DAU3 by MAU1, Heath, Hong Kong, 2025

 

Presented as part of DAU3 by MAU1, a two-week happening of DIY art, music and underground culture, Hugh Leung exhibited two works that examine belief, aspiration and the systems through which value is produced.

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In Lottery Burial Suit, Leung reimagines the Han dynasty jade burial suit as a contemporary funerary object made from losing Mark Six lottery tickets. Each ticket once carried the fantasy of sudden wealth, only to become a discarded trace of failed hope. Through the act of collecting and stitching these tickets into a symbolic “wealth shroud,” the work reflects on Hong Kong’s habitual economy of hope, where desire, charity, gambling and disappointment become absorbed into the same system. The installation remained open to public participation, inviting visitors to contribute their own losing tickets and become part of the work’s unfinished body.

 

Alongside the installation, Toward the Light continues Leung’s use of propaganda-inspired imagery to explore ambition, social expectation and the promises projected onto the future. A solitary figure stands on a vivid red road, facing a blazing sun. The image is suspended between optimism and uncertainty, collective direction and individual desire.

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Together, the two works respond to the conditions of contemporary Hong Kong: a city shaped by pressure, fantasy, competition and belief. Within the punk-influenced context of DAU3, they consider how systems of value are not only economic, but emotional, ritualistic and deeply personal.

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Presented works:
Lottery Burial Suit, 2025, participatory installation with losing lottery tickets
Toward the Light, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 70 × 60 cm