Visitors to an exhibition at Artechhouse in Washington look at LG’s transparent OLED panels which mirror their movements using flower stems. (LG Display)

LG Group is betting big on art to enhance its brand value globally.

The nation’s fourth-largest conglomerate has been actively expanding partnerships with global art museums and institutions to spur artistic innovations and sponsor digital artists.

In June last year, the group’s key affiliates -- including LG Corp., LG Electronics, and LG Display -- forged partnerships with Guggenheim Museum, a globally renowned modern and contemporary art museum in New York, under the LG Guggenheim Art and Technology Initiative.

As part of the collaboration project, LG Corp., the group’s holding unit, established the LG Guggenheim Award this year.

The international award, with a monetary prize of $100,000, recognizes artists who introduce innovative art pieces using technology. The first recipient of the award was US artist Stephanie Dinkins, who has been utilizing artificial intelligence in her artworks.

Visitors mingle at the annual Young Collectors’ Council Party at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City in May 2023. (LG Group/Jason Lowrie)

The group’s display-making unit LG Display is a key sponsor of the annual Young Collectors’ Council Party held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The YCC is a dynamic group of young professionals dedicated to supporting the museum’s landmark buildings, exhibitions, collections and educational programs.

Themed “Artificial Digital Paradise,” this year’s event showcased a variety of LG’s advanced display products throughout the venue. Using its groundbreaking technology, LG presented a massive scaled transparent OLED photo wall to create a surreal and futuristic space that vividly brings imagination to life.

Known for its high transparency and superior image quality, LG’s transparent OLED is being applied in various fields including digital signage, architecture and mobility. Recently, it has also become widely used as a digital art canvas in both the domestic and international art scene.

Unlike conventional OLED displays that conceal the backside, transparent OLEDs enable novel artistic experimentation. For example, by layering multiple transparent OLEDs in a space, it delivers scenes that were previously unattainable.

Currently, LG Display is the world’s sole manufacturer of large-size transparent OLED displays.

Leveraging this latest innovation, beginning this March, LG Display has been showcasing "Blooming Strings" in an immersive interactive exhibition at Artechouse – a specialized art museum at the heart of Washington.

The eight-layered transparent OLED displays become activated every time a visitor passes, accurately reproducing his or her movement through flower stems.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics has been sponsoring various art events and exhibitions, showcasing non-fungible token art on its flagship OLED TVs. Notably, it participated in Frieze New York this May, one of the world's three major contemporary art fairs.

At the fair, award-winning Argentinian designer and digital artist Six N. Five presented his new digital art series “Among the Sky” on LG’S OLED TV, blurring the line between natural and otherworldly expressions.

LG’s OLED TV also drew attention at the Milan Design Week 2023, the world's largest design fair that kicked off in the northern Italy city, this April.

"LG will actively leverage art as a tool to enhance its brand value,” explained an LG official. "This aligns with our continued commitment to innovation and creativity, coinciding with the future direction that contemporary art is taking."

By Song Jung-hyun (junghyun792@heraldcorp.com)