BMW Announces Jeff Koons' Art Car Will Race at 24 Hours of Le Mans / World Premiere at Paris' Centre Pompidou

Koons Reveals Preliminary Designs for the BMW M3 GT2

NEW YORK, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- In the spirit of Calder, Stella, Lichtenstein, Warhol, and Holzer, BMW announced today that the 17th Art Car created by Jeff Koons will race where the first rolling pieces of art by legendary artists raced – at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, June 12-13, 2010.  Koons' canvas is a BMW M3 GT2, which was homologated to compete at this year's running of the world's most famous endurance race.

In another nod to tradition, Koons will present the world premiere and sign his car at Paris' Centre Pompidou on June 1, 2010, just as Roy Lichtenstein did in 1977.

Adding to the occasion, Koons released for the first time his preliminary design concept for the car today at a press conference in New York City.  As part of his creative process, the artist collected images of race cars and graphics, vibrant colors and speed. He layered them into a digital collage depicting his sources of inspiration.  The resulting graphic conceived by Koons – evocative of power, motion and light and rendered in the artist's signature saturated hues on a black background set against the car's silver interior – will impart a dynamic appearance to the race car even when it's standing still. 

"These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy," said Koons. "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."

Koons was joined at the press conference by President of the Centre Pompidou Alain Seban, BMW of North America President Jim O'Donnell, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen, and BMW Le Mans driver Andy Priaulx of Great Britain.

"This is a momentum building year for us that speaks to the essence of the brand and the latest chapter of the BMW Art Car program is certainly part of this," said O'Donnell.  "It's an absolute delight for all of us to be working with Jeff on this program that is part of the fabric of BMW."

World Premiere at the Centre Pompidou, Paris

"Ever since it was created back in 1977, the Centre Pompidou has acted as an interface, a platform of exchange between creative art and society, striving to expose the larger public to the art of our time in the firm belief that art can foster a more innovative and flexible society," said Alain Seban, President of the Centre Pompidou.  "For this reason the Centre Pompidou is glad to join BMW's project which, I trust, can go a long way in bringing together creation and society by inviting the great artists of our time – from Roy Lichtenstein in 1977 to Jeff Koons today – to challenge the most mythical object of our era, the car, through a unique creation."

The Design Process

"It is a fascinating and inspiring exercise to witness an artist present his or her point of view through one of our cars.  To see Jeff Koons take his unique sensibility and bring it to a BMW race car as he works with our team to translate his vision into a race-ready car is to truly watch the connection be made between technical and artistic intelligence," said Frank-Peter Arndt, member of the Board of Management for the BMW AG with responsibility for BMW Group's international cultural formats.

Koons has been in an intense collaboration with BMW's team in Munich for months – melding his skill with sophisticated BMW engineering – to ensure that the 17th BMW Art Car will be race-ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  

Traveling back and forth to Germany several times since the February 2 announcement that Koons would create the 17th BMW Art Car, the artist has worked with the BMW engineering and design teams to conduct in-depth explorations of materials and application options that will prove crucial to optimizing both the aesthetic and aerodynamic attributes of the race car.  Working with actual 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) models of the BMW M3 GT2, Koons can simulate the application of the graphic to the car's surfaces and evaluate it from all angles.  

Koons even donned a helmet and joined BMW's American Le Mans Series race team for testing in Sebring, Florida, on February 23.  Koons was able to experience the M3 GT2 at race speed to further inspire his design.  As Koons describes it, he witnessed "the raw unfiltered performance" of the M3 GT2 from the seat of a historic BMW M1 race car.  Koons also drove a BMW M3 Coupe on the circuit to further the dynamic exercise.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans race

Today, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen announced the driver line-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Andy Priaulx (GB), Dirk Muller (DE) and Dirk Werner (DE) will race the BMW Art Car #79.  Jorg Muller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR) and Uwe Alzen (DE) will drive the BMW Le Mans car #78.

The germination of Koons' collaboration with BMW began in 2003, when he expressed his desire to create a BMW Art Car.  Koons' relationship with BMW started more than two decades ago when he drove a BMW while residing in Munich, home to the BMW Group headquarters.  Koons is known for his heartfelt appreciation of cars.  Earlier this year he was even recognized by music icon Bono of U2 as one of the ideal artists to design a car that would make the world fall in love with automobiles again.

SOURCE BMW