Two decades of Korean art exchange and exhibition support recognized

Jung joins seven honorary trustees including jazz legend Wynton Marsalis

Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Jung Tae-young (right) poses with MoMA Director Christophe Cherix after being named an honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. [Hyundai Card]
Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Jung Tae-young (right) poses with MoMA Director Christophe Cherix after being named an honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. [Hyundai Card]

Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Jung Tae-young has been named an honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which holds works by Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. Jung joins a roster that includes jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and former MoMA Director Glenn Lowry.

Hyundai Card said Monday that Jung was appointed in recognition of more than two decades of work expanding exchanges between the Korean and global art worlds and contributing to MoMA's development.

The honorary trustee title is one of the highest honors MoMA bestows on individuals, with the role carrying strategic advisory responsibilities on the museum's long-term development and operational direction. Including Jung, MoMA now has seven honorary trustees. Marsalis and Lowry are joined on the list by renowned architect Elizabeth Diller, among others.

Founded in 1929, MoMA holds some of the defining works of modern and contemporary art, including Van Gogh's "The Starry Night," Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and Salvador Dalí's "The Persistence of Memory." Its collection numbers nearly 200,000 objects spanning painting and sculpture as well as photography, architecture, design and film.

Jung's appointment builds on a partnership between Hyundai Card and MoMA that dates to 2006. Over the past two decades, the company has sponsored more than 100 exhibitions and programs in New York and Seoul, including shows related to the Bauhaus movement, Le Corbusier and Donald Judd. When MoMA reopened after its expansion in 2019, Hyundai Card became the inaugural sponsor of its media and performance program.

The company has also supported Korean artists' international exposure and research activities, backing solo exhibitions by Yang Hye-gyu and Kim A-young at MoMA and MoMA PS1, and expanding the research foundation for Korean art through a curator exchange program linking New York and Seoul.

Hyundai Card has also broadened opportunities for domestic audiences to engage with MoMA's collection. It opened the world's first MoMA bookstore in Seoul and showcases digital artworks through "Hyundai Card Digital Walls" installed at the company's Yeouido headquarters and at MoMA in New York. Hyundai Card members receive free admission to MoMA in New York.

MoMA Director Christophe Cherix said Jung had played an "unprecedented role" in raising MoMA's profile in Korea over the past 20 years and had opened pathways for MoMA's curators and visitors to engage more deeply with Korean art and artists. Cherix added that Jung had helped the museum look ahead to the possibilities of technology and innovation and explore new ways of connecting art with audiences around the world.

Jung said Hyundai Card does not support art — rather, it is supported by art — emphasizing that artistic engagement is a source of creativity and innovation for the company.


snsd@heraldcorp.com