Mahk Making Spaces is a multi-artform project built around mahk (막), the Korean aesthetic defined by architect and artist Byoung Cho as intuitive spontaneity, rough or uncalculated beauty, and the embrace of imperfection. Artworks and films curated by Vincent Tay and Bruce Crossman are the creative spark for the program, with new music, poetry and theatre created in response.

At its centre are two artworks. South Korean artist Cheolyu Kim's Space 7 #157 (2024) layers hundreds of fine red pen lines into overlapping, translucent rings on birchwood, so that the grain of the panel breathes through the drawing. Richard Wu's Waterfall Within and his calligraphic paintings draw on the brush traditions of Chinese ink, and inspired new poems by Eileen Chong. Byoung Cho's ideas of imperfection and emptiness run through the whole program, alongside work by artist Chris Fleming.

Korean and Australian musicians, poets and actors from Actors Centre Australia and Western Sydney University respond to the works in sound, word and performance, bringing them into the Utzon Room as a living, breathing space.