Paris – May 21, 2024… The 20th BMW Art Car is being presented to the public for the first time today at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Designed by renowned New York-based contemporary artist Julie Mehretu, the project transforms the BMW M Hybrid V8 racecar into a performative work of art, continuing a longstanding tradition of BMW Art Cars and competitive racing. Just a few weeks after its World Premiere in the French capital, the newest edition in the storied BMW Art Car collection will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“The whole BMW Art Car project is about invention, about imagination, about pushing limits of what can be possible. I don’t think of this car as something you would exhibit. I am thinking of it as something that will race in Le Mans. It’s a performative painting. My BMW Art Car was created in close collaboration with motorsport and engineering teams,” says Julie Mehretu. “The BMW Art Car is only completed once the race is over.”

The collaboration between BMW and Julie Mehretu also includes a joint commitment to a series of Pan-African Translocal Media Workshops for filmmakers, which will tour various African cities in 2025 and 2026 and will culminate in a major exhibition at the Zeitz Museum in Cape Town.

“The BMW Art Cars are an essential part of our global cultural commitment. For almost 50 years, we have been cooperating with artists who are just as fascinated by mobility and design as they are by technology and motorsports. Julie Mehretu's vision for a racing car is an extraordinarily strong contribution to our BMW Art Cars series,” said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “Julie Mehretu has created more than an amazing Art Car. Her ideas provided the impetus for us to expand the cultural commitment of our Art Cars to promote the creativity of young artists in Africa.”

A Performative Painting is Created.

Space, movement, and energy have always been central motifs in Julie Mehretu's work. For the design of the 20th BMW Art Car, she transformed a two-dimensional image into a three-dimensional representation for the first time, with which she succeeded in bringing dynamism into form. Julie Mehretu used the color and form vocabulary of her monumental painting “Everywhen” (2021-2023) as a starting point for her design. The work is currently on view at the artist’s major retrospective at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice and will subsequently become part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, to which it has been gifted.

Its abstract visual form results from digitally altered photographs, which are superimposed in several layers of dot grids, neon-colored veils and the black markings characteristic of Mehretu's work. “In the studio, where I had the model of the BMW M Hybrid V8, I was just sitting in front of the the painting and I thought: What would happen, if this car seemed to go through that painting and becomes affected by it?”, Julie Mehretu says. “The idea was to make a remix, a mash-up of the painting. I kept seeing that painting kind of dripping into the car. Even the kidneys of the car inhaled the painting.”

BMW Art Cars with Le Mans History Come Together at the Concorso d’Eleganza.

The fusion of image and vehicle was realized with the help of 3D mapping, with which the motif was transferred to the contours of the vehicle. The elaborate foiling allows for the fully designed BMW M Hybrid V8 to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. BMW Motorsport drivers Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), Robin Frijns (NED) and René Rast (GER) will enter the 20th BMW Art Car with starting number 20 at the Circuit de la Sarthe on June 15. Like them, Julie Mehretu is also eagerly awaiting the race: “I went to see the BMW M Hybrid V8 race in Daytona, and this experience was inspiring. Designers, engineers, aerodynamicists and so many other creative minds are working on taking this vehicle to its extreme. When it goes out on the racetrack now, so many dreams will be fulfilled.”

Leading up to race day, Julie Mehretu's BMW Art Car will make an appearance at the Concorso d'Eleganza at Villa d'Este in Lake Como on its way to Le Mans. As part of the exhibition for historic vehicles organized by the BMW Group and the Grand Hotel Villa d'Este, Julie Mehretu herself will present the 20^th edition of the BMW Art Car Collection. It will be featured on the grounds of the Villa Erba together with the BMW Art Cars by Alexander Calder (1975), Frank Stella (1976), Roy Lichtenstein (1977), Andy Warhol (1979), Jenny Holzer (1999) and Jeff Koons (2010), which also made their race debut at Le Mans. Julie Mehretu will discuss the creation of the 20th BMW Art Car in an artist talk with Adrian van Hooydonk, Head of BMW Group Design, on Sunday, May 26, 2024.

Inspiration for Young Artists: PanAfrican Translocal Media Workshops.

The collaboration between BMW and Julie Mehretu was conceived from the beginning beyond the automobile. It will culminate after the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a project for emerging artists on the African continent: The Pan-African Translocal Media Workshops. Together, Mehretru, BMW, and partners will focus on the creative potential across the African continent, where the BMW Gorup has been making a contribution to social repsosiblity through educational projects for over 50 years.

Julie Mehretu and Mehret Mandefro, Emmy-nominated producer, writer, and co-founder of the Realness Institute, which works to strengthen the media ecosystem in Africa, will organize workshops in various African cities and regions throughout 2025. The goal of the project is to provide a space for artists to collaborate and exchange ideas. These meetings will offer a forum for artists to develop new pathways towards a just civic future in their respective communities.

The Pan-African Translocal Workshop series will visit the cities of Dakar (Senegal), Marrakech (Morocco), Kigali (Rwanda), Lagos (Nigeria), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Cape Town (South Africa) and the island of Zanzibar (Tanzania). The results of the workshops will be presented together with the 20^th BMW Art Car at the Zeitz Museum in Cape Town.

The Artist.

Julie Mehretu is a world-renowned American painter. She was born in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, in 1970. Together with her family she moved to the U.S. at the age of seven. She lives and works in New York City and Berlin.

Mehretu’s practice in painting, drawing and printmaking engage the viewer in a dynamic visual articulation of contemporary experience, a depiction of social behavior and the psychogeography of space by exploring palimpsests of history, from geological time to a modern-day phenomenology of the social.

Mehretu received her bachelor’s degree from the Kalamazoo College in Michigan, spent a year abroad at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, and completed her Master's degree of Fine Art with honors from The Rhode Island School of Design in 1997. Mehretu has received numerous awards, including the The MacArthur Award (2005), The Berlin Prize: Guna S. Mundheim Fellowship at The American Academy in Berlin (2007) and the U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts Award (2015). A mid-career survey of Mehretu’s work recently toured at LACMA (Los Angeles), High Museum (Atlanta), The Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), and The Walker Museum of Art (Minneapolis) from 2019 to 2023. Her largest European solo exhibition to date entitled “Ensemble” opened March 17, 2024, at Palazzo Grassi in Venice.

Mehretu is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and The National Academy of Design. Her global representative is Marian Goodman Gallery. She also exhibits with White Cube, London, and Carlier Gebauer, Berlin.

Statement from the Jury for the 20th BMW Art Car.

