SEOUL - Hyundai Motor Company and Rhizome announce the relaunch of 'Seven on Seven' (7x7) to take place on January 27, 2024, at the New Museum in New York City.
* Hyundai Motor continues partnership with Rhizome of the New Museum for the 2024 edition of 'Seven on Seven' (7x7), the iconic art and technology program
* 7x7 pairs artists with technologists to make something new, with the results presented at a public conference on January 27 at the New Museum
* The partnership highlights Hyundai Motor's commitment to fostering innovation and creativity, with this year's program exploring AI's impact on various aspects of life
After a hiatus during the pandemic, the iconic art and technology program returns this year with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI). The event will be live streamed on the New Museum's YouTube channel for a global audience.
7x7 pairs leading artists with visionary technologists and tasks them to make something new, with the results presented at a public, experiential conference. Presented by Hyundai Motor through an ongoing partnership with Rhizome of the New Museum, the 2024 edition of 7x7 is co-organized by Michael Connor, Co-Executive Director of Rhizome, and Xinran Yuan, independent curator and producer. This is the first in-person edition of 7x7 to be held since 2019.
'Through our continuing partnership with Rhizome of the New Museum, Hyundai Motor builds on years of forming deep connections with leading arts institutions and communities,' said DooEun Choi, Art Director at Hyundai Motor Company. 'In working with Rhizome of the New Museum for this relaunch, we aim to bring this iconic program to a new level and to a new global audience, surfacing the issues in art and technology that shape our culture and society towards the future through dialogue, collaboration, and transformative experiences of art.'
Hyundai Motor's partnership with Rhizome of the New Museum, which was founded to explore the infinite possibilities arising from the convergence of art and technology, began in 2021 with 'World on a Wire,' an internationally touring exhibition and online project that included a series of artist commissions. 'World on a Wire' explored simulation as an artistic practice, with a particular emphasis on augmented reality and virtual reality.
The partnership continues in 2024 with the relaunch of Rhizome's iconic 7x7 program. This edition includes a new focus on AI, underscoring Hyundai Motor's dedication to fostering innovation and creativity by championing visionary creators and artists.
7x7 2024 draws together creative pairings from across disciplines to consider how AI may alter our understanding of love, humor, improvisation, biology, politics and history. Among these collaborative projects, 7x7 2024 will feature an experimental performance created with Boston Dynamics' Spot The Agile Mobile Robot.
The 7x7 2024 participants and their topics are:
Quantum physicist Dr. Stephon Alexander and comedian/musician Reggie Watts experiment with improvisation as a way to understand connections among physics, creativity and AI.
Boston Dynamics Director of Human-Robot Interaction David Robert and artist Miriam Simun explore connection between humans and non-humans through a performance featuring Spot - The Agile Mobile Robot, with support from Field Application Specialist Hannah Rossi.
Runway Co-Founder and CEO Cristobal Valenzuela and comedian, writer and actor Ana Fabrega ask if AI can be funny, on the heels of the recent Writers Guild of America agreement with major Hollywood studios that ratified worker protections around AI.
Replika AI Founder and CEO Eugenia Kuyda and artist Lynn Hershman Leeson collaborate on a science-fiction narrative in which AI relationships play a central role.
Nym Technologies Co-Founder and CEO Harry Halpin and artist Tomas Saraceno consider technology's role in organizational decision-making for communities facing climate-related conflict and upheaval.
Ginkgo Bioworks Head of Creative Christina Agapakis and artist Xin Liu embark on a journey of creating a protein and delve into the hidden layers of the biological system that AI might uncover.
Engineer and environmental entrepreneur Alan Steremberg and artist Rindon Johnson use data for storytelling, drawing on information about plastics, plankton and other conditions in the Pacific Ocean.
'Neural networks and other AI systems have long been topics of note at 7x7. With these technologies now widely available, 7x7 2024 takes an expansive but critical view of their role in society,' said Rhizome Co-Executive Director Michael Connor. 'The participants look beyond the dreams of apocalypse and the endless drive to extract, and ask, what new kinds of collaborations and entanglements will AI enable?'
Since its inception in 2010, 7x7 has been a catalyst in the evolution of art and technology collaboration, often acting as a mirror of significant cultural contexts and an indicator of emerging trends in our increasingly technological society. The site of the creation of the first NFT by artist Kevin McCoy and technologist Anil Dash in 2014, 7x7 has catalyzed some of the earliest creative experimentations and critical engagements with machine learning, blockchain, and social media technologies.
'As part of our twenty-year affiliation with Rhizome, the New Museum is gratified to convene this critical gathering on a topic of such importance to contemporary culture,' said Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director of the New Museum. '7x7 has long been a key part of our vision to make the New Museum a campus for new art and new ideas, supporting not only the display of art but knowledge creation in many forms.'
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About Rhizome
Rhizome champions born-digital art and culture through commissions, exhibitions, scholarship, and digital preservation. Founded in 1996 by artist Mark Tribe as an email discussion list including some of the first artists to work online, Rhizome has played an integral role in the history of contemporary art engaged with digital technologies and the internet. Since 2003, Rhizome has been an affiliate in residence at the New Museum in New York City.
About The New Museum
The New Museum is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to contemporary art. Founded in 1977, the New Museum is a center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists from around the world. From its beginnings as a one-room office on Hudson Street to the inauguration of its first freestanding building on the Bowery designed by SANAA in 2007, the New Museum continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.
About Hyundai Motor Company
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is present in over 200 countries with more than 120,000 employees dedicated to tackling real-world mobility challenges around the globe. Based on the brand vision 'Progress for Humanity,' Hyundai Motor is accelerating its transformation into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider. The company invests in advanced technologies such as robotics and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) to bring about revolutionary mobility solutions while pursuing open innovation to introduce future mobility services. In pursuit of a sustainable future for the world, Hyundai will continue its efforts to introduce zero-emission vehicles equipped with industry-leading hydrogen fuel cell and EV technologies.
More information about Hyundai Motor and its products can be found at:
https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/ or Newsroom: Media Hub by Hyundai
About Hyundai Motor's Art Projects
For over a decade, Hyundai Motor Company has deepened its partnerships with global museums and cultural organizations, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), Tate, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Hyundai Motor's art initiatives include open call programs such as the VH AWARD, the Hyundai Blue Prize, and Artlab Editorial, a digital platform dedicated to art writing by transnational voices. Our ongoing collaborations embrace the complexities of the cultural landscape by exploring new ideas and perspectives within and beyond the art ecosystem.
Visit artlab.hyundai.com or follow @hyundai.artlab #HyundaiArtlab to learn more about our partnerships and programs.
Contact:
Daehyun Shin
Global PR Strategy & Planning / Hyundai Motor Company
daehyun.shin@hyundai.com
HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY 
