Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen have been active figures in the field of contemporary Chinese art since the 1990s. As a well-known artist couple within the art world, they maintain separate studios and pursue independent practices without interfering in each other’s work. Their first collaboration in 2002 took the form of the exhibition Chopsticks Way, which subsequently evolved into a distinctive working and collaborative method that the two artists have continued to develop over more than two decades.

Prior to each Chopsticks Way project, Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen agree on a set of basic parameters and requirements. They then work separately and in secrecy, only revealing their respective outcomes to one another on the eve of the exhibition opening. This working dynamic mirrors the nature of chopsticks themselves: useless when separated, yet capable of almost anything when paired together. The subtle relationship between individual difference and collective action embodied in Chopsticks Way resonates closely with the core concerns of public art practices, such as those explored within large-scale land art festivals.

At this year’s festival, Yin Xiuzhen and Song Dong revisited the Chopsticks Way methodology by reconfiguring an old house in Yannan Village, Jiujiang Town. Through this spatial reconstruction, they extended the concept into a gesture of hospitality, joining the local community in the shared banquet Nanhai 24 Dishes.

So Figaro engaged Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen in conversation around this work.