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Munich/ Paris. The BMW Art Car World Tour, a celebration of the fusion between art and automotive innovation, marked the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car Collection in 2025 with an extraordinary journey across five continents. Featuring over 45 stops in more than 30 countries, the tour captivated hundreds of thousands of visitors with its iconic collection of 20 BMW Art Cars, each a masterpiece created by some of the world’s most renowned artists. As the curtain falls on a remarkable year, the tour is set to continue its ambitious trajectory in 2026, beginning with a spectacular exhibition at Rétromobile in Paris.

The BMW Art Car World Tour: Reflecting on a global cultural success in 2025 
The 2025 leg of the BMW Art Car World Tour was a resounding success and reached over 2 million visitors across flagship art fairs, museums, motorsport events and cultural institutions worldwide. Some of the highlights included stops at Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Dubai, Auto Shanghai, Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, Ultrace in Poland, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Le Mans Classic, Louwman Museum in The Hague, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and The Bridge in the USA, Goodwood Revival, Contemporary Istanbul, Zoute Grand Prix in Belgium, Frieze London, and ADI Design Museum in Milan.

Each stop offered a unique opportunity for audiences to engage with the collection, which features works by renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jenny Holzer, and Julie Mehretu. During art talks and accompanying events, visitors had the opportunity to learn background information about the ‘rolling sculptures’ on display and the history of the renowned collection. The Art Cars, ranging from racing thoroughbreds to rare production vehicles, showcased the diversity of artistic expression and BMW’s unwavering commitment to cultural engagement. The initiative, which began in 1975 with Alexander Calder’s reimagined BMW 3.0 CSL, has grown into a global phenomenon, uniting art and automotive enthusiasts alike.

Becoming the first BMW in the National Historic Vehicle Register, the BMW Art Car by Andy Warhol was officially added to the National Heritage Registry of the United States in 2025, underlining the collection’s significance not only as a BMW initiative, but as a lasting contribution to global cultural history.

Opening the next chapter: Rétromobile 2026
The celebration continues in 2026, with the first stop of the BMW Art Car World Tour at Rétromobile in Paris. From 28 January to 1 February, Rétromobile at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles will host a reunion of all seven BMW Art Cars that have competed at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. This exhibition will feature iconic models, including the vivid colours of Andy Warhol’s BMW M1 and the bold statements of Jenny Holzer’s BMW V12 LMR. At the centre of the exhibition hall, BMW and Rétromobile will present a display inspired by the concept of a 'legendary garage':

• #1 I Alexander Calder, BMW 3.0 CSL (1975)
• #2 I Frank Stella, BMW 3.0 CSL (1976)
• #3 I Roy Lichtenstein, BMW 320i Turbo (1977)
• #4 I Andy Warhol, BMW M1 (1979)
• #15 I Jenny Holzer, BMW V12 LMR (1999)
• #17 I Jeff Koons, BMW M3 GT2 (2010)
• #20 I Julie Mehretu, BMW M Hybrid V8 (2024)

Rétromobile, celebrating its own 50th anniversary, provides the perfect stage for this historic gathering. Visitors will have the rare opportunity to witness the intersection of art, motorsport, and history, as the BMW Art Cars take centre stage in one of the world’s most prestigious automotive events. The exhibition promises to be a visual feast, offering deeper insights into the creative processes of the artists and the cultural significance of the collection.

Rétromobile, often described as 'the world's most beautiful temporary garage', has been a gathering place for enthusiasts of exceptional vehicles since 1976. This international event, held in Paris, is the first show of the season for classic car lovers. For half a century, the show has attracted those who appreciate cars for their history and heritage rather than their performance. For its 50th edition, and for the first time in its history, Rétromobile is honoured to receive the high patronage of the French Ministry of Culture. This distinction confirms the major role played by the show in promoting a unique automotive heritage, a true cultural asset for France, recognised both nationally and internationally.

Display of Alexander Calder’s BMW Art Car in the centre of Paris
As part of the anniversary of Rétromobile and the BMW Art Car Collection, the BMW Art Car #1 by Alexander Calder is on display free of charge in the courtyard of the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris from 16 to 26 January. The Hôtel de la Marine, an 18th-century gem located on Place de la Concorde in Paris, opened to the public in June 2021 after a restoration campaign led by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

2026 is also a significant anniversary for the artist Alexander Calder: In 1926, Calder came to Paris and created his iconic Cirque. To celebrate the centenary of Calder’s arrival in France, the Fondation Louis Vuitton is holding a major retrospective in his honour this year. Furthermore, the Whitney Museum in New York has been devoting the exhibition “High Wire: Calder’s Circus at 100“ to his legendary work (since October 2025).

“After a year of waiting and preparations, the 50th edition of the Rétromobile show will open its doors in a few days, on 28 January. More than ever, we are eager to unveil the exhibition of the seven BMW Art Cars that participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will be stopping in France for the first time. In the meantime, fans of the brand and the show can already admire Alexander Calder's BMW Art Car / 3.0 CSL in the courtyard of the Hôtel de la Marine, Place de la Concorde, until 26 January,“ says Romain Grabowski, Director of Rétromobile.

“Celebrating 50 years of the BMW Art Cars collection is above all a tribute to a visionary audacity that began half a century ago, when art and motor racing came together for the first time. This exceptional exhibition at Rétromobile marks a unique moment where creativity, innovation and heritage meet. The BMW Art Cars embody the very essence of our brand: a passion for design, performance and creative freedom. Bringing these rolling works of art together and sharing them with the public illustrates how art and mobility are shaping the future together,“ says Vincent Salimon, CEO BMW Group France.

Practical information 
BMW Art Car exhibition at Rétromobile
From 28 January to 1 February 2026
Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, 1 Pl. de la Prte de Versailles, 75015 Paris
For access to Rétromobile, please register here: PRESS ACCREDITATION

Exhibition of Alexander Calder's BMW Art Car at Hôtel de la Marine
From 16 to 26 January 2026, 8 am to midnight
Free admission
Courtyard of the Hôtel de la Marine, 2 place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris

Upcoming BMW Art Car World Tour 2026
Next stop of the BMW Art Car World Tour after Rétromobileinclude a presentation of Ernst Fuchs‘ and Jeff Koons‘ ‘rolling sculptures’ at RETRO CLASSICS in Stuttgart (February) as well as displays at Art Basel (Doha & Hong Kong), Turkey, Romania, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, and Germany. Furthermore, an exhibition of the BMW Art Cars is planned at the BMW Welt in Munich in summer 2026.

The BMW Art Car Collection
The BMW Art Car initiative, born from the vision of French racing driver and art dealer Hervé Poulain and BMW Head of Motorsport Jochen Neerpasch, has become a cornerstone of BMW’s cultural engagement. Over the decades, the collection has grown to include works by Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jeff Koons, and many others, each contributing their unique artistic perspective.

BMW’s commitment to culture extends far beyond the BMW Art Car Collection, encompassing more than a hundred initiatives across contemporary art, music, film, and design. The company’s dedication to fostering creativity and innovation continues to resonate globally, as evidenced by the success of the Art Car World Tour.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

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London/Munich. From October 15 to 19, Frieze London and Frieze Masters will return to London’s Regent’s Park. As one of Frieze’s long-standing global partners since 2004, BMW honours the artistic work of David Hockney as part of the BMW Art Car World Tour and provides VIP shuttle service. Frieze London takes its place on the global stage as part of the ever-expanding BMW Art Car World Tour, a journey that will span continents and continue well into 2026. Marking the 50th anniversary of this iconic series, the tour brings together a constellation of exhibitions across five continents, enriched by a vibrant array of events.

The iconic Art Car #14, designed by David Hockney 30 years ago, will be on display in The Lobby of The Peninsula London from October 14 to November 3. During the “Peninsula Classic Car Afternoon Tea” which runs through November 18 there will be a special opportunity to engage with Hockney’s Art Car: BMW representatives will dive deep into the origins and lead through the journey of Hockney’s Art Car design on October 14 and 15. Sculptural culinary delights will be served to bring together the British tea tradition and the BMW Art Cars’ golden jubilee. The final days of the exhibition coincide with RM Sotheby’s Classic Car auction presented in partnership with the Royal Automobile Club which brings a selection of significant automobiles– from historic treasures to modern collectibles – to The Peninsula.

David Hockney’s BMW 850CSi puts a new spin on the traditional idea of a car’s paintwork by effectively turning the car inside out. “I thought it would be a good idea to show the car as if one could see inside,” he said. Like an X-ray, Hockney’s design reveals the anatomy of the car and its occupants: the door sports an outline of the driver, and Hockney’s loyal dachshund, Stanley, can be seen sitting on the back seat, referencing the artist’s love of his dogs. Stylised engine components are depicted on the bonnet, while expanses of green sweep across the body – a visual metaphor for the passing scenery, movement, and time. Hockney’s visual language melds the car’s interior and the outside world to create a new and unusual perspective on motoring.

Born in Bradford, England, in 1937, David Hockney has been one of the most flamboyant and influential protagonists on the international art scene since the early 1960s. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1962 and soon joined the exclusive circles of Swinging Sixties London. He established his style as his very own form of international Pop Art and achieved great popularity with it. His works – among them iconic images depicting swimming pools and Californian landscapes – illustrate his lifelong fascination with light, colour, and the relationship between perspective and movement. David Hockney’s Art Car was intended solely as an exhibition piece and has never been driven on the road or in a race.

