Miami Beach. Already in its third year Art Basel and
BMW continue their joint initiative to recognize and support emerging
artists worldwide with the announcement of the shortlist for the next
BMW Art Journey during this year’s Art Basel in Miami Beach. Like a
mobile studio, the BMW Art Journey can take artists almost anywhere in
the world to develop new ideas and envision new creative projects.
Today, an international expert jury announced the following shortlist
of three artists showing in Positions, the sector for emerging
artists, at Art Basel’s show in Miami Beach.
A.K. Burns at Callicoon Fine Arts, New York
A.K. Burns, born in 1975, lives and works in Brooklyn, United States,
and received her Master of Fine Arts from the Milton Avery Graduate
School of the Arts in 2010. In her artistic practice, the artist views
the body as a contentious domain wherein issues of gender, labor,
ecology and sexuality are negotiated. At Art Basel in Miami Beach, she
premiers “Weather Report”, an installation that calls forth a
dystopian domestic scene, a kind of allegorical space weathered by the
current political situation, vexing barriers between the interior and
exterior. Recent solo exhibitions include New Museum New York,
Callicoon Fine Arts, New York and Michel Rein, Paris. The artist has
exhibited in recent group shows at New Museum, New York, Kunsthalle
Wien, Vienna, and the LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles.
Jamal Cyrus at Inman Gallery, Houston
Jamal Cyrus was born in 1973 in Houston, United States, where he
still lives and works. He received his Master of Fine Arts from the
University of Pennsylvania in 2008. Cyrus’ work draws on the languages
of collage, assemblage, and the cultural politics embedded within
Black American music and culture. At this year’s Art Basel in Miami
Beach, Cyrus is presenting “STANDARDZENBLŪZ II”, a project whose
imagery is sampled from concert posters, record covers, Jet Magazine,
and the interior of a record store in Tokyo. Cyrus’ solo and group
exhibitions include Inman Gallery, Houston, MOCAD Museum of
Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, and ICA Institute of Contemporary
Art Philadelphia, Philadelphia.
Mariela Scafati at
Isla Flotante, Buenos Aires
Mariela Scafati, born in 1973 in Olivos near Buenos Aires, still
lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied Visual Arts at
the ESAV in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. In her artistic practice, she
pays attention to the relationship between activism and pictorial
manifestations. At this year’s Art Basel in Miami Beach show, Scafati
is presenting an installation that confirms and eschews the notion of
paintings as self-contained entities. Scafati’s solo exhibitions
include Abate Fine Art, Santa Fe, Instituto de Investigaciones Gino
Germani, Buenos Aires and Isla Flotante, Buenos Aires. She has
exhibited in recent group shows at Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos
Aires, Bienal do São Paulo, São Paulo and Museo do Arte, São Paulo.
These three shortlisted artists are now invited to develop a proposal
for their ideal journey, with the winner to be announced in early 2018.
The members of the expert jury in Miami Beach are:
Massimiliano Gioni (Artistic Director New Museum, New
York City)
Gabi Ngcobo (Curator Berlin Biennale for Contemporary
Art, Berlin)
Victoria Noorthoorn (Director Museu de Arte Moderna,
Buenos Aires)
Philipp Tinari (Director Ullens Centre for
Contemporary Art, UCCA, Beijing)
Susanne Pfeffer (Director Museum Fridericianium, Kassel)
“The jury was impressed with the range of works in this year’s
Positions sector. The jurors took note of the artists’ accomplishments
to date, keenly anticipating their proposals for the BMW Art Journey.
As in the previous editions, the jury was excited by the many
different ways in which the artists responded to the challenge of
conceiving and realizing a project for Art Basel. The works on view
reflect the full spectrum of artistic practices in the global
artworld”, states the jury.
In collaboration with the winning artist, the journey will be
documented and shared with the public through publications, online and
social media.
