A Bite of Everywhere: Song Dong’s Eating the City
By Mimi Wong
Participants nosh on cookies and wafers next to toppled buildings as part of SONG DONG’s
The struggle for self-restraint was evident in both curious adults and impatient children alike, their eyes and appetites appraising towers of neatly stacked chocolate and vanilla wafers, pristine rivers of bright blue frosting lined with piped, green trees—all of which awaited the inevitable fate forewarned by the title of Song Dong’s installation, Eating the City. Since 2003, the work has traveled around the globe, from Barcelona to London to Nepal to Shanghai. Hosted by Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, this American iteration of the Beijing artist’s recurring installation and performance materialized as part of Asia Contemporary Art Week, co-presented with the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation’s inaugural Creative China Festival.
