BMW official partner of Art Basel in Miami Beach 2015, December 3 to 6

MIAMI,  25-11-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — 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.

For further information, please visit http://www.hatjecantz.de/bmw-art-journey.

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.

For further questions, please contact:

Dr. Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
Head of Cultural Engagement
Phone: +49 89 382 24753, Fax: +49 89 382 24418

For further questions regarding the cultural commitment of BMW Group, please contact:

Phone: +49 (0)151-601-51468
Internet: www.press.bmwgroup.com
Email: presse@bmw.de

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, new inspiration and new contacts in the art world. For further information please visit. artbasel.com

About 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 2014, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.118 million cars and 123,000 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.

www.bmwgroup.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupview
Google+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.com

If you have any questions regarding this press release, please contact:
BMW Group
Thomas Girst

Tel.: +49-89-382-24753
Fax: +49-89-382-10881
E-mail: thomas.girst@bmwgroup.com

SOURCE: BMW GROUP

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BMW at Art Basel Miami Beach 2012 on Wednesday, December 5th. (Vanessa Rogers/newscast)