Yesterday, BMW announced a partnership with Acute Art, that imagines the BMW Art Car collection for the first time in the digital world. Celebrating half a century of cultural engagement, the luxury automobile maker launched the collaboration with a series of its artist-designed Art Cars, available to experience virtually through the art app.
Michael Jagamara Nelson for BMW Art Cars, courtesy of BMW.
“The BMW Art Cars are an essential part of the DNA of BMW’s 50-year-long cultural engagement. Finally, they are entering the digital realm and can be accessible everywhere and for everyone,” said Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands and Sales. “I am excited about the collaboration with Acute Art as we both strive for innovation and cutting-edge technology.”
The project encompasses the digital reproduction of all 19 BMW Art Cars by way of photogrammetry scanning, which will see them uploaded for all smartphone users, via Acute Art’s cutting-edge VR/AR/mixed reality technology. Through the app, users anywhere in the world can access the exact digital replicas of the mechanic creations, down to the very last painted detail, with the option to virtually stage them in an immersive 360-degree AR installation within their own surroundings.
Esther Mahlangu for BMW Art Cars, courtesy of BMW.
“Acute Art was founded on the vision of democratizing art and bringing it to places where it could not be before,” said Jacob De Geer, CEO of Acute Art. “In these challenging times we have to find new solutions. The collaboration with the BMW Group will intensify the exchange between technology, design and art. Together we will explore future landscapes involving today’s most innovative minds working in these fields.”
Conceived by French racecar driver Hervé Poulain and BMW Motorsport founder Jochen Neerpasch in 1975, the virtual collection starts here: the boxy, primary-colored BMW 3.0 CSL racer designed for Poulain by Alexander Calder. While the first 10 artist collaborations are available now—including models like Jeff Koons’s multicolored BMW M3 GT2 design from 2010 and Esther Mahlangu’s 1991 imagining of the BMW 525i painted with a take on traditional Ndebele patterns—the remaining nine will be introduced across the upcoming months, releasing a new digital model every two weeks.
Alexander Calder for BMW Art Cars, courtesy of BMW.
