May 23, 2011 at 04:48 PM
written by

MoMA Launches Major Partnership With Volkswagen

The Museum of Modern Art and Volkswagen today announced details of a major two-year partnership that will support an international contemporary art exhibition at MoMA PS1, the expansion of MoMA’s online course offerings beginning in March 2012 and a series of installations. Officials today said the deal with Volkswagen is the first partnership of this scale between the New York cultural institution and an international corporation.


“We are pleased to have a strong partner in Volkswagen, whose commitment to innovation and education parallels the Museum’s,” said MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry. “This important partnership will enable The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 to realize longstanding goals and ambitious exhibitions and programs.”

Volkswagen will look to tie the sponsorship investment back to the company's "Think Blue" environmental CSR campaign.

“Artists give us food for thought and let us look at the world from new angles. MoMA is one of the world’s leading institutions in the field of contemporary art," Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, said. "With its persuasive expertise and its educational mission, it is our partner of choice. This partnership expresses our corporate commitment to take responsibility for the environment and for society."

As part of the partnership with Volkswagen, MoMA will extensively scout artists working in multiple mediums throughout the world. A major exhibition filling MoMA PS1’s entire gallery space will open in 2013, highlighting artists who are reacting to the pressing questions of the 21st century with its interrelated ecological, economical, spiritual, ethnographic, political, and social challenges.

“While MoMA PS1 has a long history of presenting work by contemporary artists on an international scale, this partnership will allow us to research, evaluate, and present the most wide-ranging survey of artists working innovatively around the globe,” said Klaus Biesenbach, Director of MoMA PS1 and Chief Curator at Large at MoMA.

The partnership with Volkswagen will extend a pilot program for online courses that was launched in 2010. Additional online courses and content will be offered over a two-year period as part of the tie-in.

Another component of the partnership is an on-site Lab Project focused on art processes that produce accessible forms of art, such as prints and artists books. This participatory Lab designed for visitors of all ages, to take place next spring, will directly address issues of distribution, democratic dissemination of art, recycling, and sustainability.

Finally, the partnership will support exhibitions in MoMA’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden for two years. In addition to serving as the corporate sponsor, Volkswagen has donated two works by Alÿs—Tornado (2000-2010) and Mirage (A Story of Deception) (2003-2006)—to MoMA, both of which will featured in an exhibition entitled exhibition Francis Alÿs: A Story of Deception.

Photobucket

#newstag