BMW virtually exhibits its art cars via the Acute Art application, which allows you to tour the cars in augmented reality. Nineteen vehicles of the German manufacturer have been painted by renowned artists since 1975 as part of the BMW Art Cars program.
BMW has been involved in the cultural world for fifty years through various initiatives. via its BMW Group Cultural Engagement department. To mark this anniversary, the German manufacturer has partnered with Acute Art, whose mobile application allows you to discover works of art in augmented reality, in order to set up a virtual exhibition of its now famous art cars.
46 years of BMW Art Cars
In 1975, with the collaboration of Jochen Neerpasch, then director of BMW Motorsport, the French driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain called on the American artist Alexander Calder to create the livery of the BMW 3.0 CSL he was going to drive at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car caused a sensation among spectators, but also within the German firm.
Since then, eighteen vehicles officially part of the BMW Art Cars program (and a few others in parallel) have followed. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and David Hockney are among the artists who succeeded Calder. Each car has been scanned in 3D then virtually reconstructed to be integrated into the Acute Art app.
A virtual exhibition that is gradually filling up
Acute Art is available for free on iOS (version 11 minimum) and Android (version 8.0 minimum). It requires at least 4 GB of memory. Once the car has been selected in the “BMW Art Cars” section, you can position it virtually close to you in the setting you are filming with your camera. It is then possible to observe it from all angles, turning around.
Art cars are gradually enriching the Acute Art application. Hervé Poulain’s 3.0 CSL is part of the first group of accessible cars with, among others, the M3 decorated by Michael Jagamara Nelson in 1989 and the M3 GT2 painted by Jeff Koons in 2010. New cars must be added every two weeks ; they will all be visible in the app for the opening of the contemporary art festival Art Basel, to be held in Basel (Switzerland) from September 24 to 26, 2021. The 3.0 CSL signed Alexander Calder will be on display there.
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