The 16th BMW Art Car - Olafur Eliasson transforms the record-holding hydrogen-powered BMW H2R into a mobile work of art.

Olafur Eliasson, one of the most significant representatives of contemporary
art, has been assigned to design the 16th BMW Art Car, with which yet another
work of art will be added to the BMW Art Car Collection. In 2005, this
internationally unique collection comprising to date a total of fifteen BMW
automobiles designed by famous male and female artists, will be celebrating its
30th anniversary. With this assignment Eliasson has taken on the challenge of
transforming a technological milestone, the BMW H2R, with which the BMW Group
is pursuing its vision of sustained mobility based on the regenerative
production of hydrogen as a fuel of the future. By doing this, BMW has
committed itself to continue with its innovative cooperation with international
artists working in the field of technology, mobility and art. After the
transportation of the BMW H2R to Eliasson's studio in August of this year, the
artist will be occupied until March 2006 with the first design for the new BMW
Art Car which will be finished by early 2007. The new BMW H2R Art Car will then
be presented to the public as a work of art at museums throughout the world.

The choice of the artist.

The artist Olafur Eliasson was selected by an international board of curators
which met in April 2005 to discuss the future of the BMW Art Car Collection.
The following persons attended the workshop:

Bruce W. Ferguson, Dean of the Columbia University in New York, Pi Li from the
Central Academy of Fine Arts in Peking, Suzanne Pagé, Director of the Musée
d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Larry Rinder, Dean of the California
College of the Arts in San Francisco, Donna de Salvo, Curator at the Whitney
Museum of American Art and Prof. Dr. Carla Schulz-Hoffmann, Director of the
Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.
Statements made by the committee of curators:

Larry Rinder
Dean, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
Former Curator of the Whitney Museum of Art, New York

"I cannot imagine a better artist for the BMW's remarkable hydrogen-powered Art
Car than Olafur Eliasson whose work celebrates so gracefully the beauty and
wonder of physical phenomenon".

Donna De Salvo
Senior Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Former Senior Curator, Tate Modern, London

"BMW has had a long tradition of working with artists through its Art Car
Collection. In selecting an artist to take on the 16th car in the series - the
H2R hydrogen car, the committee was presented with a very particular challenge
as well as an opportunity. By utilizing regenerative energies - water,
sunlight, and oxygen, instead of fossil fuel, the car proposes a new paradigm
for the future; with massive implications on the environment and everyday life.
Olafur Eliasson has created an extraordinary and internationally recognized
body of work that employs the most elemental of materials, including light,
heat, and water, as part of an ongoing investigation of human perception in
relation to nature and technology, the organic and the industrial. This made
him the perfect choice for the project. His profound understanding of, yet
willingness to challenge prevailing scientific and social thinking will
inevitably result in an exceptional project, and one that adds a new chapter to
the history of the Art Car Collection".

Bruce W. Ferguson
Dean, Columbia University School of The Arts

"BMW and Olafur Eliasson are a marriage made in heaven. Both are interested in
the real issues of design and participatory audiences within an environment of
progressive practice. Just as BMW is concerned with the future of emissions and
alternative fuel sources, Olafur is concerned with a politics of consciousness
and conscientiousness within an aesthetic realm. I am pleased to have had a
part in bringing them together and look forward to the collaborative results".

Prof. Dr. Carla Schulz-Hoffmann
Director of the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich

"I'm extremely pleased that Olafur Eliasson will be the artist for the BMW Art
Car. The choice could not have been more poignant regarding this innovative
hydrogen automobile. Eliasson focussed throughout his highly acclaimed career
on the idea of combining the artistic possibilities of light and technology
with a deep understanding of nature and its pureness. His installations reflect
phenomena of ecology, sustainability and the possibility of their linking with
new technical developments. Thus his concept for the BMW Art Car promises to
capture its revolutionary synthesis between high technology, speed, beauty of
form and in particular energy sustainability in a congenial response".

Suzanne Pagé
Director, Museé National d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

"At the crossing of visual arts, architecture, urbanism and design, Olafur
Eliasson is exemplary of an artist of the 21st century. Refusing to be locked
in by institutions, he opens himself to the entire world and creates with
romanticism a new relation with life. Today, through the medium of the car, he
participates in the acceleration of a space of time, he reinvents".

The artist.

