Tate and Hyundai Motor today announced the launch of a major new research initiative; Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational. Over the past two decades Tate’s collection, displays and programmes have expanded beyond Europe and North America to be more open, inclusive and reflective of its audiences. Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational marks a next decisive step on this journey by placing the exchange of ideas between art and artists from around the world at the very core of Tate. The Centre will transform how Tate grows and shares knowledge about multiple art histories with individuals and organisations around the world.
Hyundai Motor will support the Centre from January 2019 to December 2024, in addition to their support of Tate Modern’s annual Hyundai Commission which began in 2015. During this time the Centre will host several research events including annual symposia, seminars and workshops at Tate and beyond. This will facilitate collective research and intellectual exchange and provide five curatorial posts based in the Tate Modern Curatorial team; deepening research at the very heart of the museum. The Research Centre will build on the work of Tate Research Centre: Asia and Tate’s acquisitions committees to consider global and multidisciplinary practices at the centre of art and artists.
Frances Morris, Director Tate Modern said, ‘This visionary project acknowledges movement and exchange, forced and voluntary migration and the experience of diaspora as central to modern and contemporary art. It will enrich our programme of exhibitions, acquisitions and collection displays, and help us to share and connect more deeply with the work of many institutions around the world. We want to deepen our commitment to exploring multiple art histories beyond western Europe and North America by showing that art, art movements and their histories are interconnected well beyond their country of origin. This generous new support from Hyundai Motor will allow us to carry out original research in this area, collaborate with international colleagues, and bring in new members to the Tate team, making this work integral to Tate’s activities.’
Led by Dr Sook-Kyung Lee, Senior Curator, International Art (Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational), the work will widen Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives’ international network of peers. Curators and scholars will develop specific questions around modern and contemporary art in the collection and exhibition programmes and bring in expertise from the field to address shared questions.
Wonhong Cho, Executive Vice President, Hyundai Motor said, ‘The Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational will not only provide significant and long-lasting benefit to Tate but also for the wider research and museum community around the world with a sense of responsibility towards exploring the transnational condition. We are living in a diverse world that is more connected than ever, through technology and media. This project will explore how partnerships with others can transform research and how connections that have been overlooked can provide a new way of framing history.’
The first symposium will be held at Tate Modern on 23-25 February 2019, under the title Axis of Solidarity: Landmarks, Platforms, Futures, co-organised with the Institute for Comparative Modernities at Cornell University and the Africa Institute, Sharjah. The conference will convene scholars, researchers and artists to explore the international solidarity movements that emerged in the Global South, in the 1950s to the 1980s during processes of decolonisation.