Julie Mehretu was unanimously selected in 2018 by a jury of high-ranking representatives of the international art world to design the 20th BMW Art Car. The panel includes renowned curators and museum directors from various countries, including Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town; Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, London; and Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director and Chief Curator, High Line Art, New York.

On the occasion of the World Premiere of the BMW Art Car designed by Julie Mehretu in Paris, the jury members published the following statement: "We are thrilled with Julie's BMW Art Car! Okwui Enwezor had already coined the phrase ‘Dynamism in Form’ during our jury session, and nothing applies better to her BMW M Hybrid V8 racecar. Julie’s first three-dimensional work combines her aesthetics and formal language with the idea of the glitch and the blur, turning speed into a visceral experience. This energetic space is as fierce and competitive in racing as it is ambitious as a creative playground of the imagination. It not only pays homage to the art cars of Jenny Holzer and Frank Stella, but also spins a visual web from Mad Max to graffiti and street art that is unique within the series of BMW Art Cars."

The BMW M Hybrid V8.

The canvas for the 20th BMW Art Car is the BMW M Hybrid V8. The new racecar from BMW M GmbH features a hybrid electric drivetrain system with approximately 640 hp, powered by a 4.0-litre V8 engine supported by an electric motor (top speed: up to 345 km/h or 215 mph, depending on the racetrack layout).

During this year’s official FIA World Endurance Championship races, the BMW M Hybrid V8 will take on high-calibre competition in the Hypercars category. The car will also compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans - the first BMW M Motorsport prototype to do so since the BMW V12 LMR, which won the classic race in 1999.

The BMW Art Car Collection.

Renowned artists from all over the world have participated in the BMW Art Car program since 1975. The initiative came from the French racing driver and art lover Hervé Poulain, who, together with the then BMW Head of Motorsport Jochen Neerpasch, asked his artist friend Alexander Calder to paint a car. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL, which competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975 and became a crowd favorite.

This was the birth of the BMW Art Car Collection. In the years that followed, renowned artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Ólafur Elíasson and Jeff Koons enriched the collection with further BMW Art Cars, each in their own individual style. Most recently, the Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei and American conceptual artist John Baldessari each presented a BMW Art Car based on the BMW M6 GT3 and GTLM respectively in 2016 and 2017. The BMW Art Cars are not only shown at their home, the BMW Museum in Munich, but are also on tour around the world as part of international exhibitions.

# # #

BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975.  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country.  BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and assembles the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 350 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers,146 BMW motorcycle retailers, 105 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Journalist note: Information about the BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists online at www.bmwusanews.com , www.miniusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.

# # #

• Tribute to BMW Art Car No. 12 by Esther Mahlangu Debuts at Frieze Los Angeles Featuring the 100% Electric BMW 5 Series.
• Latest Iteration of Color-Changing E Ink Technology Reinterprets Mahlangu’s Distinctive Design. 
• Complex Colors and Patterns Showcase Future Potential for Vehicle Personalization. 

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – February 29, 2024… The BMW Group presents a fusion of art and innovation at the Frieze Los Angeles art fair in the form of the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA. The one-of-a-kind vehicle combines color-change technology developed by BMW with the artistic language of South African artist Esther Mahlangu. With sections of attached film that can be electronically animated, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA embodies the latest development in color-change technology for vehicle surfaces in cooperation with E Ink.

The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA celebrates its world premiere at the fair opening on February 29. The contemporary tribute recalls the BMW Art Car designed by Mahlangu in 1991. “The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA honors the history of the BMW brand and continues the story of our global cultural engagement in a unique way. It combines art and design through progressive technology. Here, technology itself becomes art,” says Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design.

In 1991, Mahlangu designed the 12th BMW Art Car, based on a BMW 525i – becoming the first woman and first African artist to do so. “Her art inspired me years ago, back when the concept of color change on a car was just an idea in my head,” says Stella Clarke, Research Engineer Open Innovations at the BMW Group. Now, being able to realize this idea, and work with Esther Mahlangu, is absolutely surreal.” The 88-year-old artist’s signature colors and geometric patterns are perfect for bringing the innovative Flow technology to life in the BMW i5. The versatility of the electrophoretic color changes makes the fully electric sedan a dynamic work of art. “It is fascinating to me to see how modern technology can expand my art and make it accessible to a completely new audience,” says Mahlangu.

Mahlangu’s art meets cutting-edge technology.

In the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA, which is named after Mahlangu’s first son, sections of film that can be electronically animated are applied, with two strips each across the roof, hood, and rear section, as well as the vehicle’s sides. Like an e-book reader, there are several million microcapsules in each E Ink film. The structure and arrangement of the color particles they contain can be changed by applying an electric voltage. This allows the typical colors and patterns of Mahlangu’s art to be generated in constantly changing compositions.

The animations are also accompanied by an equally extraordinary sound composed by Renzo Vitale, the BMW Group's Creative Director, Sound. To combine the soundscape of the BMW brand with that of the South African Ndebele culture, Vitale used sequences from Mahlangu’s voice, as well as the sound of the feather brushes she used for painting. These were combined with sounds produced by the color pencils employed in the BMW design studio and the acoustic signal heard as feedback when operating the BMW i5’s touch display. This created a sound mix that starts off softly at the beginning of each color change and increases in intensity as the animation progresses.

To accurately recreate every detail of the complex ornamentation, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA has been fitted with 1,349 sections of film, each of which can be individually controlled. The laser cutting process used to trim the film and the electronic control design were developed in partnership with E Ink. The adaptation of the technology for curved surfaces, as well as the programmed animations, are all BMW Group in-house developments. Overall, color-change technology is developing rapidly. The BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink presented in 2022 had the ability to switch from white to black at the push of a button. This was followed just one year later by the first multicolored implementation. The 240 sections of film applied to BMW i Vision Dee were able to display up to 32 colors. This latest phase of development now enables even more colors and patterns. At the same time, the sections of the film are more robust – which could make potential future series production easier. However, for the time being, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA will remain one of a kind.

Tribute to a pioneering artist and her work.

As a globally respected artist, Esther Mahlangu is known for her Ndebele paintings, whose ornamentation originally symbolized major events or festive occasions. Mahlangu separated the designs from their original meaning and transferred them for the first time to canvas, carpets and everyday objects, thus preserving them for the future. The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA is now reinterpreting this artistic language.

In presenting this special vehicle Frieze Los Angeles, BMW continues its longstanding cooperation with the renowned art fair. At the same time, the BMW Art Car that formed the basis for this tribute will also be on display in South Africa for the first time in over 30 years as part of the exhibition hosted by the Iziko Museums of South Africa and the BMW Group in Cape Town “Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting”: Esther Mahlangu. A Retrospective. The exhibition, which runs until August 11, 2024, honors the life’s work of one of South Africa’s most influential artists and cultural ambassadors.

In Los Angeles, BMW will once again be presenting Frieze Music in collaboration with Frieze. Since 2019, the joint initiative between the two partners has brought together a large group of musicians at the intersection of music and art. The event’s return to Los Angeles will be celebrated on February 29 with a live performance by Sudan Archives at the Hammer Museum.

# # #

BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975.  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; a technology office in Silicon

Valley and various other operations throughout the country.  BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and assembles the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 350 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers,146 BMW motorcycle retailers, 105 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Journalist note: Information about the BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists online at www.bmwusanews.comwww.miniusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.

# # #

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – November 28, 2023… Julie Mehretu presents her first design studies for the 20th BMW Art Car. For this project, the internationally renowned artist combines her artistic work with a personal enthusiasm for automotive design and speed. She translates dynamism into form and applies one of her monumental motifs from a two-dimensional picture plane onto a three-dimensional industrially designed object. In the course of this creative process, the BMW M Hybrid V8 racing car prototype becomes the canvas of Mehretu's multi-layered art and the next addition to the legendary BMW Art Car Collection. The 20th BMW Art Car will celebrate its official world premiere at the Centre Pompidou in Paris on May 21, 2024, before competing a few weeks later in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15/16.

For the design of the 20th BMW Art Car, Julie Mehretu uses the color and form vocabulary of an existing large-format painting from a more recent series of works: obscured photographs, dotted grids, neon-colored spray paint and Mehretu's iconic gestural markings give her design an abstract visual form. She transfers the resulting image motif as a high-resolution photograph onto the vehicle's contours using a 3D mapping technique. This creates the unique artistic foiling with which the BMW M Hybrid V8 will compete in the Le Mans race. Mehretu on her process: "It wasn't until after going to the 24 Hours race in Daytona last year that the idea of how to approach the BMW Art Car really crystallized. I was thinking about Frank Stella's grid and how this could also be a shout-out to former BMW Art Car artists. And I kept thinking of this painting in my studio that I had just finished, and the model of the Art Car was in my studio and I thought maybe we can try to have the car move through this painting."

For the first time, Julie Mehretu, whose work will be presented this year within a major retrospective at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice from March 17, is working with BMW on a three-dimensional format. The interplay of the surfaces and geometry of the vehicle creates a remix of elements of her painting and opens up new perspectives for the artist in her creative process. "The creative play of what you can do in this new three-dimensional space and how many imaginations and inventions are played out to build it is highly instructive. It is not just the car itself but the designers and their deliberations as well as and foremost the drivers and their desires and aspirations which make it become this place of dreams where painting, conceptual art, aerodynamics, speed, and aesthetics can participate,” says Mehretu. 

In accordance with the regulations of the FIA, the 3D version of the artwork can only be applied to the BMW M Hybrid V8 with a film wrap. For this, Julie Mehretu is working closely with the German Race Spirit team led by Manuel Eberl and Gertraud Brenninger to design the 20th BMW Art Car. Race Spirit was already involved in realizing the design created by Jeff Koons for the 17th BMW Art Car.

In keeping with the long tradition of the BMW Art Car Collection, the artistically designed vehicle will be presented to the public for the first time in an internationally renowned museum on May 21. As with the world premieres of the BMW Art Cars by Roy Lichtenstein (1977) and Jeff Koons (2010), the unveiling will take place at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. That same week, the artwork will be part of the program of the Concorso d'Eleganza at the Villa d'Este in Cernobbio (May 24-26).

The close connection between art and motorsport is also an integral part of the history of the BMW Art Car Collection. The very first BMW Art Car, designed by Alexander Calder in 1975, made its dynamic debut at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans. As the 20th BMW Art Car, Julie Mehretu's vehicle will compete at Le Mans with starting number 20 and will be driven by BMW works drivers Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), Robin Frijns (NED) and René Rast (GER) in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from June 15 to16, 2024. The artist will also design the racing suits in which they will compete at Le Mans.

"The prospect of competing in a BMW Art Car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is an additional incentive for the entire M Motorsport team to prepare the BMW M Hybrid V8 as perfectly as possible for this big stage," says Franciscus van Meel, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW M GmbH. "In the 100th year of the race's existence and 25 years after BMW's last victory at Le Mans, winning there with a BMW Art Car would be the greatest possible success for all of us.”

Following its race at Le Mans, the 20th BMW Art Car will also become an exhibit that will be presented to the public in museums and on art platforms worldwide. However, Julie Mehretu's approach goes far beyond the vehicle as a stand-alone artistic work.

A central component of the project is the PanAfricanTranslocal Media Workshop Series on the African continent, which will continue the collaboration between Julie Mehretu and BMW in 2025. Together with Mehret Mandefro, Emmy-nominated producer, writer and co-founder of the Realness Institute, which works to strengthen the media ecosystem across Africa, the artist will host workshops in eight African cities over the course of nine months to provide artists with a space for encounters, exchange and collaboration. The results of the workshops will then be presented at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town – together with the 20th BMW Art Car. An important partner for the conception of the program is the artist residency Denniston Hill in Upstate New York, founded in 2004 by Julie Mehretu, Lawrence Chua and Paul Pfeiffer. Julie Mehretu was unanimously chosen to design the 20th BMW Art Car in 2018 by a jury of high-ranking representatives of the international art world. The panel includes renowned curators and museum directors from various countries, including Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town; Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, London; and Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director and Chief Curator, High Line Art, New York. Like all the artists involved in the creation of the BMW Art Car Collection since 1975 – including Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, César Manrique, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Cao Fei and John Baldessari, in addition to those already mentioned – JulieMehretu was given unrestricted creative freedom in the realization of her ideas for the latest vehicle of this globally unique collection. # # #
BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and assembles the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 350 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers,146 BMW motorcycle retailers, 105 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Journalist note: Information about the BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists online at www.bmwusanews.com , www.miniusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.
# # #

• The BMW M2 by FUTURA 2000 will debut on Thursday, February 13 at Paramount Pictures Studios’ Backlot and inspire a special edition production M2 Competition later this year.
• BMW i and Soho House will also host an Art Talk, “Sights and Sounds,” exploring the intersection of art and mobility, featuring FUTURA 2000 and Grammy award-winning recording artist Lupe Fiasco, and provide VIP courtesy transportation at the fair.

Los Angeles, Calif. – February 12, 2020… BMW returns to Frieze Los Angeles on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 with a multifaceted program featuring a world premiere vehicle designed by international contemporary artist FUTURA 2000. BMW will also present an Art Talk with FUTURA 2000 and Grammy award-winning recording artist Lupe Fiasco, exploring the intersection of art and mobility.  BMW’s presence at Frieze Los Angeles is part of the company’s continuing global partnership with Frieze and decades-long commitment to culture and the arts.    

FUTURA 2000 has partnered with BMW’s legendary M division to express his unique artistic vision via the BMW M2, hand-painting three special examples at BMW world headquarters in Munich.  Futura, born Leonard Hilton McGurr, established himself as a pioneer when graffiti met the formal gallery ecosystem in the 1980s. He quickly became known for his radical approach on the street, introducing abstraction to an entirely letter-based discipline, and became part of a wider art movement that included the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Dondi White. The BMW M2 by FUTURA 2000 will make its world premiere at

Frieze Los Angeles on Thursday, February 13 at 2:30 PM at Paramount Pictures Studios’ Backlot, and inspire a special edition production version to go on sale later this year. 

Art Talk – “Sights and Sounds”

BMW i and Soho House will continue their partnership and present an inspiring Art Talk titled “Sights and Sounds” on Wednesday, February 12 at Soho Warehouse in downtown Los Angeles. Grammy-award winning recording artist Lupe Fiasco joins FUTURA 2000 to explore the intersection of art and mobility.

###

About BMW Group Cultural Engagement

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 a number of ways, including the legendary Art Car series, gallery partnerships, musical events and more. BMW Group affords partnering artists absolute creative freedom in all its cultural activities. 

Further information: 

www.bmwgroup.com/culture and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview

# # #

BMW Group in America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975.  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; technology offices in Silicon Valley and Chicago, and various other operations throughout the country.  BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and manufactures the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 348 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 145 BMW motorcycle retailers, 121 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Journalist note: Information about BMW and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwusanews.com. Follow BMW of North America on Instagram @BMWUSA, Twitter @BMWUSA and like BMWUSA on Facebook. 

# # #

Saint-Tropez/Munich. On the occasion of Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’s (LDF) Fourth Annual Saint-Tropez Gala, BMW France had the pleasure to donate a BMW i3, designed by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari of TOILETPAPER, for the yearly fundraising auction. After some intense bidding, the unique artwork and fully functioning electric vehicle went to a Swiss collector for the amount of €100,000.

The gala was hosted by LDF Founder and Chairman Leonardo DiCaprio, foundation CEO Terry Tamminen and the Global Fundraising Chairman Milutin Gatsby, honoring the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Event Chairs included Prince Albert II of Monaco, Cate Blanchett, Marion Cotillard, Philippe Cousteau, Penélope Cruz, Tom Hanks, Kate Hudson, Doutzen Kroes, Jared Leto, Tobey Maguire, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Uma Thurman and Kate Winslet. Among the guests in attendance were Adrien Brody, Sean Penn, Taylor Hill, Iman Hamman and Gerard Butler. For the international guests, American artist Lenny Kravitz performed on site. Additionally, there was a surprise performance by Madonna.

Vincent Salimon, CEO BMW Group France is delighted that “our commitments to sustainable development and support for contemporary creation come together to raise funds for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. The BMW i3 "Spaghetti Car" was created by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari on the initiative of BMW France and the Rencontres d'Arles, BMW partnered for 8 years. The donation of this unique work for the Foundation's annual charity gala in Saint-Tropez reflects once again the company's culture: daring, innovating, creating in complete freedom, in a responsible and sustainable spirit.”

Auctioneer Simon de Pury, together with curator Lisa Schiff of SFA Advisory oversaw the sale of dozens of original works by internationally renowned artists such as Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin, Urs Fischer, Paul McCarthy, Adrian Ghenie, Rudolf Stingel and current BMW Art Journey recipient Max Hooper Schneider.

With $30 million raised so far, the auction continues online to benefit LDF programs. Please visit: http://www.2017ldfauction.org/en.

The BMW i3 “Spaghetti Car” On the occasion of the Rencontres d’Arles Festival of Photography in 2016, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan (*1960) created a BMW i3 (60 Ah) “rolling sculpture” together with the photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari (*1971). In 2009 Cattelan and Ferrari co-created TOILETPAPER, a bi-annual picture-based publication. For the exterior of the BMW i3, TOILETPAPER employed their signature style spaghetti close-up imagery. Cattelan remarked upon his work: “This is by far the best Spaghetti Car I have tasted! All those years of perfecting definitely paid off! Totally awesome!”

Maurizio Cattelan is considered one of the most significant artists of his time, with major exhibitions at international museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou as well as the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His sculpture “Him” (2001) sold at auction at Christie’s in 2016 in excess of $17m. Within the same year, he installed “America”, a solid 18-karat gold toilet in the Guggenheim Museum’s restroom, free of use for the public. Cattelan is a four-time participant of the Venice Biennial.

From Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein to Robert Rauschenberg and Jeff Koons, BMW has been collaborating with artists creating Art Cars for almost half a century. The BMW i3 series was launched in 2014 as part of the BMW i brand, standing for visionary vehicle concepts and technologies, connected mobility services as well as a new understanding of premium defined by sustainability. The “Spaghetti Car” by TOILETPAPER is a fully functioning electric vehicle and came with a certificate of authenticity signed by TOILETPAPER (Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari) as co-creators of this unique work of art.

For event images please refer to: www.picdrop.de/gettyentertainment

(© Getty Images for Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation)

For further questions please contact:

Dr Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs

Head of Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49-89-382-20067 E-Mail: Thomas.Girst@bmwgroup.com

https://newsroom.bmwgroup.com/global/en

E-Mail: presse@bmw.de

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 – as this initiative 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 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMW-Group-Culture-925330854231870/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmwgroupculture/

@BMWGroupCulture

#BMWGroupCulture

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. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2016, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.367 million cars and 145,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax 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.

www.bmwgroup.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupview

Google+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.com

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – September, 3, 2013 . . . BMW of North America is pleased to feature its M1 Art Car by Andy Warhol at Boston’s biennial ARTcetera fundraising event to support the AIDS Action Committee.  Originally raced in Le Mans, Warhol’s hand painted BMW M1 is the 4th in the Art Car collection, and showcases the artist’s unique depiction of speed. In his own words, Warhol described the piece as “Portray[ing] speed pictorially. If a car is moving really quickly, all the lines and colors are blurred.”

