Hyundai Motor Group and Royal College of Art announce winners of the Hyundai Awards for Excellence in Sustainability and Creative Practice 2024

Now in their second year, the Hyundai Awards celebrate projects from across the Royal College of Art in any art or design discipline. The Awards recognise the importance of employing different perspectives when tackling global issues. 

Applications are accepted from all graduating RCA students, and winners selected in three categories: Inspiration, Innovation, and Aesthetics & Craft. The winners are selected by a panel of experts including Peter Schreyer, Executive Design Advisor, Hyundai Motor Group and representatives from the Hyundai brands as well as Professor Dale Harrow, Director of the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre at the RCA.

Paul Baule (MA Digital Direction) for the project WOOD YOU

WOOD YOU is an immersive installation that combines historic satellite imagery of deforestation in the Amazon with 3D animation and acoustic interaction. Through nine audio-reactive video-playheads, it creates a context where the dissonance between human activity and global ecosystems creates an interplay between audience and forest.

Depending on the acoustic intensity of an audio trigger, each of these nine video-playheads will jump back and forth in time, showing the year-by-year change of selected deforestation sites between 1985 and 2020.

Each piece displays largely intact forest areas when the audience is quiet and reveals varying patterns of cleared farmland as ambient noise increases. It is up to each visitor to decide how to interact with the work, how to relate to the displayed forest/deforestation, and consequently, how the forest/deforestation responds to their presence.

The simple functionality of WOOD YOU’s nine pieces allow them to be combined with various additional sources of audio (a live drum solo, political speeches, an orchestra, pre-composed music, etc.), each of which offers a new perspective on the underlying theme.

Ankita Khanna MA Design Products and Yohaan Kukreja (MA Innovation Design Engineering) for the project RAW Materials (Renewable Agricultural Waste)

RAW Materials (Renewable Agricultural Waste) is a rice straw derived, biodegradable composite and sheet material for use in the fashion industry. It responds to the problem of rice straw burning—a practice that takes place in Punjab, India that leads to the burning of 21 million tons of rice straw annually. This creates severe air pollution, with the air quality index (AQI) often exceeding 400 in the country, and results in significant health issues, economic losses, and soil degradation. 

This project aims to reduce rice straw burning by up to 30% in the next five years, as well as offering a sustainable alternative to synthetic materials in footwear production. It transforms agricultural waste into valuable products that can be mass-produced and easily integrated into existing manufacturing processes. The approach goes beyond creating eco-friendly materials by reshaping the supply chain to prioritise sustainability. By using bio-binders instead of synthetic ones and waste as the main source, the materials are both bio-derived and biodegradable, significantly reducing the environmental impact of traditional manufacturing.

Kahee Jeong (MA Painting) for the project Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

This project was born from the lockdown necessity of painting at home, rather than in a studio. Before the pandemic, Kahee Jeong primarily used oil paints and solvents that could be harmful to the environment. Being forced to paint only at home without a suitable disposal system prompted Kahee to change painting materials to non-toxic mediums, including self-made dyes from food waste and natural sources that would not be harmful to humans or the environment when disposed of. 

This project uses the natural, handmade paints in interactive and smudged images on raw canvas and reused objects. This practice reflects Jeong's dual background as an artist and pharmacist, striving for sustainability through eco-friendly artwork and minimising environmental impact in the creative process.

Kahee Jeong says: “Since the pandemic, I have pursued sustainability to interpret the outer world through my works. In the process of this painting, I applied techniques to minimise rubbish and reduce environmental impact. I used natural colours from cinnamon, beetroot, and tea leaves and non-toxic water-based pigments. Reusing materials and reviving them into aesthetic objects greatly inspired me. In this work, I incorporated a sound sensor that interacts with viewers by detecting their movements and triggering sound behind the canvas, using an empty business card case and repurposed wires and components. The installation around canvas was influenced by Korean traditional wind chimes that harness natural energy.

“As an artist and a pharmacist, I feel a profound responsibility towards the environment. I believe it is more valuable to leave genuine nature rather than a pictorial version of it for the future generation.”