LACMA AND HYUNDAI ANNOUNCE NEW TEN-YEAR PARTNERSHIP

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has announced a new partnership with Korean automaker Hyundai, reports the Los Angeles Times’ David Ng.

With the ten-year agreement in place, Hyundai will focus on supporting Korean art in exhibitions, as well as providing funds for the museum’s art and technology program.

Hyundai has already funded the acquisition of two contemporary pieces. One is Robert Irwin’s Miracle Mile, 2013—the light installation right now installed at the museum’s Broad Contemporary. The other is James Turrell’s Light Reignfall, 2011, which appeared in the artist’s 2013 retrospective. The company will also be a presenting sponsor on the upcoming exhibition “Diana Thater: the Sympathetic Imagination,” due to open in November.

Michael Govan, LACMA’s director, said the deal was “unprecedented in its scale and longevity.”

A lot’s been happening at LACMA lately: Apparently architect Peter Zumthor’s plan for the museum has undergone a significant makeover in recent weeks, having grown “more angular and muscular,” according to the Los Angeles Times’ Christopher Hawthorne. In its latest iteration, the new design means the museum will have high-ceilinged concrete galleries that jut up above the museum’s roofline.

Hawthorne writes, “As seen from above, the LACMA design now looks less like an exaggerated version of a tar pit and more like a Chinese-language character or other strong calligraphic gesture.”

“Peter hasn’t given up the curve. But he’s really, really reined it in,” said Govan.