The Art Car series began in 1975 when Le Mans driver Hervé Poulain commissioned American artist Alexander Calder to transform his racecar into a canvas. Since then, the collection has gone on to feature dynamic and impressive artists from around the world, including Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg. Warhol’s M1 Art Car has amassed an impressive resume from museums and galleries worldwide, and will serve as the perfect complement to the high caliber pieces up for auction at ARTcetera.

Additionally, the Massachusetts BMW centers are pleased to announce their first year of sponsorship for ARTcetera 2013. Established by Boston area artists as a response to the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980’s, ARTcetera has flourished into one of New England’s premier art auctions, as well as an invaluable yearly fundraising event for AIDS Action. ARTcetera asks artists, both established and emerging, to submit pieces representative of their unique style across a wide range of mediums. In addition to the artwork, local and national sponsors help to ensure the biennial continuation of the program. The event will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2013 at the Park Plaza Castle in Boston. Information for purchasing tickets or making donations can be found at www.aac.org.

As a longtime proponent of the arts, BMW is proud to partner with ARTcetera 2013. For years, BMW has been a long term partner of Art Basel, Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Basel Miami Beach, Frieze London and New York, as well as Tefaf Maastricht and many other international artistic gatherings. With more than 100 programs worldwide, BMW Group cultural commitment has been an essential part of corporate communications for over 40 years. Unrestricted freedom of creative potential is equally crucial for the field of art as it is for groundbreaking innovations within a business enterprise. Accordingly, the BMW Group places the main focus of its cultural commitment on modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design.

More Information on the Massachusetts BMW Centers can be found at:

http://www.bmwmass.com/

BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975.  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country.  BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes.  The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 139 BMW motorcycle retailers, 119 MINI passenger car dealers, and 34 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:  www.bmwgroupna.com

#      #      #

Journalist note: Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwgroupusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com. 

#      #      #

Le Mans, 14th June 2010. BMW brought a tradition back to life when it lined up at the 78th staging of the Le Mans 24 Hours (FR) with an elaborately designed Art Car. American artist Jeff Koons’ BMW M3 GT2 Art Car really caught the eye in France.

While the no. 78 BMW M3 GT2, with drivers Jörg Müller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR) and Uwe Alzen (DE), finished sixth in the LM GT2 class, the BMW Art Car, with Dirk Werner (DE), Dirk Müller (DE) and Andy Priaulx (GB) at the wheel, had to retire early.

Despite this, Koons drew a very positive conclusion from the endurance classic at the “Circuit de la Sarthe”, as he reveals in this interview.

Mr Koons, unfortunately the Le Mans 24 Hours didn’t go the way all BMW fans had hoped for with the BMW Art Car. Did you still enjoy the experience?

Jeff Koons: “This race has been a very invigorating experience. It’s amazing to see the commitment of all the people involved. The fans sleep in tents and stay awake for far more than 24 hours to celebrate this event. This has me really going, as I understand that it is something truly special for all the people to be here. It’s unfortunate that the BMW M3 GT2 Art Car had to retire early, but it’s part of racing.”

Do you feel for the team you got to know well over the course of the Art Car project?

Koons: “Yes, I would have loved to see the team win, but it wasn’t to be. I know how committed they are and how much precision and care they put into their work. Of course we would have loved to see the car win. I would love to give it another chance and have it compete again.”

Power and dynamics are just two of the catchwords in motor racing. Do these terms also appear in the sphere of modern arts?

Koons: “Yes, there are many parallels. Everything is a metaphor for human life. If we build machines, it’s all metaphoric for our own bodies. These race cars are like gladiators out there. They are performing with full power and full impact.”

Usually you create pieces of art that are made to last. The BMW M3 GT2 Art Car, however, went out into a fight against rivals on the track. Was this a new experience for you to see your art in danger?

Koons: “That was really interesting for me and obviously a part of it. This project has felt so special to me, and working on it reminded me of human history. A history that you can trust the most is almost a biological narrative, it’s our DNA. From the beginning of time to now. What people experience here is that life doesn’t go so much through its physical form, but through the experience that is generated within people.”

Note to the editor: You can find fascinating and copyright free pictures of the 17th BMW Art Car in Le Mans for editorial use online at: www.press.bmwgroup-sport.com

Press Contact.
Thomas Girst, Cultural Communications, +49 89 382 20067, thomas.girst@bmw.de

Ingo Lehbrink, Phone: +49 (0) 176 20340224, Email: ingo.lehbrink@bmw.de
Florian Haasper, Phone: +49 (0) 177 5637923, Email: f.haasper@sport-media-service.de 

Le Mans. On June 12 at three in the afternoon the legendary the 24 Hours of Le Mans will officially begin. A highlight will surely be the participation of the Jeff Koons’ 17th BMW Art Car which has been presented in Paris just a week before. In April 2010, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen announced the driver line-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Andy Priaulx (GB), Dirk Müller (DE) and Dirk Werner (DE) will race the BMW Art Car #79. Jörg Müller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR), Uwe Alzen (DE) will drive the BMW Le Mans car #78.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world’s oldest endurance race in all of sports car racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance, it is organized by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) and runs on a circuit containing closed public roads. The race is designed not only to test a car and driver’s ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24-hour period.

The BMW M3 GT2

Derived from the BMW M3 high-performance sports car, the BMW M3 GT2 boasts a 4.0-liter V8 engine with a maximum output of 500 bhp, an upgraded chassis, racing-caliber brakes, and extensive use of lightweight materials.  Able to reach 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds, the BMW M3 GT2 is rapidly emerging as a real first year contender at this year’s event.

For the Comeback at 24 Le Mans BMW Motorsport is supported by numerous successful partners. This is why the BMW M3 GT2 will be labeled with the logos of Castrol, Crowne Plaza, Dunlop, Randstad, Sympatex, LuK, H&R, BBS and NGK for the race on the “Circuit de la Sarthe”.

The 17th BMW Art Car by Jeff Koons

At the premiere of the 17th BMW Art Car Jeff Koons unveiled and signed his car in front of 300 international VIP guests on June 1 in the Centre Pompidou, one of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions for modern and contemporary art. It is the same place where Roy Lichtenstein back in 1977 first presented and signed his Art Car.

In the spirit of Calder, Stella, Lichtenstein, Warhol, BMW announced this year that the 17th Art Car created by Jeff Koons will race where the first rolling pieces of art by legendary artists raced – at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France on June 12-13, 2010. Koons’ canvas is a BMW M3 GT2, which was homologated to compete at this year’s running of the world’s most famous endurance race.

