WU SONG DI: A SOLO EXHIBITION, 2027

2017, Multimedia and Cross-genre

Brief Life Story of the Fictional Artist, WU SONG DI (1):

Wu Song Di was born on December 8, 1979 in Nanking, China. He was raised in Tokyo, where he went to college for digital arts courses. Wu Song Di attended the Royal College of Arts in London for graduate studies in 2000. There he began making critical and interactive works. He returned to China at 26 when he had his first solo exhibition in Shanghai. As a result of his success, he was invited over the course of two years to countries all over the world. There he exhibited work and was invited to do guest lectures. Throughout his life Wu Song Di devoted himself to the idea of human identity. His work addressed multiple issues concerning individuality and community, collectivity and isolation, living and dying; he did this by applying a wide variety of media.

2017, Multimedia and Cross-genre

Brief Life Story of the Fictional Artist, WU SONG DI (2):

Since 2007, WU SONG DI established his base on Little Diomede Island starting his 10-Year Project, consisting of one happening per year for 10 years, the sum of which compiled one performance. Immediately afterward, with his consent, a friend of his exhibited his last work 100 Dying Men at the Pace Gallery in New York. He was not in attendance during the exhibition opening, and in 2017 Wu Song Di officially vanished from existence. His residence on Little Diomede Island was left empty without a trace of his presence. His death was announced by the Chinese government in 2021 after missing for four years, the legal duration that an individual can be considered dead by law in China, yet controversy over it still remains today in 2027.

WU SONG DI
Chinese, 1979-2017(?)
Variations based on a mask made by Kathleen Carlo Chromomaskist
Prints, 1999 

WU SONG DI

Chinese, 1979-2017(?)

You Look at Me Like I Am Not Speaking English

Text Installation, 2002

[Selection of the text]:

That’s been said, the essence of human culture is, in fact, a form of falsehood. Art, science, and language are all the faked and artificial sets of human impressions and memories. //

The central living way that humans should apply could be considered actually a state of being, instead of chasing after a fixed purpose of values that is defined by our structure education system. It is a state of being reacting to the structural education and institutional limitations. //

The end of December, it was almost severe winter already, yet sadly no glittering crystals showed up in the sky after all. That feeling was like swallowing a brick of dry ice, chilling me to the bone but no moisture to ease. Followed by both excitement and dizziness, that feeling burned my throat. //

It is the tail of summer already.

WU SONG DI

Chinese, 1979-2017(?)

You Look at Me Like I Am Not Speaking English

Text Installation, 2002

[The trash can is a part of the piece, full of assigned readings WU SONG DI has received during his study in UK.]

Image of the entire exhibition, Room Gallery

The tickets for entering the exhibition.

(Audiences must take one with them in order to enter the exhibition.)

WU SONG DI

Chinese, 1979-2017(?)

Collaboration with British Chinese artist Able Zhang

Selfies in Nine-Unit Grid (Selection)

Performative Video Installation, 2004

2017, Multimedia and Cross-genre

Introduction of 10-Year Project (1):

In 2007, WU SONG DI announced his ten-year performance project which was described as follows:

“I, WU SONG DI, will be performing my 10-Year Project from January 1st, 2007 to December 31st, 2016. During these ten years, I shall be living on Little Diomede Island of Bering Strait without any human interaction. Let me clarify, I shall not have any conversations with any individuals or entities from the outside of the island. I shall be staying on the island constantly with one exception: I shall be having only one performance per year in various parts of the world and coming back to Little Diomede Island immediately afterwards. Besides that, I shall not make any form of art publicly or make it published in any institution. Regardless, I will be constantly doing one performance per year for next 10 years until this project is finished at the end of 2016.”

(On the left)

WU SONG DI

100 Dying Men

Slideshow and Prints, 2017

2017, Multimedia and Cross-genre

WU SONG DI

Chinese, 1979-2017(?)

Long-term project with a regulation of one performance per year 10-Year Project Performance, 2007-2016

From the right to the left,

Photo of Nōkanshi, 2008

Photo of Before Dinner, 2013

Photo documentation of WU SONG DI’s residence on Little Diomede Island, Current (2027)

Introduction of 10-Year Project (2):

Two of his most well-known performances are Nōkanshi (2008) in Aomori, Japan and Before Dinner (2013) in Jeju Island, South Korea. In the former, he served as a ritual mortician in a local village. During this performance, he cleaned 100 dead bodies, dressed them up, and applied makeup to them. In his latter performance, he went door-to-door at a time where families on the island were preparing their meals. He proceeded to persuade 100 families to donate any live fishes or other seafood to him in lieu of eating them. Wu Song Di returned those creatures to the ocean, yet most have already died before reaching their “natural habitats.”

WU SONG DI

Chinese, 1979-2017(?)

100 Dying Men

Slideshow and Prints, 2017

Detail of the prints part that audiences can take one as they please.

WU SONG DI

Chinese, 1979-2017(?)

Departures

Incense Sculpture, Undated (Constantly Burning)