Cao Fei, the first Chinese artist commissioned to design a BMW Art Car, shared her inspirations and design concept for her “rolling sculpture” during a media briefing at her Beijing studio. The 18th BMW Art Car, which is based on the BMW M6 GT3, is set to debut in 2017.
“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.
Thomas Girst, Head of BMW Group Cultural Engagement, emphasized the heritage and innovations of BMW Art Cars during the media briefing, “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.”
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. Cao Fei was commissioned in November 2015 by the BMW Art Car project jury, which consists of twelve renowned museum directors and curators.
Cao Fei has also gained a unique insight into the automotive industry. 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.
At BMW Group’s plants in Munich and Shenyang, Cao Fei was given a comprehensive overview of the modern auto manufacturing process. She even witnessed the manufacturing of BMW’s latest engine. A young technician from the production line spoke with the artist about the many positive changes the plant has made in his life as well as for the city of Shenyang. The expatriate German experts from the headquarters at Shenyang plant showed Cao Fei how BMW’s “engineer culture” informs every detail of their work.
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. With regards to creating the car, Cao Fei has been guaranteed absolute creative freedom and the full support of BMW.
Over the past 41 years, BMW invited seventeen international artists to design BMW models, among them some of the most renowned artists of our time: Alexander Calder (1975), Frank Stella (1976), Roy Lichtenstein (1977), Andy Warhol (1979), Ernst Fuchs (1982), Robert Rauschenberg (1986), Michael Jagamara Nelson (1989), Ken Done (1989), Matazo Kayama (1990), César Manrique (1990), A. R. Penck (1991), Esther Mahlangu (1991), Sandro Chia (1992), David Hockney (1995), Jenny Holzer (1999), Olafur Eliasson (2007), Jeff Koons (2010). Thanks to their creativity, the BMW Art Cars have been a manifestation of minimalism, pop art, art brut and conceptual art – an authentic testimony to the unique trends and cultural ideas of their time.
BMW Group is committed to corporate social responsibility through cultural engagement while pursuing innovation and development. The range of seventeen existing BMW Art Cars showcases various artistic themes including animal patterns from Australian aboriginal myths as a symbol of admiration for ancient civilizations as well as a recurrence of African tribal paintings that introduce distinctly novel perspectives and thus new life into traditional art.
BMW initiated the program “BMW China Cultural Journey” in China in 2007 in an effort to raise public awareness for its heritage and culture as well as to protect both tangible and intangible Chinese cultural heritage.