Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) has announced artist Lawrence Lek as the Grand Prix winner of the 4th VH AWARD, an biennial event organized by the Group to discover and support emerging new media artists of different Asian backgrounds.
Established in 2016, the VH AWARD aims to support Asian artists from diverse backgrounds who are working in new media. The award stems from the Group’s commitment to activating the intersections of art and technology through cross-cultural research and interdisciplinary artistic expressions.
This year, in celebration of its 4th edition, the VH AWARD has expanded to include all Asian artists whose works creatively portray and question the vast array of issues and trends occurring across Asia, including the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence as well as the consequences of climate change. It marks the first time artists from outside South Korea have been eligible to apply.
Lek’s 4th VH AWARD Grand-Prix-winning work, titled Black Cloud, is the culmination of the London-based artist’s ongoing body of virtual-reality productions. Through his VR renderings, Lek, who is of Malaysian-Chinese descent, opens up inquiries into the “geopolitical” implications of artificial intelligence and illuminates the various links between AI and art—particularly the ways in which the different societal attitudes toward AI control peoples’ values, lifestyles and modes of operation around the world.
“The virtual tools, such as computer-generated images and computer games, can enable contemporary artists to create environments that reflect some of the utopian ideas of architecture,” said Lek. “I enjoy the freedom that these virtual spaces offer, as they are not limited by the same financial or political considerations involved in creating real-life architecture.”
By using gaming software and computer-generated-imagery animation tools, Lek has created digital environments that combine real-place settings and fictional scenarios, thereby highlighting the impact of the virtual world on the popular perception of reality.
“With the 4th VH AWARD, Hyundai Motor Group celebrates the diversity and creativity of Asian media artists around the world who share the Group’s vision of coming ‘Together for a Better Future,’” said DooEun Choi, Art Director of Hyundai Motor. “These emerging artists have illuminated our views on the future of humanity and empowered us to forge connections across cultural boundaries.”
The five finalists are Lawrence Lek, based in the U.K. and of Malaysian-Chinese descent; Doreen Chan, based in the US and of Hong Kong-Chinese descent; Paribartana Mohanty, based in India and of Indian descent; Jungwon Seo, based in South Korea and of Korean descent; and Syaura Qotrunadha, based in Indonesia and of Indonesian descent.
All finalists participated in an online residency program hosted by Eyebeam, a New York City-based art and technology center. The program supports the production of new artworks while providing professional development sessions with mentors, such as curators Barbara London, Karen Archey and Ute Meta Bauer, as well as artists Zach Lieberman and Kamau Patton and a US-based artist working under the name, “American Artist.”
Each artist received 25,000 USD to produce a screen-based, audio-visual work; and as the Grand Prix recipient, Lek will receive an additional 25,000 USD. All finalists’ works will be screened at upcoming events at renowned art institutions and virtual museums around the globe.
This year’s VH AWARD global jury members included Sook-kyung Lee, Senior Curator at Tate Modern; Christopher Phillips, an independent curator and critic; Aaron Seeto, Director of Museum MACAN; June Yap, Director of Curatorial, Collections and Programmes at Singapore Art Museum; and Roderick Schrock, Executive Director of the Eyebeam art and technology center.
More than 200 people, including global art world opinion leaders, journalists, previous winners of the VH AWARD and Hyundai Motor Group employees, joined the virtual award ceremony held on the SpatialWeb platform on November 10. The event featured individual virtual rooms for all shortlisted artists, in which full-length versions of their works were available to screen online for the first time. Their works are now available to watch on the fourth VH AWARD website.
Unique to this year’s event was a virtual treasure hunt, where visitors could discover hidden collectible coins, dubbed “Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs),” during the ceremony. The first 50 guests to collect coins were presented with NFT artworks displaying key visual elements drawn from the finalists’ works.