The BMW Art Car World Tour charts an ambitious course, with stops at prestigious destinations such as Art Basel Hong Kong, the Le Mans Classic in France, Belgium’s Zoute Grand Prix, the Shanghai Motor Show in China, and Italy’s Concorso d’Eleganza, among others. Showcasing the collection of 20 iconic BMW Art Cars, the tour serves as a testament to the company’s deep-rooted commitment to global cultural engagement – spanning more than a hundred initiatives across contemporary art, music, film, and design. Follow the journey here.

BMW Art Car #14 by David Hockney
October 14-November 3
The Peninsula London,
1 Grosvenor Pl,
London SW1X 7HJ,
United Kingdom

The Peninsula London Classic Car Afternoon Tea is offered daily until November 18 from 1.00 – 6.30pm reservations can be made here.

Dedicated media slots on October 14 and 15 from 1.00 – 3.00pm can be requested here. Capacity is limited, first come first served.

Frieze London Dates
Wednesday, October 15: 11am - 7pm (invitation only)
Thursday, October 16: 11am – 1pm (Members and Invitation only preview) 1pm – 5pm General admission tickets
Friday, October 17: 11am - 7pm 
Saturday, October 18: 11am - 7pm
Sunday, October 19: 11am – 6pm

Media Accreditation

The exhibition came to life in dialogue with CART Department, an emerging platform that celebrates the intersection of art and car culture developed by Larry Warsh.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

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Paris/Munich. In 2026, Rétromobile, one of the world’s most prestigious automotive shows for the classic car sector, will celebrate its 50th anniversary. So does BMW’s collection of the legendary Art Cars. To mark this milestone, BMW is bringing together all BMW Art Cars that have raced in Le Mans for a spectacular reunion in Paris. From Alexander Calder’s groundbreaking debut in 1975 to Julie Mehretu’s sleek masterpiece in 2024, the BMW Art Cars that dared to race will return to the spotlight at Rétromobile 2026 – not on the track, but in all their glory.

BMW Art Cars on display at Rétromobile in Paris:

• #1 I Alexander Calder, BMW 3.0 CSL (1975) 
• # 2 I Frank Stella, BMW 3.0 CSL (1976) 
• #3 I Roy Lichtenstein, BMW 320i Turbo (1977) 
• #4 I Andy Warhol, BMW M1 (1979) 
• #15 I Jenny Holzer, BMW V12 LMR (1999) 
• #17 I Jeff Koons, BMW M3 GT2 (2010) 
• #20 I Julie Mehretu, BMW M Hybrid V8 (2024) 

“Bringing these Le Mans Art Cars together in Paris is more than a tribute,” says Helmut Kaes, Head of BMW Group Classic. “It’s a statement: about courage, about creativity, and about the power of radical ideas that keep moving — even 50 years on.”

50 years of “rolling sculptures”: The BMW Art Car World Tour.
The Paris exhibition is part of the BMW Art Car World Tour, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car Collection. Since the global kick-off in March 2025, the world tour has featured an ambitious exhibition programme on all five continents, engaging over 20 markets. The tour brings together art, innovation, and mobility in a celebration of bold vision. It will continue until the end of 2026 and will make additional stops in Belgium (Brussels, Zoute Grand Prix), Morocco (Marrakech), South Africa, the United States (Pebble Beach), Turkey (Contemporary Istanbul), and Italy (Milan, ADI Design Museum). 

Since 1975, renowned artists from around the world have created BMW Art Cars. The idea was born when French racing driver and art enthusiast Hervé Poulain, together with Jochen Neerpasch, then Head of Motorsport at BMW, invited friend and artist Alexander Calder to paint a race car. The result – a vibrant BMW 3.0 CSL – competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975, captivating the crowd and making history. 

Over the decades, the collection has grown to include visionary works by Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Ólafur Elíasson, and many others. More recently, John Baldessari and Cao Fei used the BMW M6 GTLM and M6 GT3 respectively for dynamic entries at Daytona (2016) and Macau (2017). The BMW Art Cars by Jeff Koons and Julie Mehretu returned to Le Mans in 2010 and 2024. 

“What better theme than Art Cars to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rétromobile show? We are very excited and delighted to unveil today both the official poster for the 2026 edition of the show and the official exhibition that will bring together these seven automotive masterpieces for the first time in France. I would like to warmly thank our friends at BMW for their trust and partnership in this fantastic human, technical and artistic adventure that is the BMW Art Cars collection,” says Romain Grabowski, director of Rétromobile.

Rétromobile 2026: a highly anticipated edition dedicated to art.
Founded in 1976, Rétromobile is celebrating its 50th anniversary. To mark this milestone, the event organisers have gone all out: the first-ever edition in New York from 19 to 22 November 2026, a brand-new event dedicated to the phenomenon of modern supercars, the "Ultimate Supercar Garage," co-located with Rétromobile Paris. Above all, four exclusive exhibitions await visitors at the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles. Among them, the first will spotlight an international artistic and mechanical phenomenon: the BMW Art Cars.

Practical Information
Place: Paris Expo Porte de Versailles
Public Days: 28 January – 1 February 2026 

Follow The BMW Group’s Cultural Engagement for exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives on Instagram: @BMWGroupCulture

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Goodwood/Munich. The 2025 Goodwood Revival (12-14 September) will showcase five rolling sculptures of the legendary BMW Art Car series as part of the event’s Earls Court Motor Show. For the past 50 years, the BMW Art Car Collection has continued to evolve and features designs by some of the world’s most renowned artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, and David Hockney.

Since 1975, the BMW Group has provided artists with a playground for their fascination with automobiles through the BMW Art Cars: art and design, technology and innovation, racing and engineering. The collection of 20 BMW Art Cars now forms the essence of the global cultural engagement with over a hundred initiatives in the fields of contemporary art, music, film and design. Since its invention almost 140 years ago, artists around the world have engaged with the automobile in both critical and euphoric ways.

The exhibition at Goodwood Revival is part of the ongoing BMW Art Car World Tour, which celebrates the 50th aniversary of the collection by showcasing the legendary BMW Art Cars across various art and automotive platforms worldwide. The following five cars will be making a stop at the Revival Event:

1976 I Frank Stella BMW 3.0 CSL 
Known for its participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the original BMW 3.0 CSL was reimagined by artist Frank Stella. As the second vehicle in the BMW Art Cars collection, Stella’s design was inspired by the technical basis of the car itself. The result was a striking composition of black and white lines, with the powerful 750 hp engine front and centre of the design.

1977 I Roy Lichtenstein BMW 320i Turbo 
Just one year later, pop artist Roy Lichtenstein brought his signature style to life by incorporating his recognisable “Ben Day dots” into the design of the BMW 320i Turbo. The original vehicle, which also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, was driven by the founder of the art car collection Hervé Poulain and Marcel Mignot.

1982 I Ernst Fuchs BMW 635 CSi 
Number five in the collection, the BMW 635 CSi was designed by Austrian artist Ernst Fuchs in 1982. Otherwise known as the “Fire Fox on a Hare Hunt”, Fuchs’ design was the first in the collection to be based on a production car, and varied from his earlier pieces of artwork.

1995 I David Hockney BMW 850 CSi 
David Hockney designed the 14th car in the collection: the BMW 850 CSi. The result of an extended design project, Hockney aimed to reveal the car’s inner workings and spirit through his art. His detailed paintwork includes the outline of a driver on the door, while attentive viewers will note a stylised suction vent on the button - subtle touches which invite you to look closer at the design.

2010 I Jeff Koons BMW M3 GT2 
American artist Jeff Koons brought a dynamic palette of vibrant, contrasting colours to his BMW M3 GT2. The 17th BMW Art Car saw the return of Pop Art and the creation of a design which captures the essence of power and motion - conveying a sense of speed and energy even when the car is stationary.

The unique collection of cars will be on display across the Goodwood Revival weekend in Earls Court, as part of the collection's ongoing world tour.

Saturday tickets for the Goodwood Revival are now sold out, with limited Friday and Sunday tickets remaining at goodwood.com

The Goodwood Revival 
Friday 12 – Sunday 14 September 2025.
Tickets & Hospitality
Tickets can be purchased at goodwood.com or by calling the Ticket Office on +44 (0)1243 755055.

BMW Group’s global cultural engagement and updates on the Art Car World Tour can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

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Le Mans/Munich. This edition of Le Mans Classic marks a historic occasion with the return of the first ##BMW Art Car## by ##Alexander Calder##, in its Artist's Proof version, initiated by the Calder Foundation and BMW Group Classic, to the track where it all began 50 years ago. Hervé Poulain, the visionary behind the BMW Art Cars, and Alexander SC Rower, Calder's grandson, will take a ceremonial lap in this automotive artwork on Sunday, July 6, from 9:45 to 10:25am, during the BMW parade. This event pays vibrant tribute to the originality of the project, where art meets automotive, perpetuating a tradition that has lasted for half a century.

As a long-standing partner of Le Mans Classic, BMW celebrates this year the double anniversary of its iconic BMW Art Cars and the BMW 3 Series. Taking place from 4 to 6 July, Le Mans Classic brings together classic and vintage racing cars on the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit, creating a strong link between historical heritage and contemporary innovation.

 This strong presence on the Circuit de la Sarthe underlines BMW's long-standing commitment to the alliance between art and technology. The presentation of the first BMW Art Car marks a celebration of the artistic and technological journey, reinforcing the idea that past progress feeds future innovation. This iconic ##BMW 3.0 CSL## embodies a perfect balance of lightness, performance and bold aesthetics.

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Cars, as well as the 50th anniversary of the BMW 3 Series, one of the world's best-selling premium cars with over 20 million units sold.