During this year’s Art Basel in Miami Beach show, BMW Art Journey
winner Max Hooper Schneider is presenting his new work at the BMW
Lounge, made in response to his recently completed maritime journey to
explore coral reefs around the globe. Entitled ‘Planetary Vitrine: The
Reef as Event’, his journey investigated coral reef systems from the
Bikini Atoll to the Fukushima disaster “reef” in Japan, from Lake
Baikal in Russia to the coast of Madagascar. Importantly, each reef
system has been compromised by its contact with humans, and each one
reveals a specific aspect of how this interaction has occurred, as
well as how human and non-human agents have acted over time to
remediate the damage. Together, the reefs tell a story of death and
resilience, corruption and rebirth.
The latest edition in the BMW Art Journey book series is also
presented at the fair giving insights about Abigail Reynolds’s BMW Art
Journey “The Ruins of Time: Lost Libraries of the Silk Road”. Images,
texts and other documents originating from her experience are included
in the book – thus completing a journey that both starts and ends with
the institution of the library.
Past winners of the BMW Art Journey include sound and performance
artist Samson Young (presented by a.m. Space, Hong
Kong at Art Basel’s Hong Kong show in 2015), who has 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) and Astha Butail (represented by
GALLERYSKE, New Dehli, Bangalore at Art Basel´s Hong Kong show in 2017).
BMW has supported Art Basel in Miami Beach as a long-term partner and
is again providing the VIP shuttle service. BMW is also global partner
of the international Art Basel shows in Basel and Hong Kong.
Giving insights into the art world and exploring the topic “Art World
2017: Rapid Shifts, Shifting Roles”, Marc Spiegler, Global Director
Art Basel, spoke in October 2017 in Munich at the lecture of “Freunde
Haus der Kunst BMW”- to watch the video, please refer to: www.youtube.com
In celebration of Art Basel in Miami Beach 2017, BMW and Studio Drift
present their cultural collaboration: the world premiere of “FRANCHISE
FREEDOM – a flying sculpture by Studio Drift in partnership with BMW”
created by Amsterdam based artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta.
After sunset, 300 illuminated drones simulate a flock of birds above
the ocean and beach, between 32nd and 33rd Street off Collins Avenue
behind the Faena Hotel Miami Beach. Weather permitting, performances
take place from Thursday, December 7 to Sunday, December 10. Time and
date will be shared on Instagram by Studio Drift @studio.drift and BMW
@bmwgroupculture as well as on Facebook #bmwgroupculture. The drones
will be visible from a large distance.
For further questions please contact:
Dr. Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49 89 382 24753, Fax: +49 89 382 24418
E-Mail: presse@bmw.de
Dorothee Dines
Art Basel
Global Head of Media Relations
Telephone: + 41 58 206 27 06
Email: dorothee.dines@artbasel.com
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. In 2014, Art Basel launched its Crowdfunding
Initiative, in collaboration with Kickstarter. This initiative
presents jury-selected art projects to potential benefactors, which
include Art Basel’s vibrant audience and the Kickstarter community.
The initiative has catalyzed much-needed support for outstanding
non-commercial art projects worldwide and so far has helped pledge
over $2 million to creative projects around the world. For Art Basel
Cities, launched in 2016, Art Basel is working with selected partner
cities to develop vibrant and content-driven programs specific to the
individual city. Connecting them to the global art world through Art
Basel’s expertise and network, Art Basel Cities supports its partners
to develop their unique cultural landscape. For further information,
please visit artbasel.com.
About BMW Group’s Cultural Commitment
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 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.
Weitere Informationen: www.bmwgroup.com/kultur
und www.bmwgroup.com/kultur/ueberblick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMW-Group-Culture-925330854231870/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmwgroupculture/
@BMWGroupCulture
#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.
As a global company, the BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly
facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than
140 countries.
In 2016, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.367 million cars and
145,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax was approximately
€ 9.67 billion on revenues amounting to € 94.16 billion. As of 31
December 2016, the BMW Group had a workforce of 124,729 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.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupview
Google+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.com