The 2024 BMW Art Car Is a Moving Masterpiece

14.06.2024 23:38

Grindtv.com

The 20th BMW Art Car, created by artist Julie Mehretu, was just unveiled in Paris. Based on the BMW M Hybrid V8 endurance race car, Mehretu’s rolling masterpiece will join the past 19 BMW Art Cars created since 1975 in collaboration with renowned art icons such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jeff Koons. More excitingly, the art-in-motion will compete in the storied 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15th.

The French capital—full of wonder, excitement, and charm—will sit on the world stage as it hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics. It's also why BMW selected Paris to introduce the prestigious M Hybrid V8 by the prodigiously talented Mehretu, who works out of New York City and Berlin, and hails from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. BMW stated that its global cultural commitment is driven by the collaboration of the art world and the automotive performance arena.

Julie Mehretu and her business partner Mehret Mandefro help promote young artists and filmmakers in Africa through BMW resources.

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In fact, Mehretu and her business partner Mehret Mandefro have cultivated ideologies to help promote young artists and filmmakers in Africa, providing a medium to showcase their work through BMW resources. Dubbed PanAfrican Translocal Media Workshops, the educational project will visit six African countries and conclude with the 20th BMW Art Car going to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town in the first half of 2026 for exhibition.

“The whole BMW Art Car project is about invention, imagination, and pushing limits of what can be possible," said Mehretu.

"I don’t think of the BMW Art Car as something you would exhibit," she added. "I'm thinking of it as something that will race in Le Mans—a performative painting that is only completed once the race is over.”

BMW unveiled the 20th Art Car at the world-renowned Centre Pompidou in Paris, also featuring previous BMW Art Cars.

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BMW’s immersive program leading up to the exhibit at the world-renowned Centre Pompidou in Paris highlights the rich heritage and lineage of BMW Art Cars. Media guests toured a few epic exhibits to understand the cinematic depth of visual art. We sat with BMW designers, corporate executives, and Mehretu to learn about the particular creative process of the race car. Of course, the past plays a vital role in the future, since inputs of the Alexander Calder-designed 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL, the Andy Warhol BMW M1/1979, and the Esther Mahlangu BMW 525i/1991 have all led to the manifestation of the Julie Mehretu BMW M Hybrid V8/2024.

The BMW M Hybrid V8 is a silent attraction powered by a 4.0-liter V8 engine and a hybrid drive system that generates around 640 horsepower. Its styling is dynamic, featuring a forward-leaning shark nose, wide laser-lit kidneys, iconic twin diagonal headlights, triangular elements that cascade across the vehicle, and some hints of blue and purple highlights to articulate the natural colors of electricity. Increased aerodynamic performance stems from the air that passes beneath and through the wide kidneys, which is fundamental for cooling and efficiency of downforce. In all, it's the perfect vehicle type for the art installation.

At the Centre Pompidou, guests from various walks of life attended the evening celebration to witness a new fusion of expression. Dedicated to modern and contemporary art, the multifaceted glass and metal venue—shaped like a hexagon—is in the Beaubourg plateau, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. Once uncovered, BMW reps and Mehretu highlighted this undertaking as performative art.

Energy, space, and movement are recurring themes in Mehretu’s work, pairing perfectly with the dynamics of a race car.

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Mehretu’s paintings are kinetic, showcasing recurring themes of movement, space, and energy in her work—and an explosion of inspiration conjoining race car and art. This particular design is based on Julie’s painting “Everywhen” (2021 to 2023), gracefully displayed at the Grassi in Venice. Soon, it will become a feature collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

Notably, the 20^th BMW Art Car has not been painted on directly. Instead, the motif was digitized, strategically cut, and meticulously wrapped, so the work would not negatively impact the vehicle’s racing performance. Whatever its results on the track, it represents quite the winning intersection between corporate entities and innovators seeking to positively change the world through artistic expression.