By Diplomacy Journal Kayla Lee

Hyundai Motor Company announced the opening of Hyundai Translocal Series: Entangled and Woven, the inaugural exhibition of the Hyundai Translocal Series on Sept. 3.

The exhibition is co-organized by the Cheongju Craft Biennale 2025 (Cheongju, Korea) and the Whitworth, The University of Manchester (Manchester, UK) in collaboration with the National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy (New Delhi, India). It opened as part of the Cheongju Craft Biennale 2025 on September 4 and runs through November 2, 2025.

This exhibition is the first presentation of the Hyundai Translocal Series, a new initiative by Hyundai Motor announced earlier this year that aims to support cross-regional artistic collaborations between art institutions in Korea and across the globe over the next decade.

Hyundai Translocal Series supports participating institutions in their multi-year endeavors, including joint research, artwork commissions, exhibitions, public programming and publications.

It presents newly commissioned artworks by eight artists and collectives based in Korea and India – Boito, Yeonsoon Chang, Youngin Hong, Kaimurai, Somi Ko, PÉRO, Sumakshi Singh and Jounghye Yoo. In addition, a selection of historic Indian textiles from the Whitworth collection, ranging from the seventeenth century to the present, is exhibited to reveal the technical brilliance and layered histories of South Asian fabric traditions.

The exhibition examines historic and current exchanges in textile art between the three cities under the theme of ‘craft and community,’ catalyzing a dialogue that foregrounds textiles not only as aesthetic and utilitarian objects but also as carriers of knowledge, memory, power and resistance.

“We are delighted to support Hyundai Translocal Series: Entangled and Woven, an inaugural collaboration which examines the multilayered meanings of art and expands the narrative of textile practices, spanning generations and regions,” said DooEun Choi, Art Director of Hyundai Motor Company.