Song Dong: Same Bed, Difference Dreams, Pace Gallery

Chinese artist Song Dong is fascinated by the fleeting nature of things. Inspired in part by the rapid modernisation of China, of the destruction of the old and the building of entirely new cities, he works with materials that reflect the transient nature of life.

‘Some cities have been built from scratch in 20 years,’ he said in 2006. ‘My city will be built of sweets and biscuits. When we are eating the city we are using our desire to taste it, but at the same time, we are demolishing it and turning it into ruins.’

This autumn, and coinciding with Frieze week, a survey of Song Dong’s work will go on display at Pace Gallery in Burlington Gardens, Mayfair. The exhibition will include works from 1995 to the present day, most notably, perhaps, a city made from biscuits, which visitors are invited to consume.

But Dong’s installation Different Dreams on the Same Bed No.3, a work made up of discarded materials found in Beijing, is set to take centre stage. It will consist of a cubicle of sorts, constructed from coloured windowpanes and visitors will be able peer inside to look at the contents, the hanging lights, crockery and household knick-knacks, fragments of lives from a city many thousands of miles away.

Through his art, Dong is commenting on our modern ways, our throw-away societies and the impermanence of all things. This exhibition promises to be fun and thought-provoking in equal measure, not to mention quite the talking point.