BMW art car collection 1975-2010

art drive! 

july 21st - august 4th, 2012
great eastern street car park, shoreditch, london

the institute of contemporary arts (ICA) in london showcases the BMW art car collection, presented over six floors of the 
NCP car park on great eastern street in shoreditch which designboom visited this past weekend. this is the first occasion 
in which the vehicles are on show in the UK. 

the initiative began more than 35 years ago when french racing driver and auctioneer hervé poulain invited his friend alexander calder 
to design a car that married artistic excellence with 'an already perfect object'. the resulting automobile would compete in the 
le mans 24-hour race in 1975 and hence the BMW art car was born. since then, other leading international artists have transformed 
BMW cars including: frank stella, roy lichtenstein, andy warhol, ernst fuchs, robert rauschenberg, m.j nelson, ken done, matazo kayama, 
cesar manrique, jeff koons, A.R. penck, esher mahlangu, sandro chia, jenny holzer and david hockney.
BMW art car M3 GT2 by jeff koons
image © des
'art drive! - BMW art car collection 1975-2010' is presented in partnership with BMW, the mayor of london and the london 2012 festival 
and will be on show until august 4th, 2012. 



front view of koons' design
image © designboom


BMW art car M3 GT2 by jeff koons, 2010
the last car to join the collection is that by american artist jeff koons. as part of his creative process, the artist gathered images of race cars, 
related graphics and combined them with vibrant colors, speed and explosions, resulting in a vivid artwork which expresses the feeling of power, 
motion and bursting energy. the car's silver interior in combination with its striking exterior imparts a dynamic appearance, 
even when it's standing still. first premiered on june 2nd, 2010 at the centre pompidou, koons's BMW art car went on to compete at the 
24 hours of le mans on june 12th, 2010. the car he designed has been driven by andy priaulx (GB), dirk müller (DE) and dirk werner (DE). 
it first started with the number 79 - atribute to andy warhol's BMW art car from 1979 - but encountered technical problems and had to retire 
after only five hours of racing. 

'these race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy. you can participate with it, add to it and let yourself 
transcend with its energy. there is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car – it’s really to 
connect with that power.' - jeff koons

technical specs of koons's BMW M3 GT2
- a 4.0-liter V8 engine 
- displacement: 3.999 cm
- power output: 500 bhp
- top speed: 300 km/h



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