The Amazing Things You Find In An Old House

As you might have wrongly interpreted the title of this post as being about the range of junk items in my house, a theme rather over-mentioned in blogs in my opinion, I'll start off by saying that it's not. It's actually about a rather unusual and interesting art exhibition I went to see recently, Waste Not by the Chinese artist Song Dong, exhibited at the Barbican Centre's Curve Gallery. Actually a collaboration between Song Dong and his mother, the exhibition consists of all the things Song Dong's mother hoarded because of the social turmoil causing difficulties in purchasing anything new. Song Dong's mother, Zhao Xiangyuan, would keep everything from old-fashioned hot water bottles and thermos flasks to old tubes of toothpaste and bars of soap, just in case they would somehow come in handy in the future, and as a result there are huge collections of things that most households would only have one or two of, such as plastic bottles and rucksacks. Perhaps one of the most memorable parts of the exhibition is the impressive shoe collection, with rows and rows of different types of footwear ranging from high-heeled courts and little red baby shoes to Wellingtons. It's very enjoyable to spend an hour or so wandering around Waste Not, for not only does it open your eyes to what it must have been like living in a house with this plethora of household goods crammed into it, there are quirky surprises hidden around every corner. Aside from the fore-mentioned shoe collection, some of the more humorous parts of the exhibition include various animal-shaped hats and bags, unappealing brown soap resembling caramel, a battered Etch-a-Sketch and, the highlight for me, a range of larger-sized cuddly toys and dolls, that had definitely seen better days and are now placed upside down, residing sadly on a heap of cardboard boxes! And there may be even more surprises yet to be discovered, and who knows what you'll discover if and when you see Waste Not.

                    - DP :)
                    P.S. If you see anything else funny at Waste Not, don't hesitate to comment!

Just some of Waste Not's fizzy drink bottles

                   

Zhao Xiangyuan's old toothpaste tube hoarding

An interesting way of arranging a multitude of plastic bags - none of these images are mine