Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Remembering video art pioneer
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Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall will house large-scale, site-specific artworks as apart of “The Hyundai Commission,” starting 2015. / Courtesy of Tate Modern
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Tate Modern plans Paik Nam-june exhibition this year
Tate director Nicholas Serota
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The Tate Modern, London’s influential modern art museum, will hold a special exhibition later this year of the definitive works of the late Paik Nam-june, the Korean artist revered as the father of video art.
The display is a project in partnership with Korea car maker Hyundai Motor, which in January announced an unprecedented 11-year commitment to funding the space, starting with the Paik exhibit.
In a news conference in Seoul, Friday, Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota expressed hopes that the museum’s partnership with Hyundai will help it broaden the range of international works displayed in its spaces, including The Hyundai Commission in the Turbine Hall.
“We look forward to working together with Hyundai, exploring the most innovative and creative ideas from around the world,” he said.
The Tate Modern, a branch of the Tate Group, is one of the busiest contemporary art museums in the world, attracting over 5 million visitors a year since opening in 2000. The building was a power station before it was converted into a gallery and the Turbine Hall is named as such because it had been where the turbines were located.
The hall has been used to display innovative and occasionally provocative works from artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Anish Kapoor and Ai Weiwei, who were grouped in a series called The Unilever Project, named after the consumer goods company that sponsored the space from 2010 to 2012. There was no new commission in 2013.
Korean-born media artist Paik Nam-june’s 2002 work “Bakelite Robot” was recently acquried by Tate Modern in London, with the help of Hyundai Motor. The work will go on display at the art museum later this year.
The innovative and even provocative artworks at the Unilever Project, such as Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project, raised awareness of space and time and received critical acclaim and resulted in a good publicity of the consumer goods company.
Hyundai’s 11-year partnership is the longest initial commitment from a corporate sponsor in Tate’s history as the norm has been a three-year deal.
Hyundai says its partnership with Tate comes from its aim to become a “lifestyle company” rather than just a vehicle manufacturer. The company sponsored the museum to acquire nine of Paik’s media artworks, which will highlight the exhibition that will open sometime in autumn.
“At Hyundai, we understand that cars can provide much more than transportation. They can connect with people emotionally and it is this feeling that connects people to great art. This is the nature of our partnership with the Tate. We are excited about the new possibilities that lie ahead and are very privileged to be working together with the Tate on this inspiring collaboration,” Hyundai vice chairman Chung Eui-sun said in a statement.
Hyundai also signed a 10-year partnership with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Arts, Korea worth 12 billion won ($11.3 million) last year.