OPEN CALL: Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025 for Emerging Curators

For emerging curators interested in engaging with the evolving contexts of Asia, this is a rare opportunity. Five shortlisted curators or curatorial collectives will receive proposal development funding, join a research tour in China, and receive one-on-one mentorship from members of the international jury panel.

Hyundai Motor Company announces the open call for Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025, inviting exhibition proposals from emerging curators around the world.

As curatorial practice continues to respond to the complexities of contemporary life, Hyundai Blue Prize+ offers a platform for curators to reflect on the most urgent cultural, sociopolitical, and technological shifts shaping our world. The initiative encourages proposals that engage meaningfully with the context of Asia while fostering transcultural dialogue, interdisciplinary research, and expanded approaches to curatorial practices.

Established in 2017, Hyundai Blue Prize has evolved from its previous iterations—Hyundai Blue Prize Art + Tech in China and Hyundai Blue Prize Design in Korea—into Hyundai Blue Prize+, a global curatorial open call program. As a laboratory for new curatorial thinking, Hyundai Blue Prize+ invites proposals that challenge conventional formats and cultivate expansive, critical conversations across boundaries. This open call is open to curators and curatorial collectives engaged with the context of Asia based anywhere in the world, and we encourage broad interest and participation regardless of curatorial theme, category, or region.

The application is open now through June 8, 2025 11:59pm CST (GMT+8). Apply here.

For more information about Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025, including application requirements and eligibility, please visit the official Hyundai Blue Prize+ website.

Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025 Open Call Structure

Applicants must submit a curatorial statement outlining the exhibition concept, a proposed list of artworks, a preliminary exhibition design, a budget plan, and a proposed framework for public programs. The exhibition must be designed for the second-floor gallery of Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing, with the understanding that it will be presented for a duration of five to six months. The application deadline is June 8, 2025 at 11:59pm CST (GMT+8).

Following the open call, five curators or curatorial collectives will be selected as shortlisted finalists. Each finalist will receive one-on-one mentorship with a member of the jury panel, a curatorial research tour in China, and a 4,000 USD grant to develop a final exhibition proposal. From this shortlist, two awardees will be selected to present their final exhibitions at Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing with up to 800,000 RMB (approximately 110,000 USD) in funding for exhibition production and implementation, as well as additional support for operations, marketing, and communications.

Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025 Jury Panel

Hyundai Blue Prize+ 2025 will be evaluated by an international jury panel:

• Jochen Eisenbrand, Chief Curator, Vitra Design Museum (Weil am Rhein)

• Carol K. Huh, Associate Curator of Contemporary Asian Art, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.)

• Frances Morris, Former Director, Tate Modern (London), and Distinguished Visiting Professor, Ewha Womans University (Seoul)

• Christiane Paul, Curator of Digital Art, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York)

• Philip Tinari, Director, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing)