The Art of BMW

From Art Cars to Bond films, Hockney and Warhol, to London Design Museum lectures, BMW has, in recent years, maintained a relationship with the arts. This relationship continues through 2005 and into 2006 with a number of innovative, challenging and interesting activities and events at venues such as Tate Modern, the Royal College of Art and London's Frieze Art Fair. From 21-24 October, a fleet of chauffeur-driven BMW 7 Series will be available to the Frieze Art Fair's 2,500 VIPs in London's Regent's Park. The UK's most successful contemporary art fair then hands over to the world's most popular equivalent, with BMW again the official limousine at the USA's Art Basel Miami Beach from 1-4 December. Throughout November, eighteen first-year Vehicle Design students at London's Royal College of Art will be designing works of art from genuine BMW parts and, on 7 December, Chris Bangle, the director of BMW Group design, has been invited to present a lecture as part of the D&AD's 2005 President's Lectures programme of talks and forums (click here for more information).Looking ahead to 2006, BMW UK will be title sponsor of one of Tate Modern's major retrospectives that features two of the most influential artists from the Bauhaus school and the 16th BMW Art Car will be completed later in the year by the Danish-born artist and environmental champion, Olafur Eliasson. His 'canvas' will be a version of BMW's record-breaking Hydrogen-powered car, the H2R.Uwe Ellinghaus, BMW (UK) Ltd's marketing director said: "As you would expect from a company that prides itself on its design heritage as much as its engineering, it is vital for us to communicate with the art world and all those consumers stimulated by the arts. Whether the art in question is a film, a painting, architecture, a sculpture or, even a car."Over recent years BMW has surprised and delighted many people with our creative direction. Our car and motorcycle ranges are, visually, the most distinctive in the world, Zaha Hadid designed our latest production facility in Leipzig, we have featured James Brown, Gary Oldman, Clive Owen and Madonna in award-winning short films, and we are now challenging art students to develop works of art from BMW parts. It is clear to see that, just as motorsport and golf sit naturally with our brand on a sporting level, so do the creative disciplines on an emotional level," Ellinghaus concluded.BMW 7 Series: official limousine to the Frieze Art Fair and Art Basel Miami Beach:The Frieze Art Fair (21-24 October) has, in just two years, established itself as the UK's most important market for contemporary art. Set in Regent's Park, it is due to attract more than the record 42,000 visitors it received in 2004. The organisers also expect to sell art works totalling in the region of last year's 25 million pounds figure to private collectors and galleries alike.A fleet of BMW 7 Series will be available to any of the 2,500 VIPs expected to attend the Art Fair or any of the supporting events, parties and talks. Visitors last year included Damien Hirst, Jarvis Cocker, Madonna, Elle MacPherson and Gwyneth Paltrow. More information about the Frieze Art Fair can be found at www.friezeartfair.comA similar limousine service will be provided by BMW 7 Series cars at Art Basel Miami Beach (1-4 December), the biggest and most successful contemporary art fair in the world. Renowned museum directors and curators, international celebrities and artists, and interested private collectors will, again, be in attendance, with VIPs offered access to the 7 Series and a VIP lounge that displays an exhibition celebrating 30 years of BMW Art Cars. 16th BMW Art Car announced:Contemporary artist Olafur Eliasson has been commissioned to create the 16th BMW Art Car using the record-breaking hydrogen-powered BMW H2R car as a canvas. Following in the footsteps of Andy Warhol and David Hockney, the Danish-born artist was selected for his prowess as an internationally acclaimed artist as well as his philosophy as a champion of renewable energies.Eliasson has hosted large-scale exhibitions of his work at museums such as Tate Modern in London, the ZKM in Karlsruhe and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Current examples of his work can be found in world-famous public and private collections such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.The H2R record car, which set nine world records for hydrogen-powered vehicles at the Miramas Proving Ground in France in 2004, will be delivered to Eliasson this month with the finished work being presented to the public in Spring 2007.Eliasson's artwork will form the latest chapter in BMW's priceless collection of motoring art. The first BMW 'Art Car' was a 3.0 CSL created by Alex Calder in 1975, with the most recent being the BMW V12 Le Mans race car created by Jenny Holzer in 1999. Other famous artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella have also contributed to the collection.BMW Parts: Genuine Works of Art:Throughout November, 18 first year Vehicle Design students at London's Royal College of Art (RCA) will be designing works of art from genuine BMW parts. Whether they use a brake disc or clutch plate, the best ten results, judged by a senior BMW designer, will be displayed at the RCA in February 2006. Many of the art works, including the overall winning design, will be constructed by students from the RCA's sculpture school.More information on the Genuine Works of Art programme can be found on www.bmw.co.uk/genuineparts, along with details of BMW UK's marketing activities that feature genuine parts as art works. The partnership with the RCA, and associated marketing programme, aims to highlight that all aftersales sites, whether approved BMW or independent outlets, and BMW owners, should specify genuine BMW parts at the time of repair. BMW and Bauhaus:BMW looks back to the time of its birth with the sponsorship of one of Tate Modern's most important exhibitions of 2006. Albers and Moholy-Nagy: From the Bauhaus to the New World runs from March to June next year and focuses on two pioneers of twentieth-century art and visual culture: Josef Albers and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, two of the Bauhaus school's most influential artists.The European artists were most influential in the mid-1920s in and around Berlin, at a time and in the city where BMW's first motorcycle, the BMW R32, made its public debut. The Bauhaus school sought to link art and design, and paid great attention to the work of engineers and manufacturers in the artistic process, a sentiment that is clearly important in the production of 21st Century BMW vehicles.BMW UK's marketing director, Uwe Ellinghaus said, "BMW is pleased to be working with Tate Modern and sponsoring this important exhibition. The teachings of the Bauhaus school were of great influence during the first years of BMW's motorcycle and car design and production in Germany, and much of BMW's early design and engineering principles are still in evidence today. We look forward to a rewarding and enjoyable relationship."Credits Run on The Hire:BMW North America has announced that its award-winning internet short-film series, The Hire (www.bmwfilms.com), will end its internet run on October 21, 2005. The short films, that feature the likes of Madonna and James Brown, debuted on-line in 2001 and have since received more than 100 million film views. Brit actor, Clive Owen, features as 'The Driver' in the films that saw him pour coffee on Madonna and race the devil through Las Vegas. The series was praised by the likes of The New York Times and Time Magazine and all eight films were unveiled at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival as a full DVD collection. In 2003, The Hire series was inducted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and BMW even created its own 'The Hire' cable TV channel