The Design Process

As part of his creative process, the artist collected images of race cars, related graphics, vibrant colors, speed and explosions. The resulting artwork of bright colors conceived by Koons is evocative of power, motion and bursting energy. Its silver interior along with the powerful exterior design, the Art Car will impart a dynamic appearance even when it’s standing still.

The challenge to create the BMW Art Car had to do with using a light material and a design that would not interfere with the racecar's aerodynamics and weight. Timing was also an issue, as there was only a two month window between the first design sketches and the Paris world premiere. This is why digital print on car wrapping vinyl was used covered by a double clear-coating to bring out the color. To apply hundreds of dynamic lines of Koons' design onto the car, CAD designs were translated from 3D into 2D for the printing process and then painstakingly applied to the entire car as well as onto individual spare parts. Koons design incorporates many bright contrasting colors to communicate the aesthetics of power. The concept design was transformed into hard eged lines of color. Graphics of debris were added to the rear sides and back of the car to simulate the power of the car. Furthermore, two graphic rings on the rear of the car represent supersonic acceleration.

Koons and BMW

The germination of Koons’ collaboration with BMW began in 2003, when he expressed his desire to create a BMW Art Car. His relationship with BMW started more than two decades ago when he drove a BMW while residing in Munich, home to the BMW Group headquarters. Koons is known for his heartfelt appreciation of cars. Earlier this year he was even recognized by music icon Bono of U2 as one of the ideal artists to design a car that would make the world fall in love with automobiles again.

Koons’ creative process for the BMW Art Car mirrors techniques, some borrowed from transportation design and development, which he regularly employs for his artistic production. For example, in the creation of Koons’ monumental sculptures, his studio uses 3-D CAD models to evaluate the surfaces, assembles them via methods found in bike chop shops, and paints them in a manner based on sophisticated automotive painting techniques.

BMW Art Cars

Since 1975, artists from throughout the world have turned BMW automobiles into art signifying a particular period through the Art Car program. In 2007, the latest installment was revealed with Olafur Eliasson’s “Your mobile expectations: BMW H2R project.” Many of the cars by the likes of Warhol, Lichtenstein, Stella, Rauschenberg, Hockney and Holzer have been exhibited in renowned museums throughout the world including the Louvre, the Guggenheim Museums, and the Shanghai Art Museum. They have been displayed at the BMW Museum in Munich, between 2006 and 2010 and many went on a world tour throughout Asia, Russia, Africa, India, the United States and Mexico. The Koons car number, “79,” pays tribute to the 1979 Andy Warhol car. The Warhol car was assigned the number “76,” an homage to the 1976 Frank Stella car, both of which raced at Le Mans.

The home of all BMW Art Cars is the BMW Museum in Munich. Starting in September, Koons’ 17th BMW Art Car will be presented there together with some of its predecessors.

With over 100 major projects worldwide, BMW Group cultural programs have been an integral part of the company’s contributions to society for almost 40 years.  Besides contemporary art, architecture and design, classical music and jazz are key components of this engagement.

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 24 production facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

The BMW Group achieved a global sales volume of approximately 1.29 million automobiles and over 87,000 motorcycles for the 2009 financial year. The pre-tax profit for 2009 was euro 413 million, revenues totalled euro 50.68 billion. At 31 December 2009, the company employed a global workforce of approximately 96,000 associates. The success of the BMW Group has always been built 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. As a result of its efforts, the BMW Group has been ranked industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the last five years.

TV Footage will be available from June 2, 2010 onwards at: www.thenewsmarket.com

High res images can be downloaded from the “Photo” section at: https://newsroom.bmwgroup.com/global/en

To see the video on the 17th BMW Art Car designed by Jeff Koons, please go to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG83ETbo0xE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiTz7X2XOSk

For questions please contact:

Stacy Morris

Marketing Communications Manager

BMW of North America, LLC

Tel. 201-594-3360 / Stacy.Morris@bmwna.com

Paris. At the premiere of the 17th BMW Art Car Jeff Koons unveiled and signed his car in front of 300 international VIP guests on June 1 in the Centre Pompidou, one of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions for modern and contemporary art. It is the same place where Roy Lichtenstein back in 1977 first presented and signed his Art Car.

In the spirit of Calder, Stella, Lichtenstein, Warhol, BMW announced this year that the 17th Art Car created by Jeff Koons will race where the first rolling pieces of art by legendary artists raced – at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France on June 12-13, 2010. Koons’ canvas is a BMW M3 GT2, which was homologated to compete at this year’s running of the world’s most famous endurance race.

On June 2, between 11 am to 9 pm, the public will have the chance to see the Art Car free of charge in the Forum of the Centre Pompidou. At 5.30 pm Jeff Koons will participate in a book signing at the official book store of the museum before he will talk about his work in conversation with Alain Seban, President of the Centre Pompidou, at 6 pm at the Forum of the museum.

The Design Process

As part of his creative process, the artist collected images of race cars, related graphics, vibrant colors, speed and explosions. The resulting artwork of bright colors conceived by Koons is evocative of power, motion and bursting energy. Its silver interior along with the powerful exterior design, the Art Car will impart a dynamic appearance even when it’s standing still.

“These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy,” said Koons. “You can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car – it’s really to connect with that power”.

Koons has been in an intense collaboration with BMW’s team in Munich for months – melding his skill with sophisticated BMW engineering – to ensure that the 17th BMW Art Car will be race-ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Traveling back and forth to Germany many times since the February 2 announcement that Koons would create the 17th BMW Art Car, the artist has worked with the BMW engineering and design teams to conduct in-depth explorations of materials and application options that will prove crucial to optimizing both the aesthetic and aerodynamic attributes of the race car. Working with actual 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) models of the BMW M3 GT2, Koons could simulate the application of the graphic to the car’s surfaces and evaluate it from all angles.

Koons even donned a helmet and joined BMW’s American Le Mans Series race team for testing in Sebring, Florida, on February 23. Koons was able to experience the M3 GT2 at race speed to further inspire his design. As Koons describes it, he witnessed “the raw unfiltered performance” of the M3 GT2 from the seat of a historic BMW M1 race car. Koons also drove a BMW M3 Coupe on the circuit to further the dynamic exercise.

