Even at its most fundamental level, Song Dong’s Waste Not is extraordinary, a collection of more than 10,000 items collected by his late mother from toothpaste tubes to toys, bowls to blankets. But delve a little deeper and it’s so much more than that – a commentary on people’s remarkable resourcefulness in times of socio-political upheaval and an existential elegy to what remains after we’re gone. As with every new iteration of this project, Song’s family came together to create the new show at The Barbican, and every inch of it is alive with memories, emotions and unknown stories – it’s compelling, moving and important.
The show runs until June.
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Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.