Langdon-Pole’s journey “
Sutures of the Sky,” as his proposal is titled,
will take him later this year across a world that humans and birds
have been navigating through millennia. He will follow the flight
paths of birds like the white stork or the arctic tern, traveling
along the earth’s axis where the Northern and Southern Hemispheres’
summers intersect. Migrating birds cover some of the longest distances
traveled by any living being. Their routes have guided the Polynesian
pathfinders across the seas.
Inspired by this ancient celestial tracing, Langdon-Pole’s
journey questions the position of humans as the center of the world.
Weaving through Central Europe, Southern Africa, and the Pacific
Islands of Samoa and Hawaii, his BMW Art Journey seeks to understand
how culture intersects with the science of celestial mapping—and from
there flows into larger existential inquiries about who we are and how
we are situated in the world.
The international jury consisted of Richard
Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and
Foundation, New York; Claire Hsu, Director, Asia Art
Archive, Hong Kong; Bose Krishnamachari, President,
Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India; Matthias Mühling,
Director, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich;
Pauline J. Yao, Curator, Visual Art M+, Hong Kong.
“The first artistic expressions of humanity, until the 19th
century, had been largely inspired by the beauty, grandeur, and
spellbinding mysteries of nature,” the jury noted in its statement.
“After the Enlightenment, this view of the wonders of the world became
outdated. Zac Langdon-Pole’s concept of an artist’s journey brings
this sense of wonder back to art, and as an occasion for ideological
and political reflection. We were particularly impressed by how the
artist plans to meet experts in various disciplines to share his
experience and join him as interlocutors.
Zac Langdon-Pole was announced as the next BMW Art Journey
winner at the BMW Art Journey Talk on June 13 during Art Basel in
Basel. Art Basel and BMW will collaborate with the artist to document
the journey and share it with a broader public through print
publications, online and social media.
In addition to Zac Langdon-Pole, the shortlisted
artists from the Discoveries sector for emerging artists at
Art Basel in Hong Kong were: Ali Kazim (represented
by Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai) and Gala Porras-Kim
(represented by Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles).
The jury took note of the exceptionally detailed and thoughtful
proposals tendered by the other two finalists, both of whom proposed
journeys with an emphasis on archeology. The jury commended Gale
Porras-Kim (b. 1984) and Ali Kazim (b. 1979) for their efforts to
“link past and present and bridge reality and fiction.”
The Los Angeles-Based Gala Porras Kim “takes a
material we often take for granted—stone—to investigate archeology and
its relationship to truth,” the jury noted. “Her proposal is an
ambitious look at mapping seminal and recently-discovered ancient
stone sculptures—man-made and natural—across multiple geographies and
moments in time. By employing satellite technology alongside other
techniques, she has sought to further extract histories that are
always a combination of both fact and fiction.”
Similarly, Ali Kazim, who lives and works in
Lahore, Pakistan, “seeks to uncover relationships between history,
culture, and the invisible workings of nature and time. His approach
is invested with a desire to reexamine the territory that exists
between material reality and human imagination. In visiting actual
archaeological sites and seeing actual objects from Gandharan culture
that extends across Asia and Europe, Kazim proposed to merge these
visual resources with his own artistic language to yield a unique set
of drawings and sculptures.”
Launched in 2015, the BMW Art Journey is a collaboration between
Art Basel and BMW, created to recognize and support emerging artists
worldwide. The unique award is open to artists who are exhibiting in
the Discoveries sector during Art Basel in Hong Kong. A judging panel
comprised of internationally renowned experts meet first to select a
shortlist three artists from the sector, who are then invited to
submit proposals for a journey aimed to further develop their ideas
and artistic work. The jury reconvenes to choose a winner from the
three proposals.
Past winners of the BMW Art Journey include sound and
performance artist Samson Young (presented by a.m.
