PHILIPP SCHOLZ RITTERMANN/©2015 ROBERT IRWIN/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK
The paper reports that the deal—which LACMA director Michael Govan says will total in the “millions of dollars” but neither the museum nor the automaker will attach an exact amount—will, starting in 2018, put a focus on Korean art exhibitions in a city with the largest Korean population in the country. It will also provide assistance to the museum’s art and technology program and fund the addition of two contemporary pieces to the institution’s collection: Robert Irwin’s Miracle Mile and James Turrell’s Light Reignfall.
The partnership is the next in a string of related moves made by the Korean company. In recent years, Hyunadi has struck deals with both the Tate Modern in London and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul.
Between this and MoMA’s continued partnership with Volkswagen, there seems to be a real influx of automakers in the art space, where things like seeing a noise performance in the upscale car convention-like “VW Dome” seems par for the course.