Thanks to his affinity to the field of renewable energies in particular, Olafur
Eliasson is an artist capable of meeting the challenges posed by the
record-holding vehicle in a creative way. Born in 1967, the Icelander now lives
and works in Berlin. Olafur Eliasson's predominantly sculptural, installative
and photographic work is consistently devoted to the complex of topics
pertaining to civilization/technology and nature. He reflects the environmental
influences of industrial culture in relation to natural phenomena and the
sensual experiences of the human being. When creating his works of art,
Eliasson combines complex technology with the ephemeral elements of nature,
thereby provoking a conflict between the viewer and the environment. As a
result of large-scale exhibitions of his work held at museums such as the ZKM
in Karlsruhe, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Tate Modern
in London, as well as his participation in the 50th Biennale di Venezia 2003,
he has become internationally highly esteemed in the art world. During 2004,
his works were exhibited at the Wolfsburg Art Museum and the Menil Collection
in Houston. His works are to be found in world-famous public and private
collections such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York und the Museum of
Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

As an artist involved in the design of the16th BMW Art Car, Eliasson will be
closely collaborating not only with a number of different departments within
the company assigned to the field of research, development and design, but also
with the Cultural Communications Department. Eliasson himself describes this
unique form of collaboration as follows: "A laboratorial process to research
the spectrum of sustainable energy and energy awareness, with a particular
interest in hydrogen as a potential future energy-source. This is within the
context of my current work that engages with the whole complex of the
individual's relation towards mobility, time and space".

After the transportation of the BMW H2R to Eliasson's studio in August of this
year, the artist will be occupied until March 2006 with the design of the new
Art Car. The new BMW H2R Art Car will then be presented to the public as a work
of art at museums throughout the world.

The BMW Art Car Collection.

Outstanding male and female artists from all four corners of the world began to
work on BMW automobiles of their time as early as 1975. The 15 exhibits that
make up the BMW Art Car Collection include works by Frank Stella, Roy
Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, A.R. Penck, David Hockney and Jenny Holzer. The Art
Cars reflect the cultural-historical development of art, design and technology
and have been exhibited at museums across the entire world, including the
Louvre in Paris, the Royal Academy in London, the Whitney Museum of Modern Art
in New York, the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and
at the Guggenheim museums in New York and Bilbao. BMW Art Cars will also
continue to document the fascinating symbiosis of art and technology at future
international exhibitions. The entire BMW Art Car Collection will be shown at
various museums worldwide within the framework of the 2005/2006 "Auto-nom"
exhibition.

The initial idea for the collection, which was to have an automobile redesigned
by an artist, was introduced by Hervé Poulain, an auctioneer and ardent racing
driver from France. It was upon his initiative that his American friend, an
artist by the name of Alexander Calder, transformed his BMW racing Car - a BMW
3.0 CSL - in 1975. The first vehicle to establish a symbiosis between the world
of art and the world of motor sport later participated in the 24-hour race at
Le Mans. Prompted by enormous enthusiasm for this work of art on wheels, BMW
then decided to put its brilliant idea of establishing the Art Car Collection
into practice. In the initial years only racing cars that had taken part in the
renowned 24-hour race at Le Mans were worked on. Later, production cars were
added to the spectrum. The final work of the series to date was completed by
the American concept artist Jenny Holzer, who covered the surface of a BMW V12
Le Mans racing car with her word art known as "truisms".

The BMW H2R hydrogen-powered record holder.

With the hydrogen-powered BMW H2R as their latest Art Car, the BMW Group is
continuing in the true tradition of the BMW Art Car Collection. The BMW H2R
research vehicle has established nine records for hydrogen-powered vehicles
featuring a combustion engine. On the high-speed track at Miramas (France) the
company proved that hydrogen can replace conventional fuels, without the driver
having to forego the driving dynamics offered by modern cars.

The technical specifications of the H2R are verification of this. The
twelve-cylinder, six-litre engine delivers more than 210 kW/285 bhp. With such
power available, the prototype accelerates from 0-62 mph in around six seconds,
achieving a top speed of over 300 km/h (186 mph). The hydrogen combustion
engine is based on the petrol-driven power unit featured in the BMW 760i,
consequently it is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies such as
Valvetronic fully variable valve control.

BMW Group Cultural Communications.

When the BMW Group becomes culturally involved, it is committed to absolute
freedom of creative potential, this being equally as essential for the creation
of ground-breaking works of art as it is for the most significant innovations
vital to a successful business enterprise. With this principle in mind, the BMW
Group regards the development and realization of cultural projects in
collaboration with private and public institutions as a future-oriented way of
supporting networks within the cultural scene. This in turn facilitates the
provision of platforms for new tendencies within the field of art and access by
a broad public to artistic and cultural events, with BMW Cultural
Communications focusing on the promotion of convincing and thematically
stimulating projects.

Culture speaks many languages. In each country it is both unique and
distinctive - two qualities of the BMW Group. Through its obligation to art and
culture, it aims to support those activities that promote an intercultural
dialogue, and is currently involved in more than 100 various cultural events,
programmes and organizations worldwide.

Visual material.

Illustrative material on the works of Olafur Eliassons may be obtained from the
following galleries:

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery neugerriemschneider
521 West 21 Street Linienstr. 155
New York, NY 1011 D - 10115 Berlin
USA Tel: +49 30 288 772 77
Tel.: +1 212 414 41 44 Fax: +49 30 288 772 78
Fax: +1 212 414 15 35
mail@tanyabonakdargallery.com
mail@neugerriemschneider.com
www.tanyabonakdargallery.com

High-quality pictures of BMW Art Cars can be downloaded from the "Photo"
section at www.press.bmwgroup.com (search string "Art Car").