On this occasion, Hervé Poulain, co-founder of the BMW Art Cars, auctioneer and racing driver, will share his vision and emotions about the creation of the first Art Car and discuss the uniqueness of this visionary collection. Alexander SC Rower, president of the Calder Foundation and grandson of the artist, will talk about the importance of this rolling sculpture in his grandfather's artistic legacy. This meeting will be marked by the themes of transmission and passion.

Hervé Poulain says: "I wanted to provoke a meeting between the major arts and industry, two worlds that ignored each other. The BMW Art Cars have transformed the status of the automobile by bringing this object born from applied arts into the fine art.” Looking to the future, he continues: “The automotive myth has undergone many transformations. Today, this myth is evolving as the 21st century promises unprecedented advancements. The BMW Art Car by Calder was born 50 years ago in reaction to the pessimism generated by the first oil shock, as a symbolic gesture of optimism and confidence in the future.”

50 years of ‘rolling sculptures’: the BMW Art Car Collection

Since 1975, renowned artists from around the world have created BMW Art Cars. The idea emerged thanks to French racing driver and art enthusiast Hervé Poulain, who, in collaboration with Jochen Neerpasch, then Head of Motorsport at BMW, invited his friend and artist Alexander Calder to paint a car. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL that participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975, captivating the public and marking the birth of the BMW Art Car Collection. Famous figures such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer and Ólafur Elíasson have since enriched the collection with their unique styles. More recently, John Baldessari and Cao Fei have used the BMW M6 GTLM and BMW M6 GT3 respectively to add dynamic race cars to the collection, competing at Daytona in 2016 and Macau in 2017. The BMW Art Cars by Jeff Koons and Julie Mehretu raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010 and 2024.

Le Mans Classic

Since its beginnings, Le Mans Classic has provided a unique stage where more than 600 cars gather to pay tribute to the history of motorsport. BMW, a loyal partner of the event, showcases a range of iconic vehicles, symbols of this rich tradition. This year's Le Mans Classic poster honours the legendary ##BMW M1 Procar##, paying tribute to the cars that have marked the history of the greatest endurance race of all time.

With over 200,000 visitors expected, Le Mans Classic is much more than just a car gathering. It is a grand popular festival, enriched by parades and cultural activities that connect automotive history with the future. In this year of double celebration, BMW is highlighting its rich heritage while reaffirming its commitment to innovation and excellence.

Models on display in the BMW area from 4 to 6 July:

• 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL Calder (Artist's Proof)
• 1995 BMW M3 GT Coupé E36
• BMW M3 CS Touring
• BMW i4 M60
• BMW M Electrified (Development Prototype)

Further information on the Calder BMW Art Car (Artist's Proof) can be found here.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

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Munich/Basel. In 2025, BMW celebrates 50 years of BMW Art Cars. To connect this legacy with the present, former Art Car juror Hans Ulrich Obrist and BMW have invited renowned artist Alvaro Barrington to transform the BMW Hydrogen VIP car fleet into a moving artwork during Art Basel in Basel 2025. This marks the second year in a row that the BMW iX5 Hydrogen fleet has been in operation at the art fair, following last year’s successful debut featuring the artwork of British artist Es Devlin. 

BMW has been Official Automotive Partner of Art Basel globally for over two decades, supporting creative voices that shape contemporary culture. Barrington was selected by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, former member of the BMW Art Car jury, in line with the brand’s heritage of engaging with pioneering artistic perspectives. The resulting work, titled “Simply, 2025”, envelops the BMW iX5 Hydrogen fleet in Barrington’s distinctive visual language.

As a tribute to BMW’s pioneering work in innovative mobility, Barrington has reimagined the fleet of BMW iX5 Hydrogen vehicles with a striking wrap that reflects his signature collage aesthetic. Inspired by figures of cultural reinvention such as David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Henri Matisse and Tina Turner, Barrington explores how mobility itself is evolving – not just in form, but in its emotional and cultural resonance.

Drawing on in-depth conversations with BMW’s hydrogen engineers, Barrington’s concept bridges technology and humanity. Using a vivid palette and layered forms, his artwork expresses themes of transformation, nature, and technological innovation. The wrap fuses artistic vision with design precision, symbolising a future where mobility is not only sustainable but also emotionally intelligent and culturally integrated.

Alvaro Barrington says: “Driving culture is one of the most important cultures in the world – billions of people participate in it. As an artist who is supposed to be involved in cultural production, it’s really interesting to be a part of this conversation about sustainability and the future of cars that BMW and the rest of the world is having.” 

Alvaro Barrington’s practice, rooted in painting but extending into multimedia and textiles, examines how materials carry cultural, political and personal histories. His BMW iX5 Hydrogen collaboration marks a significant moment in this journey, channelling his curiosity about the human-centric potential of technology and dynamic vision into motion through the medium of innovative transport in a joyful way.

Central to the collaboration is the BMW iX5 Hydrogen – a vehicle that showcases the brand’s pioneering role in innovative mobility and technology. As part of BMW’s presence at Art Basel in Basel 2025, the fleet will serve as the VIP car service alongside the fully electric BMW i7, reinforcing BMW’s commitment to contemporary luxury, innovation, and exclusive driving experiences. 

"The collaboration with Alvaro Barrington amplifies our pioneering fuel-cell technology through the lens of art," says Michael Rath, Head of Hydrogen Vehicles, BMW Group. "We are firmly committed to launching our first hydrogen-powered vehicle in 2028."

First hydrogen-powered BMW production model in 2028.
As part of its holistic approach and after the successful global testing of the pilot fleet of BMW iX5 Hydrogen vehicles, BMW is now preparing to start the series production of vehicles with hydrogen drivetrain in 2028. The series production models will be integrated into BMW’s existing portfolio, i.e. BMW will offer an existing model in an additional hydrogen fuel cell drive system variant. As fuel cell technology is another electric vehicle technology, the BMW Group explicitly views it as complementing the drive technology used by battery electric vehicles (BEV) and next to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and internal combustion engines (ICE).

The BMW VIP car service fleet, featuring Barrington’s custom-wrapped BMW iX5 Hydrogen cars, can be seen on the streets of Basel during the fair, from 19 to 22 June 2025. The project affirms BMW’s position at the intersection of contemporary luxury, innovation, joy and artistic expression.

Earlier this year, as part of the BMW Art Car World Tour, BMW presented another artist-designed vehicle during the Market Art Fair in Stockholm. German artist Gregor Hildebrandt wrapped a fleet of fully electric BMW i5 and i7 models with his distinctive visual language, turning them into mobile artworks on the streets of the Swedish capital. Further artist collaborations and custom vehicle wraps are set to follow throughout the global tour.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

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Munich. The BMW Museum in Munich is using a special exhibition taking place as part of the international BMW Art Car World Tour to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of both the legendary BMW Art Car Collection and the iconic BMW 3 Series. The exhibition will open its doors to visitors from 17 June, hot on the heels of the Le Mans 24 Hours race weekend. Fittingly, it was at Le Mans in 1975 that the first BMW Art Car – created by Alexander Calder – staged its glittering premiere. The exhibition, which runs until 1 February 2026, will see the BMW Museum present a trio of Art Cars based on the BMW 3 Series: Sandro Chia’s BMW M3 GTR and the BMW M3 (Group A) cars designed by Michael Jagamara Nelson and Ken Done respectively.

The exhibition at the BMW Museum – the home of the BMW Art Cars when they are not on display at destinations around the globe – is one of the attractions of the ongoing BMW Art Car World Tour, the largest exhibition project yet in the 50-year history of the collection. The Tour has so far visited 12 markets on five continents, and will continue to showcase the legendary BMW Art Cars across numerous art and car platforms, and at institutes worldwide, over the coming year. The BMW Museum will use the special exhibition to provide insights into the artistic brilliance and history of the BMW Art Car Collection, as well as inviting visitors to explore the technical excellence of the 3 Series and the innovative power of the BMW brand.

50 years of driving pleasure: the BMW 3 Series 
Since it first hit the roads in 1975, the BMW 3 Series has served as a byword for driving pleasure and a cornerstone for the success of BMW. Across five decades, it has reimagined the concept of the sports sedan, set new standards for performance and put smiles on the faces of millions of drivers around the world. From the groundbreaking first generation to today’s innovative models, the 3 Series has been an enduring, style-defining feature of the automotive landscape.

50 years of “rolling sculptures”: the BMW Art Car Collection
Since 1975, renowned artists from countries the world over have gone to work creating BMW Art Cars. The idea was the brainchild of French racing driver and art lover Hervé Poulain, who teamed up with BMW’s then Head of Motorsport Jochen Neerpasch to invite friend and artist Alexander Calder to paint a design onto a car. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL that competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975, becoming a darling of the crowd – and marking the birth of the BMW Art Car Collection. Famous names including Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer and Ólafur Elíasson have since added further BMW Art Cars bearing their own individual style to the collection. More recently, the American John Baldessari and Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei used the BMW M6 GTLM and BMW M6 GT3 respectively as a canvas for their takes on the BMW Art Car concept in 2016 and 2017. They therefore joined Jeff Koons and Julie Mehretu in applying their creativity to dynamic racing cars in the last 15 years.

BMW Art Cars at the BMW Museum from 17 June
BMW M3 Group A by Ken Done (1989):
Australian artist Ken Done created a vibrant and richly coloured design that captures the energy and dynamism of motor racing. His work represents a homage to the speed and power of the BMW M3.

