Jeff Koons Presented US Debut of his BMW Art Car at Art Basel in Miami Beach.

Miami. Artist Jeff Koons and supermodel Karolína Kurková presented the North American premiere of Koons’ BMW Art Car, the M3 GT2 race car on December 4th, the night of the opening day of Art Basel in Miami Beach. Among the guests were important representatives of the art world such as Chris Dercon, Director of Tate Modern, the curator of the 8th Berlin Biennale, Juan A. Gaitán, as well as the auctioneer Simon de Pury. The unveiling happened during a BMW reception in the Miami Beach Botanical Garden where Koons and Mark Spiegler, Director of Art Basel spoke. Jeff Koons’ BMW Art Car will remain on display at Miami Beach Botanical Garden, across the entrance from the South Beach Convention Center at 2000 Convention Center Drive, until finally of the fair on December 8, 2013. 

At the event, Koons remarked: “I always enjoyed the Art Cars – Warhol’s Car, Roy Lichtenstein’s car, Stella’s, Calder’s – all the cars have always been fantastic. I just wanted to participate. The art world is like a family and I wanted to also be involved in this dialogue of designing an Art Car. Today, I’m proud that this car is there alongside their work, too.” 

Another legendary “rolling sculpture”, created by Andy Warhol, will be on display in Art Basel's Collectors Lounge. The pop art icon painted a BMW M1 that raced in the 24-hour race at Le Mans in 1979. 

The BMW Art Car Collection was initiated by Jochen Neerpasch, then Director of BMW Motorsport, as well as French racing driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain, when the latter invited his friend Alexander Calder to design his BMW Le Mans 24-hour race car in 1975. Since then, some of the greatest names in contemporary art have been added to the collection, such as Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer and Olafur Eliasson. 

During Art Basel in Miami Beach, the BMW i8, the i brand’s high performance plug-in hybrid, will also make its East Coast debut, at a reception at the SLS Hotel in South Beach on December 5, 2013. 

BMW has been a partner of Art Basel in Miami Beach since its inception and also provides the VIP shuttle service for the fair. 

About Art Basel

Art Basel stages the world's premier art shows for Modern and contemporary works, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. In addition to ambitious stands featuring leading galleries from around the world, each show's singular exhibition sectors spotlight the latest developments in the visual arts, offering visitors new ideas, new inspiration, and new contacts in the art world. artbasel.com 

About BMW’s Cultural Commitment

For more than 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group's Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko have co-operated with BMW. The company has also commissioned famous architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au to design important corporate buildings and plants. In 2011, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a global initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Guggenheim Museum and the BMW Group celebrated its world premiere in New York. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business. 

Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview  

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is the leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 28 production and assembly facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries. 

In 2012, the BMW Group sold about 1.85 million cars and more than 117,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2012 was euro 7.82 billion on revenues amounting to euro 76.85 billion. At 31 December 2012, the BMW Group had a workforce of 105,876 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. 

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For questions please contact:

Dr. Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs

Head of Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49 89-382-24753, Fax: +49 89-382-10881

Stacy Morris

BMW of North America

Corporate Communications Manager – Marketing & Culture 

Telephone:  +1-201-370-5134 

Media Website: www.press.bmwgroup.com

E-mail: presse@bmw.de