New York-based contemporary artist Julie Mehretu has transformed a BMW M Hybrid V8 race car into a performative work of art.
And, in doing so, BMW is continuing its longstanding tradition of commissioning artists to create Art Cars.
Julie’s is the 20th, and it was recently unveiled at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. And the BMW Art Car collection will now compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, next weekend, June 15 and 16, 2024.
Julie tells us: “The whole BMW Art Car project is about invention, about imagination, about pushing limits of what can be possible.
“I don’t think of this car as something you would exhibit. I am thinking of it as something that will race in Le Mans. It’s a performative painting.
“My BMW Art Car was created in close collaboration with motorsport and engineering teams. The BMW Art Car is only completed once the race is over.”
Renowned artists from all over the world have participated in the BMW Art Car program since 1975, with artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Jeff Koons covering cars.
IN THE WORKSHOP
This collaboration between Julie and BMW has another big spin-off.
There is a joint commitment to a series of Pan-African translocal media workshops for film makers, which will tour African cities in 2025 and 2026.
It ends with an exhibition at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town.
Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, explains that this outreach is crucial to the Art Cars visions.
He says: “BMW Art Cars are an essential part of our global cultural commitment. For almost 50 years, we have been co-operating with artists who are just as fascinated by mobility and design as they are by technology and motorsports.
“Julie Mehretu’s vision for a racing car is an extraordinarily strong contribution to our BMW Art Cars series.
“She has created more than an amazing Art Car. Her ideas provided the impetus for us to expand the cultural commitment of our Art Cars to promote the creativity of young artists in Africa.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST Painter Julie Mehretu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1970. She moved, with her family, to the US when she was seven, and now lives and works between New York and Berlin.
Movement and energy are central to Julie’s art.
And, in creating the 20th BMW Art Car, she has transformed a two-dimensional image into a three-dimensional representation for the first time.
She used her painting Everywhen (2021-2023) as a starting point, and that painting is on display in Julie’s retrospective at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice. It will become part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
It is an abstract, with digitally altered photographs superimposed in layers of dot grids and neon-coloured veils, and with the black markings that characterise Julie’s work.
But adapting this for the car gives her design a tangible dynamism.
She says: “In the studio where I had the model of the BMW M Hybrid V8, I was just sitting in front of the painting and I thought: What would happen if this car seemed to go through that painting and becomes affected by it?
“The idea was to make a remix, a mash-up of the painting. I kept seeing that painting kind of dripping into the car. Even the kidneys of the car inhaled the painting.”
Three-dimensional mapping was used to bring the fusion of image and vehicle to life, transferring the image to the vehicle.
ABOUT THE RACE
BMW Motorsport drivers Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and René Rast will race the 20th BMW Art Car at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Mehretu is looking forward to the race.
She says: “I went to see the BMW M Hybrid V8 race in Daytona, and this experience was overwhelming. Designers, engineers, aerodynamicists and so many other creative minds are working on taking this vehicle to its extreme. When it goes out on the racetrack now, so many dreams will be fulfilled.”
The car has a hybrid electric drivetrain system, and is powered by a 4.0 litre V8 engine supported by an electric motor. It produces 640hp and has a top speed of up to 345 km/h.
It is the first BMW M Motorsport prototype to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans since the BMW V12 LMR, which won the classic race in 1999.
Source Agencies
