Bio

 

Mak2 aka Mak Ying Tung 2 (b. 1989, Hong Kong) is a conceptual artist. Her work contemplates 21st-century issues through the study of philosophy, art history, culture, shifting socio-political environments, the Internet, and new technology. The aesthetic experience she crafts is bound by the dualism of humor and intense inquisitiveness. She creates, installations, paintings, drawings, video work, youtube videos, stand-up comedy routines, and Instagram filters.

Her iconic Home Sweet Home (2019-) series are triptychs on canvas that make use of the popular American life simulation video game “the Sims” and are each painted by three separate painters on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao. She uses "the Sims" as a virtual construction tool for her ideas of both utopia and dystopia in the context of Hong Kong. In the game, she creates bizarre environments such as bedrooms filled with CCTV cameras, lonely millennial hangout spots, and pools on roofs filled with flowers. She takes screen-captures of these digital fantasies and divides the resultant images into thirds. Each third is subsequently painted by a separate painter found on Taobao, who is given as little instruction as possible. Through fracturing the process of production and allowing external factors to intervene in the actualization of her artwork, Mak2’s "Home Sweet Home" series not only elucidates the inevitable disparity between fantasy and reality, but it also crafts a comment on authorship, “copy-cat” culture, and the complex narratives that construct her understanding of home.

Mak2 is also well known for her conceptual installations. Her work You Better Watch Out (2017), was included in an exhibition presented by MoMA PS1 and K11 Art Foundation titled ".com/.cn". Through the use of a giant snow globe, colorful balls, QR codes, and a CCTV camera, the artwork explores the troubling duality between contemporary modes of entertainment and the growth of surveillance states across the globe.

Mak2's artwork has been exhibited internationally in: Mirage or Reality, Shanghai K11 Art Mall, Shanghai, China (2021); The Principle of Hope, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, China (2021); How Do We Begin?, X Museum, Beijing, China (2020), Home Sweet Home, de Sarthe, Hong Kong, China (2019); We Didn't Mean To Break It (But It's Ok, We Can Fix It), Pedro Cera, Lisbon, Portugal (2019); Whatever Works, Whatever It Takes, Goethe-Institut China, Beijing (2019); The Anything Machine, de Sarthe, Beijing, China (2018); Invisible Cities, Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, USA (2017-18); com/.cn - Co-presented by KAF and MoMA PS1, K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai, China (2017-18); Reversal Ritual, de Sarthe, Hong Kong, China (2017); COMEINSIDE: EAT ME, PingPong 129, Hong Kong, China (2017); COMEINSIDE: BABY SHOWER, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong, China (2017); Artists' Film International, Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2016); The Second "CAFAM-Future" Exhibition, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China (2015); Artistic or Autistic - The Seventh

Annual Exhibition, Inside Out Art Museum, Beijing, China (2014); Almost Empty, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong, China (2014); and SOFT OFF: But I love it when your mouth is a little shut, ltd Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA (2013).

Mak 2 lives and works in Hong Kong.

CV

2013 BA (Hons) Creative Media, School of Creative Media, City University of

Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Solo Exhibitions

2021
House of Fortune, de Sarthe, Hong Kong, China

2019
Home Sweet Home, de Sarthe, Hong Kong, China

2018
The Anything Machine, de Sarthe, Beijing, China

2017
COMEINSIDE: EAT ME, PingPong 129, Hong Kong, China

COMEINSIDE: BABY SHOWER, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong, China

2016

Art-It, HOCA Foundation, Hong Kong, China

2014

Almost Empty, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong, China

Fotanian Open Studios, Hong Kong, China

2012 
Funny Stationery, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, Hong Kong, China

Group Exhibitions
2021 Mirage or Reality, Shanghai K11 Art Mall, Shanghai, China (forthcoming)

The Principle of Hope, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, China

Only A Joke Can Save Us, Present Projects, Hong Kong, China

What’s Next?, WOMANBOSS, Hong Kong, China

2020
A’fair, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China

How Do We Begin? – X Museum Triennial 1st Edition, X Museum, Beijing,China

2019
Hot Flows: Pearl River Delta Arts Retrospective, Ox Warehouse, Macau

Whatever Works, Whatever It Takes, Goethe-Institut China, Beijing, China

We Didn’t Mean to Break It (But It’s Ok, We Can Fix It), Pedro Cera, Lisbon,Portugal

2018
Beckoning the Mutation, Club Pro Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

Invisible Cities, Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, USA

.com/.cn – Co-presented by KAF and MoMA PS1, chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2017
Reversal Ritual, de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong, China

Marching in Circles, Long March, Beijing, China

2016
Artists’ Film International, Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom

COME INSIDE Autograph Signings, OCAT, Shenzhen, China

Bori Bunder, Sir JJ College of Art, Mumbai, India

A Man Who Doesn’t Celebrate His Birthday, Clark House Initiative Mumbai, India

Bori Bunder, VT Station Platform B, Mumbai, India

Performance with C&G @ LUNG CHING Game Zone, Cattle Depot Artist Village, Hong Kong, China

Pop-up Shop: Conversations | ruangrupa: Toko Pura-Pura, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, China

Fashion ID, K11, Hong Kong, China

MaD The Free Markerteers Singing Performance with C&G, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong, China

2015
The Second CAFAM-Future Exhibition: Observer・Creator – The Reality

Representation of Chinese Young Art, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

Sparkle! Regarding Lightness: On Life’s Way, Oil Street Art Space, Hong Kong, China

Under the Influence, Floor 5 1/2, Hong Kong, China

After/Image, Studio 52, Hong Kong, China

The Second CAFAM-Future Exhibition: Observer・Creator, K11 Art Mall, Hong Kong, China

Glossy! Shiny! Fertility!, StarProjects, Hong Kong, China

2014
Artistic or Autistic – The Seventh Annual Exhibition, Inside Out Art Museum, Beijing, China

Shampoo Whatever #1, The A-lift Gallery, Hong Kong, China

2013 Regarding Lightness- The Weight of Lightness: Bio-gravity, Oil Street Art Space, Hong Kong, China

BOING!, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, China

SOFT OFF (but I love it when your mouth is a little shut), ltd los angeles, Los Angeles, USA

SCM Annual, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, Hong Kong

2012
Cool Kids, Lane Crawford, Hong Kong, China

Media Art & The Environment : The Desert Metropolis, Run Run Shaw Creative Media

Centre, Hong Kong, China

2011 House of Sound, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, Hong Kong, China

Best Before, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Hong Kong, China

2010 Micro Narratives: Invented Time & Space, Blue Room, Hong Kong, China

Public Collections

Daisuke Miyatsu Collection, Japan

Divide by Zero Art Collection, Hong Kong, China

X Museum, Beijing, China

JPMorgan Chase Collection, USA

Awards

2013 Creative Media Award – School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong,China

Artist Residencies

2016 Bori Bunder @ [En]counters 2016 - Hong Kong X Mumbai Art Exchange

Project, Mumbai, India

2014 Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, China