'Unprecedented role' in expanding MoMA's presence in Korea over 20 years

Honorary trustee to advise on key decisions and long-term strategy

Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young (right) and Museum of Modern Art Director Christophe Cherix. [Hyundai Card]
Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young (right) and Museum of Modern Art Director Christophe Cherix. [Hyundai Card]

Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young has been named an honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The honorary trustee title is conferred on individuals who have made significant contributions to MoMA's development through their expertise and global influence. The role involves providing strategic advice on major decisions, long-term development and operational direction.

MoMA Director Christophe Cherix cited Chung's two decades of work as the reason for the appointment. "Over the past 20 years, Chung Tae-young has played an unprecedented role in expanding MoMA's presence in Korea, opening pathways for MoMA's curators and visitors to more deeply understand and engage with Korean art and artists," Cherix said. "He has helped us anticipate the possibilities of technology and innovation, and to explore new ways of connecting art with audiences around the world."

Hyundai Card said the appointment — one of the highest honors MoMA bestows on an individual — recognizes Chung's contributions to the museum's mission of broadening the understanding and research of modern and contemporary art.

Chung has been at the forefront of expanding exchanges between the Korean and international art worlds for more than two decades. He has supported Korean artists' entry onto the global stage through solo exhibitions at MoMA and MoMA PS1, including shows by Yang Hye-gyu and Kim Ah-young, while also helping build a foundation for Korean art research within MoMA by fostering curatorial study and exchange. He has also introduced MoMA's works, publications and programs to domestic audiences, widening access to world-class contemporary art in Korea.

"Hyundai Card is not supporting art — rather, we are being supported by art," Chung said, describing art not as an object of patronage but as a source of creativity and innovation for the company.

Hyundai Card has maintained a partnership with MoMA since 2006, sponsoring more than 100 major exhibitions and programs held in New York and Seoul — including shows dedicated to the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and Donald Judd. The company became the inaugural sponsor of MoMA's media and performance program when the museum reopened after its expansion in 2019.

Hyundai Card also sponsors "Hyundai Card First Look," an exhibition program that presents new additions to MoMA's collection, and operates the "Hyundai Card Digital Wall" — installed at both the New York museum and Hyundai Card's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul — to showcase digital artworks by contemporary artists and experimental projects that blend art with emerging technology.


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