Tong Kunniao's 'Art Trash' Installation at Platform China Explores Artistic Self-Doubt

Tong Kunniao installed a 3.5-meter-high silver metal dustbin titled 'Art Trash' (2017) outside Platform China in Beijing's 798 Art District, running from 24 December to 31 March. The overflowing bin, accessible via a small door, contains salvaged objects like miniature cardboard sculptures, painted toilet paper in shan shui style, fluorescent lighting tubes, and noisy mechanized harmonica constructions, sourced from dumps, secondhand markets, or online due to Beijing's government-led cleanup. Inside, animated video projections show falling poo, while walls allow visitor graffiti, often rude or raunchy. The work is continuously supplemented with new items, including mysterious additions like a bicycle frame and cardboard coffee cups affixed overnight, and features an adjacent workshop where yellow surgical waste bins hold pieces priced from RMB5 to RMB50 for visitors to purchase and create miniature works to install in the bin. Tong has a history of engaging with dustbins, having once climbed into one and been wheeled around an exhibition opening to deliver a speech. The installation reflects his anxieties about his art's quality and purpose, yet maintains a fun, unserious tone reminiscent of his student waste-object creations. While not original in recycling rubbish, it transmits exuberant excitement, akin to a trashy wunderkammer, inviting parallels to Renaissance curiosity cabinets as Tong explores his artistic role.