Under Koons’ direct guidance and supervision, his BMW Art Car was produced in assistance with a team of BMW engineers and designers at Schmid Design, outside Munich. The challenge to create the BMW Art Car had to do with using a light material and a design that would not interfere with the racecar's aerodynamics and weight. Timing was also an issue, as there was only a two month window between the first design sketches and the Paris world premiere. This is why digital print on car wrapping vinyl was used covered by a double clear-coating to bring out the color. To apply hundreds of dynamic lines of Koons' design onto the car, CAD designs were translated from 3D into 2D for the printing process and then painstakingly applied to the entire car as well as onto individual spare parts. Koons design incorporates many bright contrasting colors to communicate the aesthetics of power. The concept design was transformed into hard edged lines of color. Graphics of debris were added to the rear sides and back of the car to simulate the power of the car. Furthermore, two graphic rings on the rear of the car represent supersonic acceleration. 
 

Koons and BMW

The germination of Koons’ collaboration with BMW began in 2003, when he expressed his desire to create a BMW Art Car. His relationship with BMW started more than two decades ago when he drove a BMW while residing in Munich, home to the BMW Group headquarters. Koons is known for his heartfelt appreciation of cars. Earlier this year he was even recognized by music icon Bono of U2 as one of the ideal artists to design a car that would make the world fall in love with automobiles again.

Koons’ creative process for the BMW Art Car mirrors techniques, some borrowed from transportation design and development, which he regularly employs for his artistic production. For example, in the creation of Koons’ monumental sculptures, his studio uses 3-D CAD models to evaluate the surfaces, assembles them via methods found in bike chop shops, and paints them in a manner based on sophisticated automotive painting techniques.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans race

In April 2010, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen announced the driver line-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Andy Priaulx (GB), Dirk Müller (DE) and Dirk Werner (DE) will race the BMW Art Car #79. Jörg Müller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR), Uwe Alzen (DE) will drive the BMW Le Mans car #78.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world’s oldest endurance race in all of sports car racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance, it is organized by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) and runs on a circuit containing closed public roads. The race is designed not only to test a car and driver’s ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24-hour period.

French auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain first had the idea of asking an artist to paint the car he himself would compete with. Taking up this initiative in 1975, American artist Alexander Calder painted a BMW racing car, thus laying the foundation. The Art Car experiment was soon continued: a year later, Calder Art Car co-driver Sam Posey introduced Frank Stella to the idea of BMW Art Cars when the New York-based artist covered a BMW with his typical grid-like pattern. Stella’s work was followed by a series of celebrated pop artists: Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Apart from Rauschenberg’s Art Car, all these took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race, some of them enjoying remarkable success.

The BMW M3 GT2

Derived from the BMW M3 high-performance sports car, the BMW M3 GT2 boasts a 4.0-liter V8 engine with a maximum output of 500 bhp, an upgraded chassis, racing-caliber brakes, and extensive use of lightweight materials.  Able to reach 100 mph in 3.4 seconds, the BMW M3 GT2 is rapidly emerging as a real first year contender at this year’s event.

For the Comeback at 24 Le Mans BMW Motorsport is supported by numerous successful partners. This is why the BMW M3 GT2 will be labeled with the logos of Castrol, Crowne Plaza, Dunlop, Randstad, Sympatex, LuK, H&R, BBS and NGK for the race on the “Circuit de la Sarthe”.

BMW Art Cars

Since 1975, artists from throughout the world have turned BMW automobiles into art signifying a particular period through the Art Car program. In 2007, the latest installment was revealed with Olafur Eliasson’s “Your mobile expectations: BMW H2R project.” Many of the cars by the likes of Warhol, Lichtenstein, Stella, Rauschenberg, Hockney and Holzer have been exhibited in renowned museums throughout the world including the Louvre, the Guggenheim Museums, and the Shanghai Art Museum. They have been displayed at the BMW Museum in Munich, between 2006 and 2010 and many went on a world tour throughout Asia, Russia, Africa, India, the United States and Mexico. The Koons car number, “79,” pays tribute to the 1979 Andy Warhol car. The Warhol car was assigned the number “76,” an homage to the 1976 Frank Stella car, both of which raced at Le Mans.

The home of all BMW Art Cars is the BMW Museum in Munich. Starting in September, Koons’ 17th BMW Art Car will be presented there together with some of its predecessors.

With over 100 major projects worldwide, BMW Group cultural programs have been an integral part of the company’s contributions to society for almost 40 years.  Besides contemporary art, architecture and design, classical music and jazz are key components of this engagement.

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 24 production facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

The BMW Group achieved a global sales volume of approximately 1.29 million automobiles and over 87,000 motorcycles for the 2009 financial year. The pre-tax profit for 2009 was euro 413 million, revenues totalled euro 50.68 billion. At 31 December 2009, the company employed a global workforce of approximately 96,000 associates. The success of the BMW Group has always been built 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. As a result of its efforts, the BMW Group has been ranked industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the last five years.

TV Footage will be available from June 2, 2010 onwards at: www.thenewsmarket.com

For questions please contact:

Stacy Morris

Marketing Communications Manager

BMW of North America, LLC

Tel. 201-594-3360 / Stacy.Morris@bmwna.com 

www.facebook.com/bmwgroupview

Media Website: https://newsroom.bmwgroup.com/global/en

Koons Reveals Preliminary Designs for the BMW M3 GT2

New York – April 6, 2010 … In the spirit of Calder, Stella, Lichtenstein, Warhol, and Holzer, BMW announced today that the 17th Art Car created by Jeff Koons will race where the first rolling pieces of art by legendary artists raced – at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, June 12-13, 2010.  Koons’ canvas is a BMW M3 GT2, which was homologated to compete at this year’s running of the world’s most famous endurance race.

In another nod to tradition, Koons will present the world premiere and sign his car at Paris’ Centre Pompidou on June 1, 2010, just as Roy Lichtenstein did in 1977.

Adding to the occasion, Koons released for the first time his preliminary design concept for the car today at a press conference in New York City.  As part of his creative process, the artist collected images of race cars and graphics, vibrant colors and speed. He layered them into a digital collage depicting his sources of inspiration.  The resulting graphic conceived by Koons – evocative of power, motion and light and rendered in the artist’s signature saturated hues on a black ground set against the car’s silver interior – will impart a dynamic appearance to the race car even when it’s standing still. 

 “These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy,” said Koons. “You can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car – it’s really to connect with that power.”

Koons was joined at the press conference by President of the Centre Pompidou Alain Seban, BMW of North America President Jim O’Donnell, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen, and BMW Le Mans driver Andy Priaulx of Great Britain.

“This is a momentum building year for us that speaks to the essence of the brand and the latest chapter of the BMW Art Car program is certainly part of this,” said O’Donnell.  “It’s an absolute delight for all of us to be working with Jeff on this program that is part of the fabric of BMW.”

