Hyundai Motor Group Hosts 4th VH Awards to Discover Next-Generation Media Artists

Final Grand Prix awarded to Lawrence Rek's 'Black Cloud'
Prize money $25,000 · Screening at global cultural and arts institutions

Hyundai Motor Group held the "4th VH Awards" on the 10th to discover and support next-generation media artists. The awards ceremony took place on the metaverse platform "SpatialWeb" with over 200 attendees, including key figures from the cultural and arts sectors, media artists, past awardees, and Hyundai Motor Group officials.

Photo by Hyundai Motor Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 10th, Hyundai Motor Group held the '4th VH Awards' to discover and support the next generation of media artists.

The VH Awards is an awards ceremony conducted by Hyundai Motor Group since 2016 to discover and nurture emerging domestic media artists, and this year, the application area was expanded to Asia.

The ceremony was held on the metaverse platform 'SpatialWeb' with about 200 attendees including key figures from the cultural and artistic community, media artists, past winners, and Hyundai Motor Group officials.

In addition, various programs such as a virtual space docent tour, conversations with artists, a virtual bulletin board for attendees to communicate, and an NFT (Non Fungible Token) 1 Art Coin finding game were held along with screenings of works by the five final nominees.

In April this year, Hyundai Motor Group selected five final nominees through judging by curators and art directors affiliated with global cultural and artistic institutions. Each nominated artist received $25,000 in production support and participated in the mentoring program of Eyebeam, a global art and technology specialized institution.

The prestigious grand prize went to artist Lawrence Lek, who expressed a critical perspective on popular culture and technology using artificial intelligence (AI).

In his work 'Black Cloud,' the artist posed questions about existence and being within the relationship between art and AI through the changing scenes of a virtual smart city testing autonomous vehicles.

Lawrence Lek received the grand prize of $25,000 and the opportunity to have his work screened at various cultural and artistic institutions worldwide.

A Hyundai Motor Group official stated, "The VH Awards not only support the production of works by the next generation of media artists but also provide active exchange activities through overseas residency programs and mentoring, as well as opportunities for screenings at various art institutions worldwide." He added, "Since the scale has expanded to cover all of Asia from this year, we hope it will establish itself as a new global platform supporting the growth of Asian media artists."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.