“It was a great honour to be asked to be part of this fabulous Art Car collection. I wanted to express the joy of speed and the brilliance of the machine itself.” Ken Done

BMW M3 Group A by Michael Jagamara Nelson (1989):
Michael Jagamara Nelson, also from Australia, brought the traditions of Aboriginal art to the bodywork of the BMW M3. His complex motifs using dot painting techniques tell Dreaming stories that are deeply rooted in the culture of his people.

“A car is a landscape as it would be seen from a plane – I have included water, the kangaroo and the opossum.” Michael Jagamara Nelson

BMW M3 GTR by Sandro Chia (1992):
Italian artist Sandro Chia transformed a BMW M3 GTR into a painting on wheels that depicts human figures and emotions in vivid colours. His work symbolises the connection between man and machine, and invites us to reflect on the role of the car in modern society.

“I have created both a picture and a world. Everything that is looked at closely turns into a face. A face is a focus, a focus of life and the world.” Sandro Chia

The 10th BMW Art Car, a BMW 730i designed by Spanish artist César Manrique in 1990, is also on show at the BMW Museum as part of its permanent exhibition.

For more information, please visit:
BMW Art Cars im BMW Museum
BMW Art Car World Tour

If you have any questions, please contact:
Lisa Meindl
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
Spokesperson BMW Museum und BMW Welt
Phone: +49-89-382-31668 
E-Mail: Lisa.Meindl@bmw.de

Ilya Baryshev
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
Spokesperson, BMW Art Car World Tour
Telefon: +49-151-601-544-36
E-Mail: Ilya.Baryshev@bmwgroup.com

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Bratislava. Marking a decade of collaboration between BMW Slovakia and the Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, the BMW Art Car World Tour 2025 has arrived in Bratislava with a compelling exhibition. From May 27 to June 1, 2025, the Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum will host "The Private Collection by BMW", offering a rare opportunity to explore the intersection of artistic vision and engineering excellence through three iconic BMW Art Cars.

BMW Art Cars on display in Bratislava:

• Frank Stella’s BMW 3.0 CSL (1976).
• Michael Jagamara Nelson’s BMW M3 Group A (1989).
• Matazo Kayama’s BMW 535i (1990).

The partnership between BMW Slovakia and the Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum has brought numerous cultural and artistic highlights to the Slovak capital.

Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum is one of Europe’s most striking contemporary art venues. Situated on the banks of the Danube River, the museum’s architectural beauty and serene surroundings provide the perfect setting to showcase the Art Cars and their captivating stories.

The exhibition features works by talented students from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava (VŠVU) in collaboration with the MINI brand and inspired by the MINI Aceman model, and young artists from the "Children and Architecture" project. These initiatives aim to inspire future generations to explore the intersections of art, design, and innovation.

The BMW Art Car World Tour: A Global Celebration

The Bratislava exhibition is part of the BMW Art Car World Tour 2025, the largest exhibition project in the history of the collection, spanning all five continents. Since the tour’s kick-off, events have been held in 12 different markets at an incredible pace, sharing the legacy of the Art Cars with audiences around the globe.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

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Munich/Berlin. From 2 to 4 May 2025, Gallery Weekend Berlin will celebrate its 21st edition. As a long-standing partner, BMW once again supports the renowned art weekend in the German capital and, for the first time, contributes to its newly launched talk programme. Under the title BMW Art Talk: “Why and How to Support Art”, BMW Group Cultural Engagement is hosting a high-profile panel discussion on Friday, 2 May at the iconic Neue Nationalgalerie.

A partner of Gallery Weekend Berlin since 2013, BMW has supported the development of one of the world’s most significant contemporary art platforms ever since. This year’s event also puts a spotlight on the latest seventh edition of the BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors – a key publication that promotes access to private art collections across the globe.

As part of the new Gallery Weekend Art Talks, the BMW Art Talk: “Why and How to Support Art” will take place on Friday, 2 May, from 12 to 1pm. Initiated by BMW, the discussion brings together leading international collectors and patrons to explore how artists can be effectively supported in today’s evolving art market. Topics include the role of private initiatives, institutional collaborations, and digital platforms in fostering artistic talent. Panellists include Karen Boros, Founder of the Boros Collection in Berlin; collector Eva Leinemann and Azu Nwagbogu, founder of the African Artists’ Foundation and LagosPhoto Festival. The panel will be moderated by Thomas Girst, Head of Cultural Engagement at the BMW Group.

The Gallery Weekend Art Talks will be held throughout the weekend in the striking glass hall of the Neue Nationalgalerie, creating a central space for dialogue among artists, curators, collectors, and the public. Each day features multiple conversations with international guests and participating artists. The fact that Karen Boros, one of the panellists, is also featured in the BMW Art Guide once again illustrates the intersection of collecting practice and public exchange that connects both the talk and the guide. The BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors, published by Hatje Cantz, presents 304 publicly accessible private collections in 51 countries, ranging from major art hubs like Berlin, New York and Cape Town to more secluded destinations in the Norwegian fjords and the Swiss Alps.

“Art is an important part of our society, and therefore it is important for us to create formats that open up dialogue and provide a platform for artists, curators, and collectors. For this, we need strong partners, and we are very pleased that BMW, as part of our long-standing partnership, is also supporting the talk series,” says Antonia Ruder, Director of Gallery Weekend Berlin.

Gallery Weekend Berlin offers visitors the opportunity to discover new names or deepen existing passions. Exhibitions curated especially for the event will open in all participating galleries on Friday, 2 May, from 6pm to 9pm. On Saturday, 3 May (11am - 7pm) and Sunday, 4 May (11am - 6pm), local and international visitors are warmly invited to explore the galleries across the city.

Save the Date
Press Preview: Wednesday, 30 April, 10am
Digital press conference and introduction to this year’s Gallery Weekend Berlin with Director Antonia Ruder. Click here to access the event.

Further information and press materials on the participating galleries can be found in the press section of the Gallery Weekend Berlin website (password: kunst).

In addition to its commitment to Gallery Weekend Berlin, the BMW Group also supports the Preis der Nationalgalerie as part of its long-term cultural engagement in Berlin. Beyond the visual arts, BMW collaborates with the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and will once again host the much-loved open-air concert Staatsoper für alle on Bebelplatz on 22 June 2025.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

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Dubai/ Munich. The 2025 edition of Art Dubai is set to take place at Madinat Jumeirah from 18 to 20 April, with VIP guests welcomed for preview days on 16 and 17 April. As a long-term supporter of the fair, BMW will showcase the iconic 4th BMW Art Car, painted by Andy Warhol in just 28 minutes in 1979, on the fairground. The display of Warhol’s BMW M1 at Art Dubai is part of the BMW Art Car World Tour, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary BMW Art Car Collection this year.

Founded in 2007, Art Dubai has established itself as the most significant global art gathering in the Middle East, playing a pivotal role in the rapid growth of the region’s art scene and creative economy. Each year, the fair features around 120 contemporary, modern, and digital galleries from over 40 countries, showcasing a diverse range of artistic talent and positions. The gallery programme is complemented by artist commissions, an ambitious education initiative, and the most extensive talks and conference programming of any international art fair, including the renowned Global Art Forum and the annual Digital Summit. Art Dubai continues to champion galleries and artists from less-represented geographies, serving as a vital gateway for discovery, learning, and cultural exchange.

As part of the fair’s talk series, BMW will host the exclusive Art Talk “Driven by Art: Are Commissions and Co-creations the Future?” on 17th April at the Auditorium of Art Dubai. The international panalists Azu Nwagbogu (Founder and Director African Artists' Foundation and LagosPhoto Festival), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Artistic Director SERPENTINE) and Dr Stephanie Rosenthal (Director Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project) will explore the rise of co-creation as cultural phenomenon. Taking the iconic BMW Art Car Initiative as a point of departure, the panelists will reflect on decades of artistic collaborations they themselves initiated through their curatorial practice and institutions, moderated by Prof Dr Thomas Girst (Global Head of BMW Group Cultural Engagement).

The BMW Art Car World Tour and its stop in Dubai
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car Collection – an unprecedented mix of technology, art, and design that began in 1975 when French racing driver Hervé Poulain invited artist Alexander Calder to paint a BMW 3.0 CSL. Since then, the project has brought together visionary artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Esther Mahlangu, Jeff Koons, and Julie Mehretu, each transforming a BMW vehicle into a “rolling sculpture“. To celebrate this milestone, BMW has launched a global BMW Art Car World Tour to showcase the collection at cultural institutions, museums and platforms on all five continents.

In 1979, Andy Warhol transformed the BMW M1 into a radical canvas - a car that blurred the lines between art, performance and design. The exhibition of Warhol's BMW Art Car at this year's edition of Art Dubai underlines BMW's ongoing support for the arts and its commitment to fostering artistic dialogue and cultural exchange in the region. As part of the BMW Art Car World Tour 2025, Dubai joins this historic celebration of the series on tour.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Ilya Baryshev
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
BMW Art Car World Tour
Email: Ilya.Baryshev@bmwgroup.com

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Munich/Hong Kong. Following its global debut in 2024, the BMW Group is proud to present the 20th BMW Art Car, designed by internationally renowned artist Julie Mehretu, at this year’s edition of Art Basel Hong Kong. The showcase is part of the ongoing BMW Art Car World Tour, celebrating 50 years of the iconic “rolling sculptures” that unite art, design, and innovation. The 20th BMW Art Car will be on view at Art Basel Hong Kong alongside a display of miniature BMW Art Cars from across the past 50 years, with designs by artists including Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jenny Holzer, and Jeff Koons, on the occasion of this milestone anniversary. As a global partner of Art Basel, BMW continues its longstanding support for the fair’s VIP car service.

The BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car, designed by Mehretu, has already captivated audiences worldwide with its bold and dynamic aesthetic. Deconstructing and reconstructing her large-scale painting “Everywhen” (2021–2023), the design incorporates digitally altered photographic layers, vibrant neon colours, and Mehretu’s signature black gestural marks. Using advanced 3D mapping technology, the car reflects a powerful fusion of art and high-performance engineering. Having competed at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024, the Art Car continues to make an impact both on the racetrack and in the art world.

Julie Mehretu describes her vision: “Working on the BMW Art Car has allowed me to explore new dimensions of movement, space, and time. This car is not just an artwork; I call it a performative painting that reaches its full expression on the racetrack.”

“The 20th BMW Art Car perfectly encapsulates the powerful symbiosis of art, technology, and design. And for over 50 years, the BMW Art Car Collection has inspired creativity, innovation, and dialogue amongst a broader global audience of art and car enthusiasts,” says Raymond Tan, Managing Director, BMW Hong Kong Services Limited.

The BMW Art Car World Tour. 
Art Basel Hong Kong marks one of many global stops for the BMW Art Car World Tour, which spans 2025 and 2026. The tour highlights the brand’s long-standing commitment to the intersection of art and mobility, with planned appearances at major events such as Taipei Dangdai, Market Art Fair, Concorso d’Eleganza, and other cultural landmarks, including automotive museums and classic car festivals. Please find the complete press release with further press material for download here.

African Film and Media Arts Collective.
In conjunction with the Art Car exhibition, BMW and Julie Mehretu together with producer Mehret Mandefro are launching the African Film and Media Arts Collective. These workshops, hosted in 2025 across cities such as Dakar, Lagos, and Cape Town, aim to foster creativity and collaboration among young African artists and filmmakers. The results of these workshops will be displayed alongside the 20th BMW Art Car at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town in 2026.

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 favourite.

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.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

Experience the 20th BMW Art Car at Art Basel Hong Kong
March 28–30, 2025
BMW Lounge at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) Level 3 Concourse (Near Entrance 3D)
1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong SAR, China

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Vienna. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car Collection, the BMW Art Car World Tour is taking place on all five continents with numerous accompanying activities and kicks off in Europe and Asia. The official start of the world tour was celebrated yesterday as part of the “(R) EVOLUTION OF ART” event at the BMW Group Niederlassung Wien. A total of five BMW Art Cars will be shown in Vienna at the Museum of Applied Arts and at the SPARK Art Fair from March 20-23: the cars by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney and Jeff Koons. The latest and 20th BMW Art Car – the BMW M Hybrid V8 by renowned American painter Julie Mehretu – will embark on an Asian tour and be displayed at Art Basel in Hong Kong on March 28-30.

“We are honored to be able to host the start of the BMW Art Car World Tour in Vienna,” says Dr. Josef Reiter, Managing Director of BMW Group Niederlassung Wien. “As the BMW Group in Austria, we see it as our responsibility to promote art and culture. The (R) EVOLUTION OF ART event is part of our commitment to provide creative impulses and inspire dialogue between artists, their works of art and audiences. We believe that innovation and creativity are inextricably linked — just as in the development of our cars. Art appeals to emotions — just like a BMW. The moment in which a vehicle triggers enthusiasm, wonder or wonder is comparable to experiencing an impressive work of art. Designers and engineers are working to create not only functionality, but also an emotional bond — whether through iconic shapes, an unmistakable driving experience or the combination of technology and aesthetics,” says Reiter.

Design accelerates change: The BMW Vision Neue Klasse X and BMW Vision Neue Klasse together in Vienna for the first time.
As part of the event, an insight into the Neue Klasse vision vehicles was also given. With the Neue Klasse, the BMW Group is making the mobility of the future a reality as early as this year. Vehicle dynamics, drive, battery technology, operating concept, digitization: Each of these aspects has been significantly further developed and, as with design, has sometimes skipped over a generation.

With the BMW Vision Neue Klasse, the BMW Group is giving a glimpse of what the next generation of vehicles from the core BMW brand will look like. The vision vehicle shows the BMW brand's new design language, which will be reflected in many other models from the brand. The new design language is clear, elegant and timeless. The new, all-electric vehicle architecture offers new interior design options.

In the BMW Vision Neue Klasse X, the aesthetics, technology and philosophy of the Neue Klasse are transferred to the sports activity vehicle sector. The vision vehicle offers a glimpse of the BMW iX3, which will go into series production at the Debrecen plant (Hungary) in 2025.

Born from passion: a brief history of the BMW Art Car Collection.
On 14 June 1975, the BMW 3.0 CSL designed by American sculptor Alexander Calder took to the track at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The project was initially intended as a one-time collaboration between the artist and BMW. The audience cheered for the colourful racing car and children rejoiced. BMW decided this had to continue! It all began with the passion for art and motorsport of French auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain. In 1975, Poulain found a visionary ally in Jochen Neerpasch, founder and Head of BMW Motorsport, for his plan to enter a BMW designed by an artist in the legendary Le Mans endurance race. Even though the first BMW Art Car retired from the race after seven hours, it became a true crowd favourite, laying the foundations for the collection.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement.
With over 100 projects worldwide, the BMW Group's international cultural funding has been an essential part of corporate communication for almost 50 years. The BMW Group's long-term commitment focuses on contemporary art, music and film, and design.

In addition to its own formats, such as the BMW Art Cars, and the “Opera for All” concerts, the company supports leading museums and art fairs as well as orchestras and opera houses around the world. BMW Group's commitment to culture is always based on mutual curiosity and appreciation. Despite all its cultural commitments, the company takes absolute freedom of creative potential for granted — because it guarantees groundbreaking works in art just as much as it is for innovations in a commercial enterprise. The BMW Group in Austria is involved in various cultural projects in Austria and has maintained a long-standing partnership with the Albertina Art Museum. In the area of contemporary art, BMW in Austria accompanies the music festival in Steyr and the Lido Sounds in Linz.

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Munich. Calder, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Holzer, Hockney, Koons, Rauschenberg, Mahlangu, Eliasson, Baldessari, Cao Fei, Mehretu. For the past 50 years, the BMW Art Car series has provided artists fascinated by automobiles with a perfect playground for art and design, technology and innovation, motorsport and engineering. The collection of 20 BMW Art Cars embodies the essence of global cultural engagement with over one hundred initiatives across contemporary art, music and film, as well as design. The "rolling sculptures" – from Alexander Calder’s first-ever Art Car to Julie Mehretu’s latest – offer a cross-section of art history over the past five decades: minimalism, pop art, magical realism, abstraction, conceptual art and digital art are all represented.

“I love that car. It has turned out better than the artwork.”
Andy Warhol, BMW Art Car #4, 1979

The artists are selected by international juries of museum directors. In close collaboration with the BMW Group’s engineering and design teams, they freely develop their concepts and inspire everyone involved. To mark the 50th anniversary, the BMW Art Car World Tour features an exhibition programme spanning all five continents and including numerous accompanying events.

“The car should not only race in a physical way but also in the heart.”
Cao Fei, BMW Art Car #18, 2016

An anniversary around the world.

"The BMW Art Car Collection celebrates 50 years of artistic freedom and visionary design. The 20 vehicles have become international icons, telling stories of society, technology and performance. Our commitment to art and culture is long-term. We are continuously developing the collection and bringing art and automotive culture together in a unique way," says Ilka Horstmeier, Board Member for Human Resources and Real Estate at BMW Group.

The BMW Art Car World Tour kicks off in Europe and Asia. On 20-21 March, the BMW Art Cars created by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney and Jeff Koons will be on display at the Museum of Applied Arts and the SPARK Art Fair in Vienna for the BMW Group Niederlassung Wien event “(R)Evolution of Art”. The latest and 20th BMW Art Car – the BMW M Hybrid V8 by renowned American painter Julie Mehretu – will embark on an Asian tour and be displayed at Art Basel in Hong Kong on 28-30 March.

Mehretu is developing her Art Car project far beyond the vehicle as an object and will host workshops for young film and media artists across five African countries in 2025, together with film producer Mehret Mandefro and the BMW Group. The results of the African Film and Media Arts Collective (AFMAC) will be presented in 2026 alongside Mehretu's Art Car in an exhibition at the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, curated by its Executive Director, Koyo Kouoh, the designated curator of the Venice Biennale 2026.

“The whole BMW Art Car project is about invention, about imagination, about pushing limits of what can be possible.”
Julie Mehretu, BMW Art Car #20, 2024

Important museums and platforms for classic automobiles are also celebrating the milestone anniversary of the BMW Art Cars. The 13th Art Car by Sandro Chia will be showcased at the classic car festival Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este at Lake Como in May. In July and August, the Louwman Museum in The Hague will present eight BMW Art Cars in a special exhibition.

“I also thought it would be nice if women could participate other than standing around in bikinis.”
Jenny Holzer, BMW Art Car #15, 1999

The BMW Museum, the home of the BMW Art Cars when they are not travelling the world, is also honouring the collection by combining two anniversaries in a special exhibition. The BMW 3 Series is also celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, and starting 16 June, the museum will showcase a historical overview of all BMW 3 Series models as well as the BMW M3 Art Cars by Sandro Chia, Michael Jagamara Nelson, and Ken Done.                     

“I think mobile museums would be a good idea. This car is the fulfilment of my dream. I would like to do ten more.”
Robert Rauschenberg, BMW Art Car #6, 1986

New Art Car book, new Art Car model, new Art Car fashion collection.

