Wong Wai Yin

Born in Hong Kong in 1981, Wong graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong[1] in 2004, and a Master in Fine Arts from the University of Leeds[1] in 2005. She worked as a project assistant in Asia Art Archive in 2009 on documentation and website project named "Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980-1990".[2] She returned to Asia Art Archive as an artist-in-residence from late 2010 to mid 2011.[2] She was also the Founder of the Observation Society[3] in Guangzhou. She now teaches as a part-time lecturer at the City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.[4] She joined the Department of Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2012.[4]

Wong's works include painting, sculpture, collage, installations and photography. She frequently investigates the nature of what is real or fake, what constitutes art and what does not. Creating emulators, Wong juxtaposes "raw" pieces alongside the original articles, dispelling the notion of an ideal framework, and encouraging viewers to question the nature of authenticity; challenging preconceptions whilst blurring boundaries. Wong has exhibited her works extensively in Hong Kong, as well as showcases in Japan, U.S.A, Singapore and Guangzhou.

Wong is also interested in questions on institutions' inclusion or exclusion of artists and their works in exhibitions and historical documentation. Through her works, she meditated upon the construction of art history and questioned the institutions and systems involved in the process. Her inquiry into the role institution plays in an artist's success is related to her concern over what constitutes an honest artwork, free from the artist's ego and perhaps, free from what was taught by institutions in an artist's life.[2]

Wong's video work titled "Tribute to the Inside Looking Out: For the male artists along my way" created in 2008 is on view in M+. The work is a response to her personal experience of being introduced only as a girlfriend, not an artist, when visiting the exhibition called "Inside Looking Out" at Osage Gallery in Beijing with six male friends, all of whom were her friends from art school. The work depicts a sequence of the six artists appearing on screen one by one, separately. After some time, a stool is launched from off-screen that strikes the head of the artist in the frame. In the video's rolling credits, a male version of the famous Cantonese pop song called "Fragile Woman" by Faye Wong plays in the background. Wong described this work as the only time she had considered feminism in artworks.[5]

Wong currently lives and works in Hong Kong. She is married to artist Kwan Sheung-chi, with whom she has worked on several projects such as "EVERYTHING GOES WRONG FOR THE POOR COUPLE",[6] addressing questions such as "What are Hong Kong's core values?" and "What is art?". The couple has one son together.[7]

• 2011. "Love and Community", Woofer Ten,[13] Hong Kong
• 2010. "Kanyu Weiti Fengshui Weiyong Sculpture Installation", Woofer Ten,[13] Hong Kong
• 2008. "Sun of Beach", Wong Wai Wheel Artspace,[24] Hong Kong

• 2009. "ADC and ACC Artist-in-Residence Fellowship", Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Asian Cultural Council,[25] Hong Kong
• 2004. "The British Chevening Scholarship[26]", Hong Kong Arts Development Council,[25] Hong Kong
• 2003. "Hui's Fine Arts Award", The Art of CUHK 2003, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• 2003. "Cheung's Fine Arts Award", The Art of CUHK 2003, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

• 2011. "From Wong Wai Yin's Collection to the Hong Kong Art Archive[11]", Asia Art Archive,[12] Hong Kong
• 2009–2010. ISCP,[23] New York, USA
• 2008. "Wanakio 2008[27]", Okinawa, Japan
• 2008. Worksound, Portland, USA

• The Ten Seconds Preceding the Decision that A Can Be Made Into A Work (2016)

• Without Trying (2016)

• A place never been seen is not a place (2017)

• Everyone's Fine (2021)