Presentation of BMW Art Journey, and the BMW Art Car by César Manrique.
From December 3 to 6, Miami Beach will once again take centre stage in the international art world. For the 14th time running, the famous art fair will take place in Florida, supported once again by its official partner BMW. 267 of the world’s leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa will present modern and contemporary art as well as works by emerging artists. As in previous years, BMW will provide the official VIP shuttle services, this time with the limousines of its new BMW 7 series. In addition, BMW will host an exclusive reception for VIPs as part of the art initiative “BMW Art Journey” on Wednesday, December 2, 2015.
BMW and Art Basel will present the BMW Art Journey, one of their most recent projects, in the botanical garden adjacent to the fair grounds. Like a mobile artist’s studio, BMW Art Journey offers artists the opportunity to travel to a destination of their choice. The winner of the first edition, Hong Kong based artist Samson Young, travelled across five continents while exploring the subject of iconic bells in light of various themes including conflicts, religion, community and the political symbolism of sounds.
On the evening prior to the VIP opening of the fair, BMW i, together with Soho House, will invite selected guests to an Art Talk. Lawrence Weschler, author and long time staff writer at The New Yorker will speak with the winner of the BMW Art Journey, Samson Young, about his extraordinary journey. On the same evening, the first publication on the BMW Art Journey, published by Hatje Cantz, will be presented. Looking at 70 different iconic projects, “The Sense of Movement: When Artists Travel” conveys the fascination and importance as well as the artistic significance of artists’ journeys.
On December 3, following the first BMW Art Journey, a panel of expert jurors of curators and museum directors will compile the shortlist for the coming edition, to be announced as part of a press event at the Botanical Garden. Chosen from “Positions”, the sector of young galleries at Art Basel Miami Beach, the three shortlisted candidates will be invited to present their planned itineraries. After a second decision by the jury, one of them will be offered the opportunity to realise his trip as part of the BMW Art Journey. The jury at Miami Beach will include Juan Gaitán (Director Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art, Mexico City), Massimiliano Gioni (Artistic Director New Museum, New York City), Gabriele Horn (Director KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin), Victoria Noorthoorn (Director Museo de Arte Moderna, Buenos Aires) and Bisi Silva (Artistic Director Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos).
In addition to experiencing the BMW Art Journey, visitors can venture into the fair’s Collectors Lounge to catch a glimpse of the BMW Art Car designed by César Manrique in 1990. This Spanish artist worked as architect, graphic designer, sculptor and landscape artist. Most importantly, however, he was passionate about protecting the environment. Inspired by his commitment to this cause, he designed an Art Car representing the harmony of technology and nature.
This year, the BMW Art Car Collection is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and the two artists chosen to design the next two Art Cars were recently announced at the Guggen-heim Museum in New York City. Chinese artist Cao Fei (1978) and American artist John Baldessari (1931) will be the youngest and the oldest artist represented in the collection respectively. Both artists will create a BMW M6 GT3 in the coming year, which will be presented in museums and also on the racetrack in 2017.