On 18th, Hyundai Motor Company announced ‘Hyundai Translocal Series,’ a new partnership that roots itself in fostering dialogues and exchanges between art institutions in Korea and across the globe.
 
The initiative, aimed to support cross-regional artistic collaborations over the next decade, will bring together art institutions to explore translocal themes that shape our interconnected contemporary conditions. Through joint exhibitions and interdisciplinary exchanges, the project seeks to foster dialogue and new possibilities in art.
 
Hyundai Motor will support multi-year endeavors, including joint research, artwork commissions, exhibitions, public programming and publications.
 
The Hyundai Translocal Series exhibition is planned to go beyond a simple touring format, adopting a distinctive approach that encompasses both the unique characteristics of each institution’s region and translocal values.
 
Participating institutions will curate joint exhibitions that respect local identities while fostering multilayered communication and understanding—connecting individuals and communities, regions and the world, as well as the past and future. These exhibitions will be presented sequentially in the respective regions of each institution.

The Hyundai Translocal Series inaugural exchange will involve the Cheongju Craft Biennale 2025 (Cheongju, Korea) and the Whitworth, The University of Manchester (Manchester, UK). These institutions will focus on the theme of ‘craft and community,’ commissioning works by eight artists from Korea and India.
 
The co-curated exhibition will be held at Cheongju Craft Biennale 2025 in September of this year, followed by exhibitions in India in collaboration with the National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy (New Delhi, India), and Manchester in February and July 2026 respectively.

The second exchange of the Hyundai Translocal Series between the Nam June Paik Art Center (Yongin, Korea) and the Pinacoteca de São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil) will address shared questions centered on the theme of ‘media and performance.’ The two institutions, located at the antipodes of the Earth, will symbolically demonstrate transregional exchange that overcomes physical distance with this theme.
 
Their collaboration will begin with forum events and research trips in São Paulo, Brazil, and Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, in April and May 2025. This will be followed by new commissions and exhibition preparations, leading to joint curated exhibitions at each respective institution starting in October 2026.

References

• 현대자동차 보도자료 (Hyundai Motors Press Release)

Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.