Hong Kong. Since its launch in Hong Kong in 2013, the
Art Basel show has established itself as the centre of Asia’s
international art scene. This year, 239 leading galleries will once
more display works by over 4,000 artists at the Hong Kong Convention
and Exhibition Centre in the heart of the city from March 24 to 26
. BMW has supported Art Basel in Hong Kong
from the beginning as an official partner and is again providing the
VIP shuttle service.
The BMW Art Car created by US artist Frank Stella will also be
presented at the exhibition centre in the BMW Lounge. As second
“rolling sculpture” in the collection, Stella’s BMW Art
Car celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, being designed
in 1976 – just a year after Alexander Calder had created the series’
founding model. Stella drew inspiration from the technology and
engineering behind the car and cloaked the body in a design recalling
oversized graph paper. “My design is like a blueprint transferred onto
the bodywork,” the artist explained. The 17 cars in the legendary
collection continue to fascinate both art and design enthusiasts as
well as car and technology fans the world over.
Together with Art Basel, BMW launched a new initiative to support
young emerging artists: the BMW Art Journey. The winner of the first
journey, Hong Kong based artist Samson Young, will present an
interactive multimedia walk entitled “So You Are Old by the Time You
Reach the Island” at the Art Basel show. As part of this tour – adding
a new chapter to his BMW Art Journey project “For Whom the Bell Tolls:
A Journey Into the Sonic History of Conflict” – the artist will lead
participants outside the exhibition centre and into the Wan Chai and
Admiralty districts of Hong Kong to explore well known and more
undiscovered parts of the city. Equipped with a portable media player,
each member of the group will be able to experience sound recordings
from Young’s travels across eleven countries on five contents, as well
as newly produced films and live performances.
This year once again, international experts will gather at the Art
Basel show to select a shortlist of three artists
from the Discoveries sector for the BMW Art Journey. Members of the
jury are Richard Armstrong, Director Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New
York; Claire Hsu, Director Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Matthias
Mühling, Director Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Bose
Krishnamachari, President Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India; and Pauline
J. Yao, Curator, Visual Art M+, Hong Kong. The three artists who will
then be invited to submit their proposals for a journey will be
presented to the media in the BMW Lounge
at 4:00 PM on March 23, 2016. That evening, BMW will
host an exclusive VIP cocktail reception to celebrate the announcement
of the BMW Art Journey shortlist.
Next to Art Basel in Hong Kong, BMW also supports the international
Art Basel shows in Basel and Miami Beach as a long-term partner.
For further questions please contact:
Dr. Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
Head of Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49-89-382-24753
For further information please contact BMW Group Cultural Engagement:
Telephone: +49 151 601 51468
www.press.bmwgroup.com
E-Mail: presse@bmw.de
BMW’s Cultural Commitment
For more than 40 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 modern and contemporary art,
jazz and classical music 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, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur
Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko
have co-operated with BMW. The company has also commissioned famous
architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au to
design important corporate buildings and plants. In 2011, the BMW
Guggenheim Lab, a global initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim
Foundation, the Guggenheim Museum and the BMW Group celebrated its
world premiere in New York. The BMW Group takes absolute creative
freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted –
as this is just as essential for 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
The BMW Group
With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, 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 30 production and assembly facilities
in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.
In 2015, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.247 million cars and
nearly 137,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the
financial year 2014 was approximately € 8.71 billion on revenues
amounting to € 80.40 billion. As of 31 December 2014, the BMW Group
had a workforce of 116,324 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
About Art Basel
Art Basel stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and
contemporary works, 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. In addition to ambitious stands
featuring leading galleries from around the globe, each show’s
exhibition sectors spotlight the latest developments in the visual
arts, offering visitors new ideas and new inspiration. For further
information please visit artbasel.com