In addition to the exhibition programme, BMW is releasing various new art and lifestyle products in celebration of the anniversary. The 1:18-scale miniature of the 20th Art Car by Julie Mehretu is available for purchase across BMW Lifestyle Shops, with a 1:43 version to follow later in the year. Together with publisher Hatje Cantz, BMW is presenting the third edition of the "BMW Art Cars" catalogue. Interviews with the founders of the collection and essays on each of the 20 Art Cars highlight the art historical relevance and diversity of the works. The cover design of the new edition is by Julie Mehretu. Following the popular Alexander Calder and Roy Lichtenstein fashion collections, the third collaboration with Puma based on the BMW Art Cars will be announced later this year.

“So you can say, the BMW Art Car is definitely a typical Baldessari and the fastest artwork I ever created!”
John Baldessari, BMW Art Car #19, 2016

Born from passion: a brief history of the BMW Art Car Collection.

On 14 June 1975, the BMW 3.0 CSL designed by American sculptor Alexander Calder took to the track at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The project was initially intended as a one-time collaboration between the artist and BMW. The audience cheered for the colourful racing car and children rejoiced. BMW decided this had to continue! It all began with the passion for art and motorsport of French auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain. In 1975, Poulain found a visionary ally in Jochen Neerpasch, founder and Head of BMW Motorsport, for his plan to enter a BMW designed by an artist in the legendary Le Mans endurance race. Even though the first BMW Art Car retired from the race after seven hours, it became a true crowd favourite, laying the foundations for the collection.

“Hervé, win! But drive carefully!”
Alexander Calder, BMW Art Car #1, 1975

In close collaboration with legendary New York gallerist Leo Castelli, BMW Art Cars by American artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol followed – and all were raced by Hervé Poulain and the BMW team at Le Mans. From 1982 to 1992, the BMW Art Car Collection opened up to the world, with artists transforming various standard production models: Ernst Fuchs, Robert Rauschenberg, Michael Jagamara Nelson, Ken Done, Matazo Kayama, César Manrique, A. R. Penck, Esther Mahlangu, Sandro Chia and David Hockney. In 1999, BMW returned to motorsport with the BMW V12 LMR prototype and American conceptual artist Jenny Holzer. Eight years later, Olafur Eliasson designed "Your mobile expectations: BMW H₂R Project" based on a record-breaking hydrogen race car. Jeff Koons, John Baldessari, Cao Fei, and Julie Mehretu have added dynamic race cars over the past 15 years. Since its invention nearly 140 years ago, artists worldwide have engaged with the automobile both critically and enthusiastically. And over the last 50 years, the BMW Art Car series has contributed significantly to this inspiring dialogue.

“These race cars are like life, they are bursting with power and have enormous energy. My ideas are meant to merge with this power – it's all about fully embracing it.”
Jeff Koons, BMW Art Car #17, 2010

BMW Art Car World Tour 2025 (selection)

until 16 April 2025: Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa
BMW Art Car #12 Esther Mahlangu

20-21 March 2025: SPARK Art Fair and MAK Museum Vienna, Austria
Event “(R)Evolution of Art” of the BMW Niederlassung Wien
BMW Art Cars #3 Roy Lichtenstein, #4 Andy Warhol, #6 Robert Rauschenberg, #14 David Hockney, #16 Jeff Koons

28-30 March 2025: Art Basel in Hong Kong
BMW Art Car #20 Julie Mehretu

23 April-2 May 2025: Shanghai Auto Show, China
BMW Art Car #20 Julie Mehretu

18-20 April 2025: Art Dubai, United Arab Emirates
BMW Art Car # TBA

May 2025: 50 Years of BMW Switzerland, Zurich, Switzerland
BMW Art Cars #5 Ernst Fuchs, #8 Ken Done, #11 A. R. Penck, #14 David Hockney, #15 Jenny Holzer, #19 John Baldessari

9-11 May 2025: Taipei Dangdai, Taiwan
BMW Art Car # TBA

27 May–1 June 2025: Bratislava, Slovakia
BMW Art Cars #2 Frank Stella, #7 Michael Jagamara Nelson, #9 Matazo Kayama

15-18 May 2025: Market Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
BMW Art Cars #1 Alexander Calder, #3 Roy Lichtenstein, #4 Andy Warhol, #17 Jeff Koons

23-25 May 2025: Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, Lake Como, Italy
BMW Art Car #13 Sandro Chia

16 June 2025-1 January 2026: BMW Museum, Munich
BMW Art Cars #7 Michael Jagamara Nelson, #8 Ken Done, #13 Sandro Chia

16 June 2025-31 August 2025: BMW Welt, Munich
BMW Art Cars #15 Jenny Holzer, #20 Julie Mehretu

27-29 June 2025: The Aurora, Båstad, Sweden
BMW Art Cars #1 Alexander Calder, #3 Roy Lichtenstein, #4 Andy Warhol, #17 Jeff Koons

3 July-31August, 2025: Louwman Museum, The Hague, Netherlands
BMW Art Cars #1 Alexander Calder, #2 Frank Stella, #3 Roy Lichtenstein, #4 Andy Warhol, #10 César Manrique, #12 Esther Mahlangu, #14 David Hockney, #17 Jeff Koons

24-28 September 2025: Contemporary Istanbul, Turkey
BMW Art Cars #1 Alexander Calder, #20 Julie Mehretu

The Art Car World Tour schedule is still evolving and will continue through most of 2026. Further stops and venues are planned, including Australia, Belgium (Brussels, Zoute), China (Macau), Germany (Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf), Kazakhstan, Latin America, Morocco (Marrakech), South Africa, Spain, Switzerland (Basel) and USA.

BMW Art Cars

1. Alexander Calder / BMW 3.0 CSL / 1975
2. Frank Stella / BMW 3.0 CSL / 1976
3. Roy Lichtenstein / BMW 320 Group 5 / 1977
4. Andy Warhol / BMW M1 Group 4 / 1979
5. Ernst Fuchs / BMW 635 CSi / 1982
6. Robert Rauschenberg / BMW 635 CSi / 1986
7. Michael Jagamara Nelson / BMW M3 Group A / 1989
8. Ken Done / BMW M3 Group A / 1989
9. Matazo Kayama / BMW 535i / 1990
10. César Manrique / BMW 730i / 1990
11. A.R. Penck / BMW Z1 / 1991
12. Esther Mahlangu / BMW 525i / 1991
13. Sandro Chia / BMW M3 GTR / 1992
14. David Hockney / BMW 850 CSi / 1995
15. Jenny Holzer / BMW V12 LMR / 1999
16. Olafur Eliasson / BMW H₂R / 2007
17. Jeff Koons / BMW M3 GT2 / 2010
18. Cao Fei / BMW M6 GT3 / 2016
19. John Baldessari / BMW M6 GTLM / 2016
20. Julie Mehretu / BMW M Hybrid V8 / 2024

Further information on the BMW Art Car Collection can be found here.

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Paris/Munich. 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 race car 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 PanAfrican 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 of Contemporary Art Africa 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 colour 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-coloured 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 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 realised 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 15 June. 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 overwhelming. 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 organised by the BMW Group and the Grand Hotel Villa d'Este, Julie Mehretu herself will present the 20th 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, 26 May 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 PanAfrican Translocal Media Workshops. Together, the partners are focussing on the creative potential across the African continent, where the BMW Group has been making a contribution to social responsibility with 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 organise workshops in various African cities and regions throughout 2025. The goal of the project is to provide a space for artists and filmmakers 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 PanAfrican Translocal Workshop series will visit the cities of Dakar (Senegal), Marrakech (Morocco), Kigali (Rwanda), Lagos (Nigeria) and Cape Town (South Africa). The results of the workshops will be presented together with the 20th BMW Art Car at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town in the first half of 2026.

The BMW Group is thus consistently continuing its decades-long support for film and creative talent: from the short film series ‘The Hire’ and the partnership with the Cannes International Film Festival to the acquisition of works by students from art academies in the neighbourhoods of the company’s plants worldwide.

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 race car. 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 race car 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 race track 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 favourite.

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.

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Munich/Los Angeles. 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 colour-change technology developed by BMW with the artistic language of South African artist Esther Mahlangu. The designer piece, with sections of attached film that can be electronically animated, embodies the latest development in colour-change technology for vehicle surfaces in cooperation with E Ink. The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA celebrates its world premiere at the fair opening on 29 February. The contemporary tribute recalls the BMW Art Car designed by Mahlangu in 1991. “The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA honours 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 colour 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 realise this idea, and work with Esther Mahlangu, is absolutely surreal.” The 88-year-old artist’s signature colours and geometric patterns are perfect for bringing the innovative Flow technology to life in the BMW i5. The versatility of the electrophoretic colour 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, bonnet 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 colour particles they contain can be changed by applying an electric voltage. This allows the typical colours and patterns of Mahlangu’s art to be generated in constantly changing compositions.

The animations are also accompanied by an equally extraordinary sound, specially composed by Renzo Vitale, the BMW Group's Creative Director, Sound, for the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA. 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 colour 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 colour 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, colour-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 multi-coloured implementation. The 240 sections of film applied to BMW i Vision Dee were able to display up to 32 colours. This latest phase of development now enables even more colours 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 symbolised 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 designer car at Frieze Los Angeles, BMW continues its long-standing 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 11 August 2024, honours 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 29 February with a live performance by Sudan Archives at the Hammer Museum.


