First BMW Art Car designed by Chinese artist to debut in 2017. Creative contemporary art will anticipate emerging trends in future mobility.

Munich/Beijing. Cao Fei, the first Chinese artist
commissioned to design a BMW Art Car, shared her inspirations and
design concept for her “rolling sculpture” during a media briefing at
her Beijing studio on Thursday, August 25. The 18th BMW Art Car, which
is based on the BMW M6 GT3, is set to debut in 2017. Inspired by the
speed of racing cars and the tremendous changes of Chinese society
over the past decades, Cao Fei will use this installation to interpret
the themes of the century such as automated driving and the
convergence of virtual worlds and reality.

“The car is key to understanding the changes occurring in
contemporary Chinese society. The rapid speed of a car and the rapid
changes taking place in Chinese society are my inspirations for
creating the 18th BMW Art Car. But my BMW Art Car will adopt an
expressive form completely different from previous ones. It will be an
interpretation of the century’s theme, namely that we enter ‘a
landscape of no man’s land’, e.g. autonomous cars and aircrafts and
virtual reality,” said Cao Fei.

Thomas Girst, Head of BMW Group Cultural Engagement, emphasized the
heritage and innovations of BMW Art Cars during the media briefing,
“Art is a mirror that can reflect the future into today’s
reality. The BMW Group believes that sustainability, connectivity and
automated driving are the trends for future individual mobility. We
are pleased to see that the artists’ ideas for the 18th BMW Art Car
regarding future cars, society and humankind is in line with BMW’s
vision for future mobility.”

Just like previous BMW Art Cars, the 18th vehicle of the collection
will participate in a racing event in Asia and furthermore be
exhibited in a major museum, making it the latest example of the BMW
Group’s endeavor to promote the arts and intercultural communications.

Cao Fei is considered one of the most important young artists to have
emerged from China. She has been active in the international art scene
for almost two decades with her unique multimedia projects in which
she explores the rapid changes occurring in Chinese society today. In
November 2015, the jury of the BMW Art Car project, consisting of
twelve renowned museum directors and curators, voted unanimously in
favor of Cao Fei and American artist John Baldessari to design the
18th and 19th BMW Art Car respectively. The jury is “in particular
looking forward as to how she may turn the car into an imaginative
part of her parallel universe” as well as present a new perspective to
the world.

Ab
solute creative freedom and full support of the artist

The BMW Group is committed to the pursuit of innovation and
creativity. With regards to creating the 18th BMW Art Car, Cao Fei has
been guaranteed absolute creative freedom and the full support of BMW.

Cao Fei has also gained a unique insight into the automotive
industry. Over the course of the past year, the BMW Group arranged for
Cao Fei to have several in-depth meetings with the company’s senior
executives. For example, Dr Ian Robertson, member of the Board of
Management of BMW AG, discussed the possibility for Cao to be the
first artist to also create the inside of a BMW Art Car; Adrian van
Hooydonk, Senior Vice President of BMW Group Design, met with her to
discuss colors; Karim Habib, Director of BMW Design, spoke to her
about 3‑D modeling; and Olaf Kastner, President and CEO of BMW Group,
China Region, met with her to discuss BMW’s “Art Factory” in Shenyang.

In addition, BMW gave the Chinese artist a first‑hand taste of speed
and state-of-the-art technologies by arranging personalized visits and
activities. For instance, the artist marveled at the sight of a number
of IT industry experts collaborating with auto designers at the
Group’s RD center. She also was able to see some cutting-edge
technologies showcasing human-machine interaction, virtual reality and
artificial intelligence, which have already begun to influence the
early stages of auto design.

At BMW Group’s plants in Munich and Shenyang, Cao Fei was given a
comprehensive overview of the modern auto manufacturing process. She
even witnessed the manufacturing of BMW’s latest engine. A young
technician from the production line spoke with the artist about the
many positive changes the plant has made in his life as well as for
the city of Shenyang. The expatriate German experts from the
headquarters at Shenyang plant showed Cao Fei how BMW’s “engineer
culture” informs every detail of their work.

The communication of these ideas gave Cao Fei a whole new
understanding of the design and meaning of cars, which in turn helped
her gain a better understanding of the advanced technologies used in
the modern car industry. In addition, she gained further insights into
the wide range of creative ways informing the shape of future
mobility. This interplay of ideas was the source of inspiration for
the artist’s many ideas of how to create the 18th BMW Art Car.

History of the BMW Art Cars

The perfect interaction of design, automotive, racing, technology and
contemporary art has helped make each BMW Art Car legendary in both
the auto industry and the art world. In 1975, together with former
Motorsport Director Jochen Neerpasch, the passionate French racecar
driver Hervé Poulain came up with the idea to create a canvas on his
BMW 3.0 CSL, and commissioned American artist and friend Alexander
Calder to paint the first BMW Art Car, thus marking the birth of the collection.

Over the past 41 years, BMW invited seventeen international artists
to design BMW models, among them some of the most renowned artists of
our time: Alexander Calder (1975), Frank Stella (1976), Roy
Lichtenstein (1977), Andy Warhol (1979), Ernst Fuchs (1982), Robert
Rauschenberg (1986), Michael Jagamara Nelson (1989), Ken Done (1989),
Matazo Kayama (1990), César Manrique (1990), A. R. Penck (1991),
Esther Mahlangu (1991), Sandro Chia (1992), David Hockney (1995),
Jenny Holzer (1999), Olafur Eliasson (2007), Jeff Koons (2010). Thanks
to their creativity, the BMW Art Cars have been a manifestation of
minimalism, pop art, art brut and conceptual art – an authentic
testimony to the unique trends and cultural ideas of their time.

Moreover, the BMW Art Cars have a long-standing racing tradition, in
step with the BMW brand philosophy of “Sheer Driving Pleasure” they
combine continuous innovation with speed and art. All BMW Art Cars are
“rolling sculptures” built from production models or racecars, and out
of those exquisite vehicles so far eight have excelled on the tracks
and achieved extraordinary results.

Promoting cultural engagement to fulfill the commitment to
social responsibility

BMW Group is committed to corporate social responsibility through
cultural engagement while pursuing innovation and development. The
range of seventeen existing BMW Art Cars showcases various artistic
themes including animal patterns from Australian aboriginal myths as a
symbol of admiration for ancient civilizations as well as a recurrence
of African tribal paintings that introduce distinctly novel
perspectives and thus new life into traditional art. All of these
demonstrate the BMW Group’s unrelenting efforts to promote the
development of and exchange between various cultures.

As the latest member to join the BMW Art Car collection, the 18th BMW
Art Car will offer the whole world an opportunity to better appreciate
the values of Chinese modern art and understand the transition of
Chinese society.

BMW initiated the program “BMW China Cultural Journey” in China in
2007 in an effort to raise public awareness for its heritage and
culture as well as to protect both tangible and intangible Chinese
cultural heritage.

 

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