Song Dong: Soul Out

From 23 October 2026 to 27 June 2027, the MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale in Turin presents Song Dong. Soul Out, the first solo exhibition in Italy dedicated to the artist Song Dong (Beijing, 1966). Curated by Li Zhenhua and Davide Quadrio, with Francesca Filisetti and Rebecca Ricci, the site-specific project spans the entire museum, bringing the artist’s works into dialogue with its permanent collections and the historic architecture of Palazzo Mazzonis.

Featuring key installations, photographs and videos documenting performances from the 1990s to the present, the exhibition traces over thirty years of artistic practice, exploring the relationship between personal memory, collective history and social change. Influenced by Taoist and Buddhist thought and international artistic movements, Song Dong uses everyday materials, repetition and transformation to reflect on time, impermanence and human experience.

Highlights include Waste Not, an installation comprising more than 10,000 everyday objects accumulated by the artist’s mother, which examines memory, accumulation, production and consumption, and Touching My Father and My Daughter is my Four Seasons, which explore family relationships. Borrow Light, a participatory installation made with lamps lent by local residents, uses light, mirrors and reflections to explore the relational nature of existence. The exhibition also features Eating the City, a performance in which visitors consume urban landscapes made from sweets and biscuits, reflecting on the cycles of growth and transformation in contemporary cities.

The programme is accompanied by Evolving Soundscapes, a series of music and performance events curated by Chiara Lee and freddie Murphy, as well as talks, screenings and workshops. A bilingual catalogue in Italian and English will accompany the exhibition. The project continues the MAO’s exploration of its permanent collections through contemporary art, with audiovisual content also available in Italian Sign Language (LIS).