If you have any questions, please contact:

BMW Group Corporate Communications

Steven Woerns
Press spokesperson, BMW Group Design
Telephone: +49-151-601-16992
Email: Steven.Woerns@bmw.com

Prof. Dr. Thomas Girst
Head of BMW Group Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49-89-382-24753
Email: Thomas.Girst@bmwgroup.com

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Munich/Warsaw. This year’s edition of “BMW Art Club. The Future is Art” will feature the first Polish presentation of the VR experience EVOLVER. The immersive, multimedia work of art, created by London-based art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast, uses an innovative fusion of art, science and modern technology to drop audiences deep inside the landscape of the body, following the flow of oxygen through our branching ecosystem, to a single “breathing” cell.

The project was created in collaboration with various prominent cultural figures, with narration by Cate Blanchett, and a score featuring music from Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, amongst others. The premiere of EVOLVER in the Opera Gallery of the Polish National Opera has been set for October 12, 2023. The exhibition will be open until December 10.

Artistic dimension of science
Science and art give expression to the same human need – the need to understand and describe the world. EVOLVER is a free-roaming, immersive deep dive that takes viewers through the processes that sustain all life. The all-encompassing VR experience takes us on a journey through the microcosm of the human body, which simultaneously acts as the macrocosm of nature. Exploring structures hidden far beneath the skin, viewers are taken through a sequence of breathing, visualizing the very essence of life itself, as air travels from the mouth into the lungs, before circulating around the complex rivers of our cardiovascular system and back out into the natural world.

Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) seek to highlight the common denominator between scientific precision and the emotional experience of art. Placing audiences at the centre of these ecosystems aims to bring them closer to an understanding of our interconnectedness.

Key contribution was brought to EVOLVER by invited artists and consultants from prestigious scientific centres. The executive producer is director Terrence Malick, a living cinematic legend, the author of such classics as “Badlands”, “The Thin Red Line”, and “The Tree of Life”. EVOLVER features the powerful voice of actress Cate Blanchett and contributions from poet Daisy Lafarge and Radiohead’s guitarist Jonny Greenwood. EVOLVER’s score also features musical pieces by the vocal innovator Meredith Monk, Golden Globe-winning composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, the composer, pianist and accordion player Howard Skempton, and musician and electronic music producer Jon Hopkins.

The creation of EVOLVER would not be possible without the support of scientists from a range of centres researching the human body. They kept tabs on the quality of every detail of the scans of the human body used by the artists and reproduced in virtual reality. Scientific consultants of the project include Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, The Allen Institute for Cell Science and Buck Institute for Research on Ageing.

“When building EVOLVER, the artists from MLF were trying to strike balance between different dimensions: aesthetic, scientific, visual and auditory, to create a virtual universe which is both true and beautiful, which appeals to the senses and emotions, which opens a space for an intellectual reflection”, points out Stach Szabłowski, the curator of “BMW Art Club. The Future is Art”.

A visionary experience for the senses
Since the very first edition, “BMW Art Club. The Future is Art” explores those fields of culture where the combination of art and technology gives birth to new ideas, answers to the challenges of the present day as well as visions of the future. This year’s edition touches upon the issue that has been central for the whole cycle: how new technologies can enhance the capabilities of artists and our understanding of the contemporary world with the place which humans occupy in it.

EVOLVER presented in the Opera Gallery is a technologically advanced visionary experience for the senses. It begins with a ten-minute audio meditation in a specially designed relaxation space. Spectators are invited to decompress, guided by the voice of Cate Blanchett. In the next room, they proceed to take part in a VR experience, accompanied by a monumental, multidimensional video screening. With VR googles on, they embark on a twenty-minute virtual journey through the human body, following the flow of oxygen, as it is taken into the lungs and travels to its final destination – an individual cell of the body – a living microcosm, which reflects the structure of the whole universe. The third part of EVOLVER – the epilogue – encourages reflection over the recent experience. It takes the form of a gallery, presenting digital pieces created by the members of Marshmallow Laser Feast and a film expanding on the narrative of the exhibition.

“Audiovisual technologies, such as VR, can be used to escape reality or to delve deep in artificial worlds far away from real-life problems. But the same technologies can be used to an opposing effect. New digital tools allow us not only to perceive, but also to get to know and understand the world in a way which not long ago was hardly imaginable”, stresses Barnaby Steel, co-founder of Marshmallow Laser Feast.

The Polish premiere of EVOLVER is supported by Morele GeForce RTX Studio PCs, equipped with GeForce RTX 4080 GPUs and certified by NVIDIA. They are part of the NVIDIA Studio platform, aimed at artists, designers, engineers and other professionals who need powerful tools to work with graphics, video or virtual reality. The platform includes high-performance graphics cards, specialised software, and dedicated Studio drivers that deliver optimal performance and stability with the most popular 3D graphics, video, and animation software. The entire system has been created specifically for professional graphics applications, which include real-time ray traced rendering or support for AI technologies.

The world premiere of EVOLVER project took place at Tribeca Film Festival 2022 in New York. The exhibition presented as part of “BMW Art Club. The Future is Art” in the Opera Gallery of the Polish National Opera in Warsaw will be open from October 12 until December 10, 2023.

The patron of the project – BMW – opens all the screenings to general audience for free. Open registration at https://butik.teatrwielki.pl and https://teatrwielki.pl or at the ticket office of the National Opera, Teatr Wielki from September 12.

More information about the “BMW Art Club. The Future is Art” can be found at www.bmw.pl/artclub.

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Munich/New York. BMW announced a collaboration today at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City with internationally renowned New York-based artist Julie Mehretu to create the 20th BMW Art Car. Mehretu was unanimously chosen by an international jury of museum directors and curators, and will be given total creative freedom to design the next instalment in BMW’s legendary collection of ”rolling sculptures”. BMW will enter Mehretu’s BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car in the 24 Hour race of Le Mans in June 2024. This continues an almost 50-year tradition that has delighted not only motorsport enthusiasts but anyone into design or the arts, technology and mobility. Since 1975, artists such as Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Cao Fei, and John Baldessari have created racing cars for BMW.

“I've loved cars for most of my life, as toys, as objects, as possibilities. It is from that space that I'm really excited to be working on the next BMW Art Car more than anything,” stated Julie Mehretu. “The thrill of the speed, the 24 Hour race of Le Mans and what is possible to invent in hybrid and fully electric vehicles as future modes of play and pushing ahead into new terrains of transportation and motorsports.”

”The BMW Art Car Collection is a central element of our global cultural commitment, which has been in place for more than 50 years," said Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Human Resources and Real Estate, at the presentation in New York. ”The combination of technology and art, of design and motorsport sparks a timeless fascination. I have admired Julie Mehretu's work for many years. I am particularly pleased that our cooperation will have a lasting cultural impact beyond the vehicle she has designed, especially in Africa.”

An artistic concept beyond the car: Translocal Media Workshop Series in 2025
The collaboration between BMW and Julie Mehretu will not only leave its mark on the Le Mans racetrack.

There are far and few spaces on the continent of Africa where artists can convene, exchange, and experiment in ways that foster collaboration across local contexts. Julie Mehretu and Mehret Mandefro, Emmy-nominated producer, writer and co-founder of the Realness Institute which aims to strengthen the media ecosystem across Africa, will host a series of gatherings in eight African cities over the course of nine months to open up space for artists to meet, exchange, and collaborate in translocal ways. These workshops have the sole intention of opening up a forum for the artists to consider new pathways to implementing just civic futures in their respective local communities and harness the power of the translocal collective.

The methodology of these workshops is based on the Exodus Media Workshop (EMW) which is an arts education laboratory initiated by Denniston Hill that focuses on the inter-dependent inventions of image making and representation in the media. The workshop begins from the shared intention that we must disentangle self-being from its mediated depiction, and that our identities can be reclaimed and reshaped by our own standards.

The outcome and results of the workshops will be presented together with the 20th BMW Art Car at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town in 2025.

The artist.
Julie Mehretu was born in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, in 1970. Together with her family she moved to the USA at the age of seven. She received her B.A. from Kalamazoo College, Michigan, graduated from The Rhode Island School of Design with a Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1997, and also spent a year studying at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar Senegal. In exploring palimpsests of history, from geological time to a modern-day phenomenology of the social, her paintings, prints and drawings engage the viewer in a dynamic visual articulation of contemporary experience, a depiction of social behavior and the psychogeography of space. 

Mehretu has been running a studio in New York since 1999. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the MacArthur Award and the US Department of State Medal of Arts Award. A representative survey of her work has been exhibited at LACMA (Los Angeles), the High Museum (Atlanta), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), and the Walker Museum of Art (Minneapolis) from 2019 to 2023. In 2021, Julie Mehretu became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Design.

Julie Mehretu is represented globally by Marian Goodman Gallery, and also exhibits with White Cube, London, and Carlier Gebauer, Berlin.

Statements of the jury. Unanimous nomination.
Julie Mehretu was unanimously chosen to design the 20^th BMW Art Car in 2018 by an international jury from the art world with an outstanding reputation based on their experience and expertise in leading positions at major museums and galleries. It is composed of the following personalities:

• Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director and Chief Curator, High Line Art, New York
• Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York
• Anton Belov, Director, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
• Anita Dube, artist and curator Kochi-Muziris-Biennale 2018
• Yilmaz Dziewior, Director, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
• Okwui Enwezor (1963 – 2019), former Director, Haus der Kunst, Munich 
• Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director, New Museum, New York
• Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
• Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town
• Matthias Mühling, Director, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich
• Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London
• Hervé Poulain, Initiator BMW Art Car Collection and CEO Artcurial
• Stephanie Rosenthal, Director, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago:
“Julie Mehretu is the perfect artist for this early 21st century. To merge her work with the shape and form of a speeding vehicle is really an alignment of perfection. For years, Julie has painted speed and for a long time worked very successfully at scale. This means to me that she will be able to create a form that you can see from a distance because with many of her large commissions, you need to back up to really enjoy them. She has an understanding of space and speed that is a perfect partner to the BMW Art Car.”

Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town:
“I think that Julie Mehretu’s practice combines a sprawling visuality with a political background. She will be the perfect artist to really moderate this tension about race, technology, car, velocity and bring it into a form that is legible for the wider public.”

Okwui Enwezor (1963 - 2019), former Director, Haus der Kunst, Munich:
“Julie Mehretu’s work incapsulates different questions of movement. She expresses dynamism within a form. It is a very clear and sound understanding of how the object acts in space. And I think this really makes it a very exciting proposition to have an artist of her calibre who has the long-standing experience to take on this project.”

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London:
“Julie Mehretu creates paintings which very often go beyond the canvas. Her practice is very interdisciplinary and of course, that’s exactly what will happen with the BMW Art Car. The artists do not just develop ideas alone in their studio, but in dialogue with many people in the company and particularly with the engineers, the inventors and the designers.”

Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director and Chief Curator, High Line Art, New York:
“I think Julie is a wonderful artist who has been able to bring the three-dimensionality of our reality into the two-dimensionality of paintings and flat surfaces. She is someone that has been looking at our cities, the speed of our culture, vectors and velocity and these are all themes that resonate with the BMW Art Car. Her project for the BMW Art Car will be compelling and bring together all these aspects into this wonderful platform.”

Stephanie Rosenthal, Director, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi:
“Julie Mehretu is mainly known for large-scale two-dimensional works which are based on speed, space, creating and imagining space. And so now working with the BMW Art Car really will extend, I think, her experience of working with a three-dimensional object and kind of implementing her idea of space, and also probably become a form of futurist architecture exploring technology. And, therefore, I think she’s a brilliant pick.”

The BMW M Hybrid V8.
The canvas for the 20th BMW Art Car is the BMW M Hybrid V8. BMW M GmbH's new competition car in endurance racing features a hybrid drive system with around 640 hp, whose 4.0-liter V8 engine is supported by an electric motor (max speed: up to 345 kph/215 mph, depending on track layout). This makes the prototype race car, which weighs just 1,030 kilograms, the poster child for typical M performance and the fascination with electrified drives.

The BMW M Hybrid V8 is currently competing successfully in the GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) class of the North American IMSA endurance racing series. BMW M Motorsport will also return to the FIA World Endurance Championship in the 2024 season. In the races for the official FIA World Endurance Championship, the BMW M Hybrid V8 will face top-class competition in the Hypercars category. This means that the BMW M Hybrid V8 will also be competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans – the first BMW M Motorsport prototype since the BMW V12 LMR won the classic in 1999.

The BMW Art Car Collection.
Since 1975, renowned artists from all over the world have been designing BMW Art Cars. The initiative came from French racing driver and art lover Hervé Poulain, who, in collaboration with then Head of BMW Motorsport Jochen Neerpasch, asked his artist friend Alexander Calder to paint an automobile. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL that competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975, where it 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 added further BMW Art Cars to the collection, each in their own individual style. Most recently, Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei and American John Baldessari each presented a BMW Art Car based on the BMW M6 GT3 in 2016 and 2017. The BMW Art Cars are not only shown at their home, the BMW Museum in Munich, but also travel around the world as part of international exhibitions.

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Skupina BMW se udejstvuje na mnogih kulturnih področjih. Z medsebojnim spoštovanjem in radovednostjo BMW povezuje ljudi skozi kulturo po vsem svetu - tako fizično kot virtualno. Ob 50 letnici povezovanja BMW Group z umetnostjo na globalni ravni, je podjetje BMW Slovenija decembra 2021 razpisalo natečaj za umetnike do 35. leta, da pripravijo umetniško vizijo trajnosti in mobilnosti, ki se bo aplicirala na zunanjost popolnoma električnega vozila BMW iX. Inspiracijo za ustvarjanje so delili tudi člani žirije, med njimi Domagoj Dukec, vodja oblikovanja BMW, ki je izpostavil: »Pri združevanju umetnosti in tehnologije gre za dve edinstveni komponenti, ki lahko ustvarita zanimivo in razburljivo izkušnjo.«

Umetniško vizijo vozila BMW iX je prijavilo 17 ustvarjalcev. Najboljše kreativne rešitve je iskala strokovna žirija, ki so jo sestavljali Domagoj Dukec, vodja oblikovanja BMW, Alenka Gregorič, kustosinja za sodobno umetnost, umetniška vodja Cukrarne in Galerije Tobačna, Miran Mohar, mednarodno priznani umetnik, član skupine IRWIN in prodekan AVA akademije za vizualno umetnost v Ljubljani, Kristina Rutar, umetnica, docentka na ALUO Unikatno oblikovanje in Maša Gala, vizualna umetnica, akademska slikarka, KD 3kolektiv.

Najboljšo idejo zunanjosti vozila je oddal magistrski študent ALOU v Ljubljani, Urban Klinkon z delom Skica. Mladi likovni ustvarjalec je zelo sveže pristopil k snovanju likovnega dela za natečaj. Izvirno in avtorsko risbo v primarnih barvah snovnega spektra je s pomočjo osnovnih likovnih prvin povezal v vizualno zanimiv in atraktiven končni izgled vozila. Osnovno idejo – da vsak korak na poti ustvarjanja šteje in doprinese k trajnostnemu razvoju v oblikovanju, je predstavil drzno, mladostniško in sveže ter jo odlično povezal z bogato zgodovino razvoja BMW vozil. Umetniško delo, ki je nastalo za natečaj je digitalna risba, ki izraža svežino avtorske skice – prvega zapisa roke v ustvarjalnem procesu.

Avtor zmagovalne umetniške vizije BMW iX Urban Klinkon je dejal: »Sodelovanje z globalno znamko, kot je BMW, je izjemna priložnost, ki sem jo z navdušenjem sprejel. Trajnost razumem kot težnjo po ohranjanju večnosti. Narave, življenja in sveta okrog nas. Kjer prav vsak korak, dejanje, tudi poteza v umetniškem izražanju šteje. Tako sem se vrnil k osnovam in jim želel povzdigniti pomen. Izhajal sem iz treh osnovnih barv – rumene, rdeče in modre – in osnovne umetniške prvine – linije, ki je z vsakim nadaljnjim potegom dobivala več smisla ter novega življenja. Tako sem združil visoko tehnološko vozilo, ki omogoča trajnostno mobilnost, ne le njegovemu vozniku, ampak tudi meni kot umetniku, ki je dobil priložnost za izražanje. Svojo umetniško interpretacijo sem poimenoval skica, saj predstavlja začetek izjemne poti in mojo vizijo prepleta med umetnostjo, tehnologijo in trajnostjo. Neizmerno sem vesel, da je bil moj predlog zmagovalen. Prepričan sem, da mi bo zmaga odprla nova vrata na moji umetniški poti in se veselim novih priložnosti.«

BMW Slovenija je ob zmagovalnem predlogu nagradil tudi drugo in tretje uvrščena ustvarjalca. Drugo uvrščena je bila ideja magistrice slikarstva, Monike Slemc. Mlada umetnica se je inspirirala iz narave – krajine in trajnosti. Umetniško delo narejeno na temo natečaja je zmanipulirana podoba – digitalna grafika, ki izvira iz realne fotografske podobe pokrajine po kateri potuje vozilo. Podobo je avtorica zmanipulirala v abstraktno podobo, ki asociira in povezuje teme hitrosti, mobilnosti, premikanja, razvoja in trajnosti. Za nadaljnjo spodbudo pri umetniškem ustvarjanju je avtorica prejela nagrado v višini 500 evrov.

Strokovna žirija pa je tretje mesto namenila industrijskemu oblikovalcu Boru Jarhu. Celotna kompozicija izvira iz širšega okvira naravnega okolja in bazira na okolju prijaznih materialih. Združuje ideje krožnega gospodarstva in pomena trajnosti celotne verige vrednosti. Umetniško delo v prvi fazi oblikovalskega pristopa je animacija, ki dobro sledi temam razpisa ter izvirno povezuje umetnost in tehnološki napredek. Tudi tretje uvrščeni ustvarjalec je prejel nagrado v višini 500 evrov.

Nad izvrstno pripravljenimi idejami je bil navdušen tudi vodja oblikovanja BMW, Domagoj Dukec: »BMW iX odlično prepleta umetnost in tehnologijo. Mladim umetnikom smo postavili zahteven izziv, lastno interpretacijo prepletanja teh dveh tem. Kreativne ideje umetnikov niso samo poudarile močnega značaja BMW iX, ampak so tudi prepričale z edinstveno ustvarjalnostjo.«

Na sklepnem dogodku v ljubljanski Cukrarni je bila predstavljena zmagovalna ideja natečaja Re:design. Na okrogli mizi so člani žirije Domagoj Dukec, Miran Mohar, Kristina Rutar, Maša Gala in Alenka Gregorič povzeli pomen prepletanja umetnosti, trajnosti in tehnologije ter omogočanja priložnosti mladim ustvarjalcem. Vozilo bo v prihodnjih dneh zapeljalo na slovenske ceste in s svojo pojavnostjo opozarjalo na pomen trajnosti. Vozilo Re:design iX bo v prihodnjih mesecih na voljo za ogled pri pooblaščenih trgovcih BMW.