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UPDATE – Doing things differently: museum buys artists’ future works as well as their past oeuvre of digital art – which is freely available online
Deal by Hong Kong’s M+ museum of visual culture to prepay for work Korea-based duo have not even conceived yet is unheard of, and has raised eyebrows, but its director says no other artists working online can boast their longevity and relevance
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Hong Kong’s M+ museum of visual culture sets out to be a museum unlike any other.
Beyond its unusual, multidisciplinary focus on all things Asian and visual and its tortuous construction saga, Hong Kong’s future cultural landmark in the West Kowloon Cultural District has made some pretty controversial acquisitions. In 2015, it bought a complete sushi bar in Tokyo. This week, it announced the acquisition of all existing and future works by a South Korean duo who make art, mostly online, that is freely accessibly on their own website.
80 years of Southeast Asian art and design in new Hong Kong show
The mysterious Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (YHCHI), founded in 1999 by Young-hae Chang and Marc Voge, are best known for their short, text-only animations that resemble flashing billboards accompanied by punchy soundtracks. The words directly address the audience on a range of contemporary issues in a tone that is at times sombre but mostly irreverent and tongue-in-cheek (as you can tell from titles such as this, on a work from 2003).
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Recognised as pioneers of internet art, they have been included in a number of major museum exhibitions around the world, and the Tate’s Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee bought three of their works in 2011.
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But there is nothing like the M+ deal.
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