《宋冬》的展览名称是对艺术家的名字直接进行引用，因为在宋冬看来“艺术等于生活”，艺术家试图通过展览呈现自己在当下社会环境下对于生活和艺术的态度。通过对日常生活细节的关注，把艺术作品做小、做细以达到真正回归平淡和平实的状态。相对于其他艺术家，宋冬总是不愿过多地对自己的作品和艺术思想进行阐释，在他看来“过多的阐释只会限制了观众个人的理解力”，但是这并不削弱宋冬在艺术界内外日益形成的影响力。
宋冬从1988年开始投身当代艺术，他在国内外举办众多个展，参与的群展更是不胜枚举。1996在北京天安门广场以及后海实施行为作品《哈气》；1997年在柏林艺术废墟展出艺术影像装置《拍》；1999年在北京天安门和威尼斯双年展花园实施行为影像作品《跳》，同年参加荷兰“阿姆斯特丹艺术节”；2000年在伦敦Gasworks国际艺术家工作室举办个展《吃盆景》；2003年在法国蓬皮杜艺术中心参加了《间：中国当代艺术展》；2006年参加韩国光州双年展，并荣获2006光州双年展大奖。
有别于现阶段中国大部分当代艺术家的是，其一，宋冬从不急于给自己贴上固定标签，作品形式涉及装置、行为、新媒体、表演等，非常广泛；其二，宋冬往往不愿意给自己的艺术作品加上文字表述，认为这限制了观众个人的理解力。即使到了近几年，当宋冬觉得自己在艺术上的思考越发清晰，就越无法对自己的作品做出简单阐释。他称这种状态为“清晰的模糊”，认为艺术家的责任就是用最清晰的手段告诉观众一件指向模糊、多义、可以由多角度入手解构的事件。
在整个当代艺术中，宋冬的艺术是随意的、日常的、有时是躲在一边不宜发觉的；即使是以大规模《吃城市》的开幕式事件作品的面目出现，作品中“吃”本身的娱乐性和随意性、以及在随后展览期间的消失都以某种方式制造着可以忍受的距离。这个距离不能用东方和西方或传统和现代的差别来解释，它是当代生活日常性以及由这种日常性所产生的对当代生活的正当性的要求之间的差别所形成的。当代艺术的全球化正在把这种距离变成一种常识，而不易被表现的“隐形式”也成为一种当代的表现方式。如果说宋冬的艺术是躲在一边的，那么“躲”在当下却是意味深长的。?
在当代艺术急剧膨胀的今天，艺术的形式以及对待艺术的形式和态度都已发生的巨大的变化。宋冬的艺术基本上从艺术的形式转变为对待艺术的形式，在这种转变中，艺术家个人的经历、文化和生活扮演了极其重要的角色。宋冬的艺术与其说是对外展现的艺术，毋宁认为是自我的一种修养。在宋冬的意识里，艺术是留下的，不是刻意制造的。在《宋冬到此面壁》中，他这样写到：“很久很久以前，达摩从印度到了中国，理由是——禅；很久很久以后，宋冬从中国到了印度，理由是——艺术；达摩不会中国话，闭嘴面壁十年，壁留下了他的影；宋冬不会印度话，闭嘴面壁十天，壁留下了艺术。”宋冬重新把“看”的艺术植入进“看”之外的场景里。普通但很重要。
The artist’s name, Song Dong, has been used as the title of the exhibition. In Song’s view, art is life. He intends to share with audience his views toward life and art through the exhibition. With meticulous attention to details of daily life, Song tends to make his art works smaller and more exquisite. Compared with many other artists, Song seems quite reluctant to give explanation of his works and his thoughts behind them. As far as he’s concerned, "too much explanation would restrain people’s power of perception." Nevertheless, this would not affect the increasing influence and reputation of Song Dong in the art field.
Song Dong has been engaged in contemporary art since 1988. So far, he has held many solo exhibitions both in China and abroad and participated in numerous group exhibitions. In 1996, he gave his performance Breathing at Tian’Anmen Square and Houhai Lake in Beijing. In the next year, his video installation, Slap, was put on display at Ruins for Arts in Berlin. In 1999, the performance video Jump was shown at both Beijing Tian"Anmen Square and Venice. In addition, he also participated in the Amsterdam Fest in the same year. His solo exhibition Eating Pen Jing (Bonsai) was held in Gasworks International Art Studio, London, in 2000. Three years later, he participated in Alors la Chine: Chinese Contemporary Art, which was held in Center Pompidou. Moreover, he won the Grand Award of Gwangju Biennale in 2006.
What distinguishes Song Dong from many other contemporary Chinese artists can be concluded as follows: 1. Song is never eager to label himself as a certain type of artist. His works cover a wide range, from installation, performance to new media and art shows. 2. Song is not willing to give too much explanation about his works. In his view, this will restrain people’s power of perception. Song sticks to this point of view even more since he has found out in recent years that the clearer his ideas are, the harder he can explain them. Such a state is exactly what he calls "clear vagueness". In Song’s view, an artist’s duty is to tell the audience something vague, undefined, and can be interpreted from multiple perspectives in a clear way.
In the entire realm of contemporary art, Song Dong’s art is personal and quotidian. Sometimes it seems to hide in a corner, unwilling to be discovered. Even in a large-scale opening-event work like "Edible City," the fundamental entertainment of the "eating", its plasticity, its eventual and inevitable disappearance-all conspire to engender a kind of endurable distance. This distance cannot be framed in terms of East and West or tradition and modernity. It is formed by difference between the quotidian nature of everyday life and the exacting requirements on contemporary life produced by this quotidianness. The globalization of contemporary art is turning this distance into a universally understood feeling, as the ineffable "hidden forms" similarly become yet another mode of contemporary expression. If we say that Song Dong’s art is hiding in a corner, then the "hiding" itself is extremely meaningful.
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