Space, Hong Kong at Art Basel’s Hong Kong show in 2015), who
represented Hong Kong at the 2017 Venice Biennale; German video
artists Henning Fehr and Philipp Rühr (presented by
Galerie Max Mayer, Dusseldorf at Art Basel’s Miami Beach show in
2015); British artist Abigail Reynolds (presented by
Rokeby, London at Art Basel’s show in Hong Kong in 2016) as well as
Max Hooper Schneider (presented by High Art, Paris
at Art Basel’s Miami Beach show in 2016), Astha
Butail (presented by GALLERYSKE, New Dehli, Bangalore at Art
Basel´s Hong Kong show in 2017) and Jamal Cyrus
(presented by Inman Gallery, Houston at Art Basel´s Miami Beach show
in 2017).
BMW is a global partner of Art Basel and has supported Art
Basel’s three shows in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong for many years.
For further information about the artist and the project, please visit:
www.bmw-art-journey.com
For further questions please contact:
Prof Dr
Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental
Affairs
Head of Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49 89 382
247 53
www.press.bmwgroup.com
Email:
presse@bmw.de
Dorothee Dines
Art Basel
Global Head of Media
Relations
Telephone: +41 58 206 27 06
Email: dorothee.dines@artbasel.com
Zac Langdon-Pole at Michael Lett, Auckland
Zac Langdon-Pole (b. 1988) lives and works in Berlin,
Germany. He studied at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland and at the
Städelschule, Frankfurt. His work is often underpinned by questions of
belonging, translation and identification. At this year’s edition of
Art Basel in Hong Kong, Langdon-Pole presented a series of works that
combined delicate paper nautilus shells with unique iron meteorites
handcrafted to fill the shells’ apertures. In 2017, he was awarded the
Ars Viva Prize for young artists living in Germany. Recent exhibitions
include Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Darmstadt; Between Bridges, Berlin; Ars
Viva 2018, Berlin; S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent
and Kunstverein München, Munich. http://michaellett.com/artist/zac-langdon-pole/ https://www.contemporaryhum.com/zac-langdon-pole-ars-viva
About Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel
today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary
art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong. Defined by its host
city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its
participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of
parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions
for each edition.
Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through a
number of new initiatives. In 2014, Art Basel launched its
Crowdfunding Initiative which catalyzed much-needed support for
outstanding non-commercial art projects worldwide and helped garner
pledges in excess of USD 2 million in support of around 70 art
projects from around the globe – from Bogota to Ho Chi Minh City, San
José and Kabul. For Art Basel Cities, launched in 2016, Art Basel is
working with selected partner cities to develop vibrant and
content-driven programs specific to the individual city. Connecting
them to the global art world through Art Basel’s expertise and
network, Art Basel Cities supports its partners to develop their
unique cultural landscape. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.
About BMW Group’s Cultural Commitment
For almost 50 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and
engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company
places the main focus of its long-term commitment on contemporary and
modern art, classical music and jazz as well as architecture and
design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the
artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group’s
Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff
Koons, Daniel Barenboim, Jonas Kaufmann and architect Zaha Hadid have
co-operated with BMW. In 2016 and 2017, female artist Cao Fei from
China and American John Baldessari created the next two vehicles for
the BMW Art Car Collection. Besides co-initiatives, such as BMW Tate
Live, the BMW Art Journey and the “Opera for All” concerts in Berlin,
Munich and London, the company also partners with leading museums and
art fairs as well as orchestras and opera houses around the world. The
BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all its cultural
activities for granted – as this is as essential for producing
groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a
successful business.
Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture
and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview
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The BMW Group
With its four brands
BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s
leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also
provides premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group
production network comprises 31 production and assembly facilities in
14 countries; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.
In 2017, the BMW Group sold over 2,463,500 passenger vehicles
and more than 164,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in
the financial year 2016 was approximately € 9.67 billion on revenues
amounting to € 94.16 billion. As of 31 December 2016, the BMW Group
had a workforce of 124,729 employees.
The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term
thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established
ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain,
comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to
conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.
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