Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational

In 2019, Hyundai Motor and Tate’s long-standing partnership was expanded to enable Tate to create and launch the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational. The Centre has transformed how Tate develops and shares art historical knowledge around the world. Its research contributes to exhibitions, displays, acquisitions and events across Tate’s four galleries as well as with a wide network of local and international collaborators.

Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational has deepened Tate’s commitment to reframing art histories for the 21st century. As we look ahead to the next decade of our phenomenal partnership with Hyundai Motor, we are incredibly thankful that our collaboration will continue to foster innovative and creative ideas from around the world, inspiring new ways of thinking.

Maria Balshaw, Director, Tate

Hyundai Motor’s enduring partnership with Tate has evolved into the establishment of the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational. This visionary initiative, deeply integrated into Tate’s core practices, fosters diverse engagement to redefine the arts for our inclusive future.

DooEun Choi, Art Director, Hyundai Motor

Tate’s long-term partnership with Hyundai Motor is a globally celebrated arts collaboration founded on a shared commitment to creative innovation, celebrating some of the most ambitious and risk-taking contemporary art through the annual Hyundai Commission. In 2019, the partnership evolved through the creation of the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational.

Overview

The creation of Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational has transformed how Tate grows and shares knowledge about multiple art histories around the world, establishing dialogues and collaborations between the Tate galleries and artists, curators, scholars and organisations around the world.

Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational’s work is integral to Tate’s activities and expands its commitment to developing collections, displays and programmes beyond Europe and North America to be more open, inclusive and reflective of its audiences. Hyundai Motor’s support facilitates new exchanges of ideas and promotes innovative ways of interpreting and presenting art through the framework of ‘transnational’.

A woman stands in front of a microphone in a dark room, lit by a spotlight, her eyes closed, holding a circular drum in her hand — Arahmaiani’s Burning Country, Live Event at Tate Modern 2024, Photo © Tate (Ben Fisher Photography)

A panel event on a stage with a person interviewing four panellists who are all seated. A large screen projects a photograph of a woman holding a placard that reads 'Michael Smith: Victim of Jamaican Party Politricks!' — Photography and Political Blackness, Live Event at Tate Britain 2024, Photo © Tate (Ian Tuttle Photography)

Three people seated on a stage, lit by spotlights, behind desks with audio equipment and laptops sitting on them. In front of them, there is a screen displaying an abstract purple and yellow image. — Performing Abstraction: Samia Halaby and The Kinetic Painting Group, Live Event at Tate Modern 2025, Photo © Tate (Ben Fisher Photography)

Hyundai Commission: El Anatsui Behind the Red Moon, Voice and Breath, Photo © Tate Photography

A large group of people stand outside, surrounding a large memorial statue, listening to a tour guide speak. — Annual Symposium 2024: Waterways: arteries, rhythms and kinship, Julie Gough Boat Tour, Photo © Tate (Ben Fisher Photography)

Research outputs

The research outputs of Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational have fed into exhibitions and displays including:

Annual Symposium

Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational also holds an annual symposium which explores themes and questions related to the Centre’s core research outputs and programme. This annual moment enables Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational to further extend its reach to global audiences and has taken place both at Tate’s galleries and other international institutions in countries such as South Korea, Dubai, and Mexico.

Adjunct Curators

An integral part of Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational is support for an ongoing series of adjunct curatorial posts that provide international curators and researchers with the opportunity to remain within the region in which they usually work and live whilst carrying out field research for Tate.

Fields of research have included:

Africa and the African Diaspora
First Nations and Indigenous Art
Caribbean Diasporic Art
Art and Ecology

Digital Content

Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational releases ongoing digital content which includes an Annual Conceptual Film, inviting global audiences to interact with the Centre's work.

Find out more about Hyundai Motor

Discover more about Hyundai Motor’s supported programme

Find out more about Tate Corporate Partnerships

Tate’s Corporate Partnerships are at the very heart of our organisation. Tate is grateful to all of our Corporate Partners whose generous support and commitment enable Tate to champion art for all.

Corporate Partnerships range from supporting world-renowned programmes of exhibitions, performances or annual artist commissions to wide-reaching learning, research and community programmes, or collaboration through crucial conservation, collection care, digital or sustainability initiatives.

To find out more about the partnership we can build together, or to learn more about supporting Tate philanthropically, contact us at corporate.partnerships@tate.org.uk.