Earlier this year BMW joined forces with Chinese artist Cao Fei in an attempt to deliver another BMW Art Car. This week, we received a timetable for the release of the 18th Art Car which is now scheduled for 2017. Designed upon the BMW M6 GT3, the art piece will be based on the concept of a “rolling sculpture”.
“The car is key to understanding the changes occurring in contemporary Chinese society. The rapid speed of a car and the rapid changes taking place in Chinese society are my inspirations for creating the 18th BMW Art Car. But my BMW Art Car will adopt an expressive form completely different from previous ones. It will be an interpretation of the century’s theme, namely that we enter ‘a landscape of no man’s land’, e.g. autonomous cars and aircrafts and virtual reality,” said Cao Fei.
Just like previous BMW Art Cars, the 18th vehicle of the collection will participate in a racing event in Asia and furthermore be exhibited in a major museum, making it the latest example of the BMW Group’s endeavor to promote the arts and intercultural communications. Cao Fei is considered one of the most important young artists to have emerged from China. She has been active in the international art scene for almost two decades with her unique multimedia projects in which she explores the rapid changes occurring in Chinese society today.
“Art is a mirror that can reflect the future into today’s reality. The BMW Group believes that sustainability, connectivity and automated driving are the trends for future individual mobility. We are pleased to see that the artists’ ideas for the 18th BMW Art Car regarding future cars, society and humankind is in line with BMW’s vision for future mobility,” said Thomas Girst, Head of BMW Group Cultural Engagement.
Over the course of the past year, the BMW Group arranged for Cao Fei to have several in-depth meetings with the company’s senior executives. For example, Dr Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, discussed the possibility for Cao to be the first artist to also create the inside of a BMW Art Car; Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President of BMW Group Design, met with her to discuss colors; Karim Habib, Director of BMW Design, spoke to her about 3‑D modeling; and Olaf Kastner, President and CEO of BMW Group, China Region, met with her to discuss BMW’s “Art Factory” in Shenyang. Therefore, things are bound to get interesting once the project will be finally unveiled.