World Premiere at the Centre Pompidou, Paris

Paris’ Centre Pompidou is one of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions for modern and contemporary art and is where Roy Lichtenstein first unveiled and signed his car in 1977 as Jeff Koons will on June 1. Also, the Koons car number, “79,” pays tribute to the 1979 Andy Warhol car.  The Warhol car was assigned the number “76,” an homage to the 1976 Frank Stella car, both of which raced at Le Mans.  

“Ever since it was created back in 1977, the Centre Pompidou has acted as an interface, a platform of exchange between creative art and society, striving to expose the larger public to the art of our time in the firm belief that art can foster a more innovative and flexible society,” said Alain Seban, President of the Centre Pompidou.  “For this reason the Centre Pompidou is glad to join BMW’s project which, I trust, can go a long way in bringing together creation and society by inviting the great artists of our time – from Roy Lichtenstein in 1977 to Jeff Koons today – to challenge the most mythical object of our era, the car, through a unique creation.”

The Design Process

“It is a fascinating and inspiring exercise to witness an artist present his or her point of view through one of our cars.  To see Jeff Koons take his unique sensibility and bring it to a BMW race car as he works with our team to translate his vision into a race-ready car is to truly watch the connection be made between technical and artistic intelligence,” said Frank-Peter Arndt, member of the Board of Management for the BMW AG with responsibility for BMW Group’s international cultural formats.

Koons has been in an intense collaboration with BMW’s team in Munich for months – melding his skill with sophisticated BMW engineering – to ensure that the 17th BMW Art Car will be race-ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 
 
Traveling back and forth to Germany several times since the February 2 announcement that Koons would create the 17th BMW Art Car, the artist has worked with the BMW engineering and design teams to conduct in-depth explorations of materials and application options that will prove crucial to optimizing both the aesthetic and aerodynamic attributes of the race car.  Working with actual 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) models of the BMW M3 GT2, Koons can simulate the application of the graphic to the car’s surfaces and evaluate it from all angles. 

Koons even donned a helmet and joined BMW’s American Le Mans Series race team for testing in Sebring, Florida, on February 23.   Koons was able to experience the M3 GT2 at race speed to further inspire his design.  As Koons describes it, he witnessed “the raw unfiltered performance” of the M3 GT2 from the seat of a historic BMW M1 race car.  Koons also drove a BMW M3 Coupe on the circuit to further the dynamic exercise.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans race

Today, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen announced the driver line-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Andy Priaulx (GB), Dirk Müller (DE) and Dirk Werner (DE) will race the BMW Art Car #79.  Jörg Müller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR), Uwe Alzen (DE) will drive the BMW Le Mans car #78.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world’s oldest endurance race in all of sports car racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, Sarthe, France.  Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance, it is organized by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) and runs on a circuit containing closed public roads.  The race is designed not only to test a car and driver’s ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24-hour period.

French auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain first had the idea of asking an artist to paint the car he himself would compete with.  Taking up this initiative in 1975, American artist Alexander Calder painted a BMW racing car, thus laying the foundation.  The Art Car experiment was soon continued:  a year later, Calder Art Car co-driver Sam Posey introduced Frank Stella to the idea of BMW Art Cars when the New York-based artist covered a BMW with his typical grid-like pattern.  Stella’s work was followed by a series of celebrated pop artists:  Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg.  Apart from Rauschenberg’s Art Car, all these took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race, some of them enjoying remarkable success.
 
After taking a break in the 1980’s, the Art Car returned to its origins at Le Mans in 1999, when American concept artist Jenny Holzer “wrote” her truisms on a BMW V12 Le Mans race car.
 
The germination of Koons’ collaboration with BMW began in 2003, when he expressed his desire to create a BMW Art Car.  His relationship with BMW started more than two decades ago when he drove a BMW while residing in Munich, home to the BMW Group headquarters.  Koons is known for his heartfelt appreciation of cars.  Earlier this year he was even recognized by music icon Bono of U2 as one of the ideal artists to design a car that would make the world fall in love with automobiles again.
 
Koons’ creative process for the BMW Art Car mirrors techniques, some borrowed from transportation design and development, which he regularly employs for his artistic production.  For example, in the creation of Koons’ monumental sculptures, his studio uses 3-D CAD models to evaluate the surfaces, assembles them via methods found in bike chop shops, and paints them in a manner based on sophisticated automotive painting techniques.      

“It is fitting that Jeff Koons’ car will follow in the storied tradition of the renowned artists who created the early race-inspired BMW Art Cars,” said O’Donnell.  “We look forward to BMW’s return to Le Mans – and perhaps even sharing a toast with Jeff at the finish line.”

Derived from the BMW M3 high-performance sports car, the BMW M3 GT2 boasts a 4.0-liter V8 engine with a maximum output of 500 bhp, an upgraded chassis, racing-caliber brakes, and extensive use of lightweight materials.  Able to reach 100 mph in 3.4 seconds, the BMW M3 GT2 is rapidly emerging as a real first year contender at this year’s event. 

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said, “The race in Le Mans is one of the most important events in international motorsport.  This makes it the perfect stage to revive the tradition of the BMW Art Car.  Jeff Koons’ work of art will leave a lasting impression with all those who see it, even after the BMW M3 GT2 has crossed the finish line.  BMW Art Cars have often also been able to impress with their sporting achievements.  I am optimistic that this will be the case again this year.”

Beginning in September, the Koons Art Car will be on view at the BMW Museum in Munich, as part of a special exhibition commemorating the program’s 35th anniversary.

BMW Art Cars

Since 1975, artists from throughout the world have turned BMW automobiles into art signifying a particular period through the Art Car program.  In 2007, the latest installment was revealed with Olafur Eliasson’s “Your Mobile Expectations: BMW HR2R project.”  Many of these have been exhibited in renowned museums throughout the world including the Louvre, the Guggenheim Museums, and the Shanghai Art Museum.  They have been displayed at the BMW Museum in Munich, between 2006 and 2010 and many went on a world tour throughout Asia, Russia, Africa, India, the United States and Mexico.

The home of all BMW Art Cars is the BMW Museum in Munich. Starting in September, Koons’ 17th BMW Art Car will be presented there together with some of its predecessors.

With over 100 major projects worldwide, BMW Group cultural programs have been an integral part of the company’s contributions to society for almost 40 years.  Besides contemporary art, architecture and design, classical music and jazz are key components of this engagement.

For a link to photos and more information about BMW Art Car Program, please visit: www.bmwusanews.com/artsandculture and http://www.independent-collectors.com/bmwartcars