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BMW Art Car

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Internationally acclaimed artist Jeff Koons has been announced as the next in a distinguished line of artists who will be creating a BMW Art Car in what is the 35th anniversary year of the programme.
Speaking from his New York studio, Jeff Koons said: “I always thought it would be an honour to work on a BMW Art Car, I look forward to participating in a tradition set forth by such great artists as Calder, Lichtenstein, Stella, and Warhol.”
The Koons BMW Art Car will be revealed later in the year. Details of the model and preliminary design will be announced in due course.
Koons will join an illustrious group of artists that include Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, and Alexander Calder – each of whom has made a unique artistic statement about the appearance and meaning of cars.

Koons and BMW

Koon’s relationship with BMW started more than two decades ago when he first drove a BMW whilst living in Munich, home to the BMW Group headquarters. It was in 2003 that Koons first expressed his desire to create a BMW Art Car.
Frank-Peter Arndt, member of the Board of Management for the BMW AG and responsible for BMW Group’s international cultural formats, said: “We are enormously pleased about Jeff Koons’ eagerly anticipated contribution to the BMW Art Car series, celebrating its 35th anniversary. Art Cars are part of the DNA of BMW’s cultural engagement. As manifested in Koons’ latest sculptural work, what unites us is the belief that nothing is impossible. Our company and Jeff Koons are drawn to permanent innovation and cutting-edge technology.”
BMW Art Cars
Since 1975, artists from around the world have turned BMW cars into art, signifying a particular period, through the Art Car program. In 2007, the last installment was revealed with Olafur Eliasson’s “Your Mobile Expectations: BMW H2R project.” Across the globe many BMW Art Cars have been exhibited in renowned museums throughout the world including the Louvre, the Guggenheim Museums, and the Shanghai Art Museum. They have been displayed at the BMW Museum in Munich, since 2006 and many went on a world tour throughout Asia, Russia, Africa, India, the United States and Mexico.
With over 100 major projects worldwide, BMW Group cultural programs have been an integral part of the company’s contributions to society for almost 40 years. Besides contemporary art, architecture and design, classical music and jazz are key components of this engagement.