The Fourth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

SONG DONG- THE DIARY KEEPER Every day since 1995 Song Dong has used a calligraphy brush dipped in water to write a diary on a block of stone. Evaporating brushstrokes are methodically painted one on top of the other, over and over again, on the same impassive surface.The text appears momentarily before vanishing and being replaced by the next fluid characters. In a recent publication Song Dong refers to Writing diary with water as an ongoing 'private and personal event', a description that points to the essence of much of his practice. 1 The artist sets aside time each day to think about life and living, and to let such thoughts dissolve through the water that flows from his brush. The contemplative nature of this process transforms it into an act of meditation. Song Dong has practised calligraphy since childhood; his water diary project had its origins in those early days, when Song's father encouraged him to 'write' in water on stone because the family could not afford ink and paper. His intent as an artist is fundamentally iconoclastic - to disrupt categories, media hierarchies and bureaucratic as well as aesthetic expectations - and yet these 'political' goals are achieved more often than not through works of art that are uncommonly intimate. Diaries serve a number of purposes, from keeping track of appointments to the documentation of events over time. They can be used to trigger memories or to reflect on ideas, emotions and reactions. The defining character of a diary, however, must surely be its self-confessional and innately private nature; diaries contain information relating to an individual - information that is written down rather than shared. Nevertheless w ith conventional diarising there is an inherent chance of disclosure; an awareness, on some level, that another person may at some time read what is initially written in secret. History is partly made of such discoveries. As Song says, 'You might not think about this generally but during the diary writing process consider that someone else might be reading this someday. Since considering this I stopped writing a traditional diary'. Song Dong is not prepared to take the risk.Through his invisible journal, the artist continues to engage in the process of diary– keeping, comfortable in the knowledge that his thoughts will not be revealed. His diary can never be read. It can never offer up its contents, except to the writer, through the screen of his own memory. What is written cannot be retrieved. The words literally and metaphysically disappear. 96 APT2002 Writing diary with water 1995-present Four colour photographs, ed. 11/12 40 x 60cm each Collection: The artist Song Dong China b.1966 Stamping the water (detail) 1996 36 colour photographs, ed. 1/4 120 x 80cm each Collection: The artist