cobblestones. His now iconic Breathing (1996)—part of the Smart Museum’s permanent collection—is banned from exhibition in his home country, as are many of his other major works. Song Dong joined undergraduates from the Art History Department and the Center for the Art of East Asia to discuss his art and what motivates his acts of creative expression.
Song Dong on Chinese Protest Art in the 1990s