Hyundai Motor Presents MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2022: Choe U-Ram — Little Ark

• The ninth annual MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2022 is part of a 10-year project that aims to support esteemed Korean artists
• The artist initiated collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group Robotics LAB for technical advices
• Choe U-Ram exhibition explores various questions about the meaning of human and coexistence with life-like mechanisms

Hyundai Motor Company and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) announced the ninth annual MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2022 exhibition with selected artist Choe U-Ram. The exhibition runs from September 9, 2022, to February 26, 2023.

“MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2022 will offer a unique perspective exploring the relationships between nature, humans and machines through the lens of the sustainable future of humanity,” said Thomas Schemera, Executive Vice President, Global Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Customer Experience Division at Hyundai Motor Company. “With this exhibition, we are pleased to expand our meaningful collaboration of art and technology, made possible by our solid partnership with MMCA.”

With a comprehensive investigation into the possibilities of a sustainable future for humanity, the exhibition will present Choe U-Ram’s elaborately designed, motion-based ‘anima-machines’ from the early 1990s to the present, including several large-scale installation artworks that will be shown to the public for the first time.

The new works include large-scale installations called Little Ark and Round Table are made of iron and recycled cardboard boxes with cutting-edge technology. Another work, One, is a protective clothing material used by medical staff during the pandemics.

In particular, U-Ram worked with numerous experts, including engineers from Hyundai Motor Robotics LAB, who provided technical advices, when designing Little Ark as it required technical aspects in order for the paddles of the ship to fold and unfold repeatedly.

In addition, exhibition visitors can also see the sphere-shaped sculptures URC-1 and URC-2 that repurpose vehicle headlights and tail lights that were discarded following experimental use at Hyundai Motor Group’s Namyang R&D Center.

Through wondrously life-like mechanisms, the artist explores human desires, with a perspective on evolution and technological development that has expanded over the past 30 years to address the meaning of human existence and symbiosis, encompassing social context, philosophy and religion.

Created as one of the long-term partnership programs with MMCA, the MMCA Hyundai Motor Series is a 10-year art project that has organized annual exhibitions of esteemed Korean artists since 2014. Through this series, Hyundai Motor aims to contribute to the development of Korea’s arts and culture by supporting a major Korean artist’s large-scale solo exhibition every year, and convey Hyundai Motor’s brand vision ‘Progress for Humanity’ through long-term partnerships with global museums.

Source: Hyundai Motor