Munich/Basel. Art Basel and BMW are delighted to
present Lu Yang as the next BMW Art Journey winner. An international
jury selected Lu Yang unanimously from a shortlist of three artists
whose works were exhibited in the Discoveries sector at this year’s
Art Basel show in Hong Kong. Lu Yang is represented by the gallery
Société in Berlin.
Lu Yang’s BMW Art Journey “Human Machine Reverse Motion
Capture Project” is concerned with how the human body can
be trained to overcome its physical limitations. Her research will
explore the deployment of the human body in historical and present-day
cultures, looking at traditional and contemporary dances practiced in
Indonesia, India, and Japan. Steeped in the latest digital
technologies, Lu Yang will employ sophisticated motion capture devices
to record the dancers’ gestures, including facial, finger- and
eye-capture techniques that can collect and analyze the subtlest body
movements, and will mimic these using robotic technologies.
In Legong, a traditional Balinese dance, for example, movement
is controlled to such a degree that dancers are able to manipulate
their finger joints individually. The facial and eye movements of
India’s Kathakali dancers resemble the workings of sensors and motors
in advanced humanoid robots. A similar robotic precision is expressed
in the Japanese pop dances. Thus, Lu Yang’s BMW Art Journey links
traditional and modern cultural forms to radically transformative
contemporary technologies. In a larger sense, it will look into how we
negotiate our evolving relationship with machines that may ultimately
surpass our human limitations.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to start a project that
I’ve always wanted to do. The BMW Art Journey gives a great starting
point for long-term research projects. This is not just an art
journey. It will be a wonderful start for me to open a new chapter of
my creation. I am very much looking forward to this future
collaboration and the art-making after this journey. I would also like
to thank the gallery Société in Berlin for fully supporting me”, says
Lu Yang.
The international jury consisted of Claire Hsu, Director, Asia
Art Archive, Hong Kong; Matthias Mühling, Director,
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich;
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, President
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Philip
Tinari, Director Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA),
Beijing; and Samson Young, artist and winner of the
first BMW Art Journey.
“What we found exciting about Lu Yang’s proposal and work,” the
jury noted in its statement, “is the way she draws connections across
time, space, and geography – traversing different realms – from
Kathakali and Legong dance to Japanese pop with our potential future
robotic selves. She demonstrates that humanity’s search for an answer
to why we are here is continuous – it just takes different forms.” The
proposed BMW Art Journey evokes urgent dilemmas in today’s society,
the jury noted. “We appreciated the idea that the vocabulary within
the database used for robotic human expressions would be expanded to
include the expressions found in multiple traditions – a much needed
expansion of reference points in today’s world.”
Lu Yang was announced as the next BMW Art Journey winner at the
BMW Cocktail Reception during Art Basel in Basel. Art Basel and BMW
will collaborate with the artist to document the journey and share it
with a broader public through print publications, online and social media.
In addition to Lu Yang, the shortlisted artists
from the Discoveries sector for emerging artists at Art Basel in Hong
Kong were: Clarissa Tossin (represented by
Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles) and Shen Xin
(represented by Madeln Gallery, Shanghai).
Launched in 2015, the BMW Art Journey is a collaboration between
Art Basel and BMW, created to recognize and support emerging artists
worldwide. The unique award is open to artists who are exhibiting in
the Discoveries sector during Art Basel in Hong Kong. A judging panel
comprised of internationally renowned experts meet first to select a
shortlist three artists from the sector, who are then invited to
submit proposals for a journey aimed to further develop their ideas
and artistic work. The jury reconvenes to choose a winner from the
three proposals.
The BMW Art Journey has been awarded seven times to date.
Previous winners include: sound and performance artist Samson
Young (presented by a.m. Space, Hong Kong at Art Basel’s Hong
Kong show in 2015), who represented Hong Kong at the 2017 Venice
Biennale; German video artists Henning Fehr and Philipp
Rühr (presented by Galerie Max Mayer, Dusseldorf at Art
Basel’s Miami Beach show in 2015); British artist Abigail
Reynolds (presented by Rokeby, London at Art Basel’s show in
Hong Kong in 2016) as well as Max Hooper Schneider
(presented by High Art, Paris at Art Basel’s Miami Beach show in
2016), Astha Butail (presented by GALLERYSKE, New
Dehli, Bangalore at Art Basel´s Hong Kong show in 2017), Jamal
Cyrus (presented by Inman Gallery, Houston at Art Basel´s
Miami Beach show in 2017), and Zac Langdon-Pole
(presented by Michael Lett, Auckland at Art Basel’s show in Hong Kong
in 2018).
BMW is a global partner of Art Basel and has supported Art
Basel’s three shows in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong for many years.
For further information about the artist and the project, please visit:
www.bmw-art-journey.com
For further questions please contact:
Prof. Dr
Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental
Affairs
Head of Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49 89 382
247 53
www.press.bmwgroup.com
Email: presse@bmw.de
Dorothee Dines
Art Basel
Global Head of Media
Relations
Telephone: +41 58 206 27 06
Email: dorothee.dines@artbasel.com
Lu Yang at Société, Berlin
Lu Yang (b. 1984) is
a Shanghai-based multi-media artist, who graduated from the New Media
Art Department of the China Academy of Art. Deeply immersed in the
subcultures of anime, video games, and Science-Fiction, the output of
her artistic practice spans 3D-animated films, video game-like
installations, holograms, neon, VR and software manipulation, often
with overt Japanese manga and anime references. Lu Yang has created
unique fantasies highlighting the fragility of humankind. Departing
from Buddhist teachings that propagate a genderless society, she
exploits her own images as a vehicle to reproduce asexual visions of
herself. Her work was displayed in exhibitions at Centre Pompidou,
Paris; M Woods, Beijing; Shanghai Biennale; and Athens Biennale.
About Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by gallerists
from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for
Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong
Kong. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which
is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and
the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with
local institutions for each edition. Art Basel’s engagement has
expanded beyond art fairs through a number of new initiatives such as
Art Basel Cities, working with partner cities on bespoke cultural
programs. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.
About BMW Group Cultural Engagement
For almost
50 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100
cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of
its long-term commitment on contemporary and modern art, classical
music and jazz as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three
large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter
specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group’s Munich headquarters.
Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Daniel Barenboim,
Jonas Kaufmann and architect Zaha Hadid have co-operated with BMW. In
2016 and 2017, female artist Cao Fei from China and American John
Baldessari created the next two vehicles for the BMW Art Car
Collection. Besides co-initiatives, such as BMW Tate Live, the BMW Art
Journey and the “Opera for All” concerts in Berlin, Munich, Moscow and
London, the company also partners with
leading museums and art fairs as well as orchestras and opera houses
around the world. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all
its cultural activities – as this initiative is as essential for
producing groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations
in a successful business.
Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture
and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview
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#BMWGroupCulture
The BMW Group
With its four brands BMW, MINI,
Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading
premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides
premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group production
network comprises 31 production and assembly facilities in 15
countries; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.
In 2018, the BMW Group sold over 2,490,000 passenger vehicles
and more than 165,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in
the financial year 2018 was € 9.815 billion on revenues amounting to
€ 97.480 billion. As of 31 December 2018, the BMW Group had a
workforce of 134,682 employees.
The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term
thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established
ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain,
comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to
conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.
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