Song Dong was born in Beijing in 1966. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Capital Normal University in 1989 and now lives and works in Beijing. As one of the most internationally influential artists, Song Dong’s distinctive artistic language is rooted in his open-ended practice and permeated with Eastern philosophies, garnering him wide attention and acclaim in the art world. Since the early 1990s, Song has been actively engaged in the development of Chinese contemporary art with numerous groundbreaking event-based art activities. He practices with diverse media spanning performance, video, installation, photography, conceptual painting, and theater, and has participated in exhibition and event curations. He specializes in utilizing folkloric and mundane language in everyday life and culture to create inclusive dialogues under globalization, seamlessly synthesizing profound ideas with sensual experiences. Song’s work discusses the relationship between life and art through an Eastern lens and explores the transient nature of the human condition, practicing his art and living his life with the idea of "no boundaries."
Song Dong has participated in numerous important international art exhibitions including Documenta13 (2012), Venice Biennale (2011), the Sao Paulo Biennale (2004), the Gwangju Biennale (2006, 2002, 1995). His solo exhibitions were held at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Groninger Museum (Groningen), the Kunsthalle (Hamburg), the Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai) among others. Song has won awards including the Grand Award presented by the Artron Art China (AAC) Video and Installation Artist of the Year (2017), the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) for Outstanding Achievement (2014), the Power 100 of Chinese Contemporary Art: Artist of the Year (2012) and the Gwangju Biennale (2006). His works are collected by important museums and art institutions such as Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Tate Modern (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris), M+ (Hong Kong), and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing), among other important museums and art institutions.
