Hyundai Motor Launches First "Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025" Exhibition in Beijing

Supporting Curators Across Regions and Disciplines
First Exhibition by the 2025 Awardees Runs Until December

The first exhibition of Hyundai Motor Company’s global curator support program, Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025, will be held in Beijing, China.

Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025 《Prayers to Fornax: Science, Technology, and Spirituality》 exhibition view. Hyundai Motor Company

Hyundai Motor Company announced on July 20 that the first exhibition of the Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025, titled "Prayers to Fornax: Science, Technology, and Spirituality," opened at Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing on July 18 (local time) and will run until December 13.

Hyundai Blue Prize+ is a competition program developed by Hyundai Motor Company to support domestic and international curators seeking new artistic possibilities. The program examines various discourses attracting contemporary attention within the multilayered context of Asia and offers new perspectives on the realities we face today.

Since launching the Hyundai Blue Prize in 2017, Hyundai Motor Company has supported a total of 14 teams of curators through two competitions: "Hyundai Blue Prize Art + Tech" in China and "Hyundai Blue Prize Design" in Korea. Starting in 2025, the program has been integrated and relaunched as Hyundai Blue Prize+, broadening its scope as an open call across regions, fields, and disciplines.

Hyundai Blue Prize+ selects two teams of curators every other year, providing mentorship from a panel of judges, research trips, and various forms of support for their exhibition planning. For the first integrated open call in 2025, over 160 teams of curators from across the world submitted proposals. Yifeng Wei and Penny Dan Xu, who are curating the current exhibition, along with Park Hyejin and Park Yoonyoung, who will hold an exhibition in January next year, were selected as the two winning teams.

Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025 Exhibition 《Prayers to Fornax: Science, Technology, and Spirituality》 Curators Yifeng Wei and Penny Dan Xu. Hyundai Motor Company

This exhibition, curated by Yifeng Wei and Penny Dan Xu, features a total of eight participating artists and collectives. It explores how the realms of science, technology, and spirituality—highlighted in the exhibition’s title—intersect and interweave, exerting close mutual influence.

Furthermore, Fornax—the constellation in the southern hemisphere whose Latin name means a laboratory furnace or smelting furnace—serves as a key symbol. Unlike traditional constellations named after mythological backgrounds, Fornax is a representative example of a constellation named using a scientific term. This symbolizes the historical transition from understanding the universe through mythology to interpreting it through scientific observation, embodying the very theme of the exhibition that explores the intersection of science, technology, and spirituality.

Specifically, the exhibition delves into domains that cannot be fully explained by science alone, revisits the history and memory inscribed in the earth and nature, and explores new approaches to contemporary life through the connections with shamanism and mysticism. Through this, the exhibition offers viewers an opportunity to observe the complex realities of today from a more holistic perspective.

Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025 "Prayers to Fornax: Science, Technology, and Spirituality" Exhibition View. Hyundai Motor Company

Yifeng Wei and Penny Dan Xu stated, “It is meaningful to invite viewers to this transformative experience, where different forms of knowledge are connected through the exhibition. By crossing the boundaries between science and spirituality, we aim to explore future possibilities that cannot be discovered from a singular perspective.”

A representative from Hyundai Motor Company commented, “It is significant to present the first exhibition of the newly evolved Hyundai Blue Prize+ at Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing, where the Hyundai Blue Prize originally began. This exhibition by two curators, exploring the intersection of science, technology, and spirituality, will offer new perspectives and an opportunity for reflection on how technology shapes the world in which we live.”

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