Feminist YouTuber Mak Ying-tung on challenging Damien Hirst, braving an open mic, and addressing serious issues in her signature ‘fun and crazy’ way
- Mak Ying-tung says her art doesn’t have to be taken seriously, despite the fact it reads as a social experiment or commentary
- In her latest video series, the Hong Kong artist conveys humour both through the awkwardness of the encounter and her delivery – she aspires to stand-up comedy
Hong Kong artist Mak Ying-tung’s latest YouTube series, Single Life, may at first appear to be a form of break-up therapy, but the idea was born more of a desire to be productive during a self-imposed coronavirus lockdown.
“One day I napped for way too long, woke up and had the urge to create something. I recently ended a relationship, and thought this was a great time to get back out there,” says the 30-year-old artist, who goes by the name Mak Ying Tung 2 in the art world because a fortune-teller once told her the “2” would bring her fame and fortune.
She called up a primary-school classmate whom she hadn’t spoken to in at least 10 years, and decided to ask him out and film the whole date.
“I was really nervous when I called initially,” recalls Mak, “but more excited and curious about what the outcome would be.”
The awkwardness of the situation makes her video both compelling and humorous; this is conveyed not only through their spontaneous conversation, but also through her delivery – essentially a performance.
This playful aspect is an extension of Mak’s personality, but may derive something from her early drama studies and her lifelong ambition to be a stand-up comedian. Before the coronavirus hit Hong Kong, Mak took part in an open mic stand-up comedy event, an experience she found liberating and affirming.
“It’s a way to test your jokes. Anyone can go up – even if you’re not sure about yourself or how your jokes will play out – and I find that freeing. It’s an experiment of jokes. I knew it was possible to do social experiments and experiment with art, but never thought it was possible with jokes.”
Her YouTube channel serves as an outlet for this unrealised passion, but also fits well into the context of her artistic practice.
“If people want to conceptualise [the channel] as an artwork, I’m happy to do so. But that certainly wasn’t my intention when I started it,” says Mak, a graduate of City University of Hong Kong.
“Everything I do is for fun,” she says, and plays down allusions to darker themes running through her work.
Represented by the de Sarthe Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang, Mak has shown her work locally and internationally – in the American city of Dallas, in London, and in Beijing.
Much of her work has a feminist undertone, including videos posted on her YouTube channel.
“Why do they have to be the standard of what’s considered to be great art?” Mak asks.
Is she a provocateur? Perhaps. There is always an element of playful subversion in her works, especially ones that she produced as part of ComeInsde, a collective Mak formed with artist Wong Ka-ying.
In 2016 the artists produced a video, suggestive in name and nature, that explores the fetishisation of female sexuality, All My Love. The duo stage sexually suggestive and satirical scenes, characterised by a sickeningly sweet pink aesthetic, that leave viewers discomfited.
Fake Laugh (2018-19), shown last year at the de Sarthe Gallery as part of Mak’s solo exhibition “Home Sweet Home”, and comprising TV screens depicting the artist’s friends and family laughing, evokes a similar feeling of unease.
Fake Laugh stemmed from the idea of asking her gallerist to fake laughter, says Mak. Eventually the forced laughter became real, to the extent that someone’s laughter turned into tears. The artist asks: “Was she ever fake laughing? Or was it just our perception?”
So how much should we read into her art?
“My aim is not to educate. When I started out, I tried to be educational. But I realised, when you try to educate people, they don’t really listen. It’s like preaching or lecturing. So now I think more about entertaining through doing something fun and crazy,” Mak says. “Well, it’s fun and crazy for me.”
“But people can take what they want from it. Also I think I sound funny when I try to sound intellectual,” she adds, and bursts into laughter.
