“We’re lucky dogs,” commented the pair of internet artists about the historic deal.

M+, Hong Kong’s new museum of visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District, has announced the acquisition of the complete body of work of YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, a digital artist duo based in Seoul. In a globally unprecedented move, M+ has also acquired the rights to any future pieces produced by the artists for as long as they continue to make new work and present projects internationally. This enhances the strength and diversity of the M+ Collections, which consist of design and architecture, moving image, and visual art works.

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES: THE COMPLETE WORKS (YHCHANG.COM/AP2), acquired by M+, is an archive of all of the artists’ works, including the text-based animations published on their website, www.yhchang.com. It also contains hundreds of gallery installations, lecture performances, and drafts, as well as alternative and translated versions of artworks, some of which have never been published or exhibited before. This extraordinary archive will be updated twice each year and will be made available to future visitors to M+, on-site and on demand.

South Korean artist Young-Hae Chang and American artist Marc Voge established YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES in 1999, and were among the first artists to use the internet as a platform for artistic experimentation. Their deceptively simple text-based computer animations, synchronised with original music, cross boundaries and disciplines, combining moving image art, music, poetry, graphic design, and web design.

Suhanya Raffel, Executive Director of M+, underscores the importance of the acquisition: “The M+ Collections have always been at the heart of the institution. They embody M+’s mission of being a global, multidisciplinary museum of twentieth- and twenty-first-century visual culture, where digital culture is absolutely integral. No other artists working online can boast the longevity and continued relevance of YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, making them undeniably worthy of this high-profile position in the M+ Collections.”

Doryun Chong, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of M+, emphasises the cross-disciplinary significance of the artists’ work and the unique collaborative nature of the acquisition: “YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES’ groundbreaking oeuvre is an excellent fit for M+, a new museum of contemporary visual culture located in Asia, where the largest number of netizens reside, and where most innovations for the future are born. We are extremely proud to be investing in the life’s work of YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, the trailblazer of internet art. YHCHANG.COM/AP2 will function as a crucial anchor in the M+ Collections, and our commitment to their work is practiced through ongoing collaboration with the artists and caretaking of the archive that continues to grow.”

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES says: “We’re lucky dogs.”

For details on programming, please visit www.westkowloon.hk/mplusmatters.