Hyundai Motor and LACMA introduce ‘The Sympathetic Imagination’ in Los Angeles

OREANDA-NEWS. November 24, 2015. Hyundai Motor and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) have raised the curtain on the latest in a series of provocative exhibitions; Diana Thater: The Sympathetic Imagination. The new exhibit, which runs from November 22 until February 21 2016, presents 22 influential works of art in film, video and physical installation together in one location for the first time. The project continues Hyundai Motor’s dedication to making emotional connections while enabling better access to experiencing art.

The dynamic, immersive installation is a rare opportunity to view 25 years of work by Los Angeles-based Diana Thater, one of the most important artists to emerge during the 1990s. Her work came to prominence by addressing key issues in film, exhibition, the natural sciences and contemporary culture, through inventive integration of moving images into three-dimensional spaces that viewers can explore. Occupying approximately 20,000 square-feet, it is LACMA’s largest monographic exhibition dedicated to a female artist to date.

Euisun Chung, Hyundai Motor Company Vice Chairman said, “At Hyundai Motor, we sincerely hope that our collaboration with LACMA will help artists to invent captivating art and provocative concepts through future technology. The impact of The Hyundai Project at LACMA will reach beyond the arts and the technological sector. We are so thrilled to support the challenge that Diana Thater creates for our eyes and minds.”

Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director said, “Diana Thater is perhaps the most innovative artist working with video and moving image since Nam Jun Paik. Like Paik, she has infused video with visual poetry and philosophy. Paik led video into the museum, while Thater has pushed the medium into architecture and immersive installations. By transforming a relatively new technology into art, Thater echoes the spirit of Art + Technology at LACMA. She is an artist who takes risks and who imagines new ways to experience the world through new points of view made possible by a new medium."

This is the second exhibition of The Hyundai Project, Hyundai Motor’s 10-year-long commitment to support LACMA’s Art + Technology initiatives. The project explores two significant fields – Art + Technology and Korean Art Scholarship through acquisitions, exhibitions, and publications. Thater’s visceral creations embody the project’s shared belief to push the boundaries of merging art and technology and challenge creative minds of today.

Hyundai Motor’s partnership with LACMA is part of a unique series of long-term relationships that the company has established with leading art institutions around the world. Running until 2025, the inventive and engaging exhibits aim to build connections with global art communities and offer people better access to creative experiences in all areas of the world. Hyundai Motor has also initiated partnerships with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea (MMCA) and Tate Modern in Great Britain.

With MMCA, Hyundai Motor’s ‘MMCA Hyundai Motor Series’ offers a decade-long platform along with international forums, archives, and publishing for Korean artists. At Tate Modern in London, a 10-year series titled the Hyundai Commission will see artists from around the world bring fresh interpretations to the unique context of the Turbine Hall.