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Hyundai Motor sponsors art-tech collaboration in LA
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Rain Room, an immersive artwork created by the London-based artist collective Random International, is on exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in California. Rain room is the first exhibition sponsored by Hyundai Motor under the Hyundai Project: Art + Technology at LACMA. / Courtesy of Random International
By Lee Hyo-sik
By Lee Hyo-sik
LOS ANGELES ― Many people do not know that Hyundai Motor, widely known for its “no retreat, only forward” corporate mentality, is the biggest sponsor of one of the world’s largest contemporary art museums.
Under the Hyundai Project: Art and Technology, Korea’s largest automaker has made a 10-year commitment to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), pledging to sponsor the museum’s art and technology initiatives in the areas of exhibitions, acquisitions and programming through 2024.
The 10-year partnership, dedicated to exploring the convergence of art and technology, is the longest and the largest programmatic commitment from a corporate sponsor in LACMA’s history, according to museum officials.
The project also supports LACMA’s Art + Technology Lab, which offers public programs that address the interaction of these two fields, champions technology-based artist projects through grants and in-kind support from leading technology companies.
“Hyundai’s partnership with LACMA is significant not only due to the longevity of its commitment, but because of its innovative approach to supporting two critically important fields,” LACMA CEO Michel Govan said.
“Our museum is already a leader in the field of Korean art. Hyundai’s support allows us to promote scholarship in underrepresented areas of study. Its support of our Art + Technology efforts is also incredibly significant, not only in recognizing pioneering artists, but also supporting the next generation of artists,” Govan said.
The museum has just begun exhibiting Rain Room, an immersive artwork created by the London-based artist collective Random International.
Rain Room is the large-scale installation where water falls continuously to create a cacophonous interior downpour that pauses wherever a human body is detected. Upon stepping onto the artwork, visitors can move through this pace freely, protected from the water falling all around them.
Rain room is the first exhibition to be presented under the Hyundai project partnership and will be on view through March 6, 2016.
Under the Hyundai Project, the carmaker also made it possible for LACMA to acquire renowned artwork, such as Robert Irwin’s Miracle Mile and James Turrell’s Light Reignfall, the museum said. Hyundai will also be sponsoring numerous exhibitions, including Diana Thater: The Sympathetic Imagination, among others.
For Korean Art Scholarship, the Hyundai Project will support three exhibitions and multiple publications planned over the next decade, ranging from historic, traditional art forms to new works created by contemporary Korean artists.
The scholarship initiative creates a new platform and model for research in these areas; key aspects of Korea art that have never before been explored on this scale in either exhibitions or books published outside Korea, a Hyundai official said.
The exhibition, currently planned for 2018, 2022 and 2024, will each include international symposia, online scholarly publications and exhibition catalogues.