Lu Yang begins BMW Art Journey in January 2020. Shanghai-based artist to explore human mimicry of robots by capturing the movements of dancers in Indonesia and India.

Munich/Hong Kong. BMW Art Journey winner Lu Yang (represented by the gallery Société, Berlin) begins her journey to Indonesia and India in January 2020. Lu Yang is the eighth recipient of the BMW Art Journey, a collaboration between Art Basel and BMW, created to recognize and support emerging artists worldwide. The artist aims to explore human mimicry of robots by capturing the movements of dancers in Indonesia and India. 

Lu Yang’s BMW Art Journey “Human Machine Reverse Motion Capture Project” will take her in January 2020 to Bali (Indonesia) and Kerala (India) studying how the human body can be trained to overcome its physical limitations. Her research will explore the deployment of the human body in historical and present-day cultures. Steeped in the latest digital technologies, Lu will employ sophisticated motion capture devices to record dancers’ gestures, including facial, finger- and eye-capture techniques that can collect and analyse the subtlest body movements, and will mimic these using robotic technologies.

For her research, Lu will meet dancers of Legong, a traditional Balinese dance and practitioners of Kathakali in India. In Legong, for example, movement is controlled to such a degree that dancers are able to manipulate their finger joints individually. The facial and eye movements of India’s Kathakali dancers resemble the workings of sensors and motors in advanced humanoid robots.

Lu Yang’s BMW Art Journey will look into how humans negotiate their evolving relationship with machines that may ultimately surpass human limitations.

“The BMW Art Journey gives a great starting point for long-term research projects. This is not just an art journey. It will be a wonderful start for me to open a new chapter of my creation. I am very much looking forward to this future collaboration and the art-making after this journey. I would also like to thank the gallery Société in Berlin for fully supporting me”, says Lu Yang.

Art Basel and BMW will collaborate with the artist to document the journey and share it with a broader public through print publications, online and social media.

About Lu Yang
Lu Yang (b. 1984) is a Shanghai-based multi-media artist, who graduated from the New Media Art Department of the China Academy of Art. Deeply immersed in the subcultures of anime, video games, and Science-Fiction, the output of her artistic practice spans 3D-animated films, video game installations, holograms, neon, VR and software manipulation, often with overt Japanese manga and anime references. Her work was displayed in exhibitions at Kulturforum, Berlin; Centre Pompidou, Paris; M Woods, Beijing; Shanghai Biennale; and Athens Biennale.

Lu Yang was announced as the next BMW Art Journey winner during Art Basel in Basel in 2019. The international jury of experts included Claire Hsu, Executive Director Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Matthias Mühling, Director Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Founder and President of Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Philip Tinari, Director Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing; and Samson Young, artist and winner of the first BMW Art Journey.

The next BMW Art Journey shortlist of three artists will be announced in March 2020 during Art Basel in Hong Kong.

Launched in 2015, the BMW Art Journey is a collaboration between Art Basel and BMW, created to recognize and support emerging artists worldwide. Now in its 5th year the initiative is evolving. Starting in 2020, the circle of eligible artists will be broadened. It will include emerging and mid-career artists participating at Art Basel in Hong Kong represented not only by galleries in the Discoveries sector, but also by galleries that were founded no more than ten years ago. A judging panel comprised of internationally renowned experts meet first to select a shortlist of three artists from the sector, who are then invited to submit proposals for a journey aimed to further develop their ideas and artistic work. The jury reconvenes to choose a winner from the three proposals.

For further information about the artists and the project, please visit:
www.bmw-art-journey.com


For further questions please contact:
Prof. Dr Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs
Head of Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49-89-382-24753

www.press.bmwgroup.com
Email: thomas.girst@bmw.de

Dorothee Dines
Art Basel Global
Head of Media Relations
Telephone: + 41 58 206 27 06
Email: dorothee.dines@artbasel.com


About Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world's premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, 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. Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through a number of new initiatives such as The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report and Art Basel Cities. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.

About BMW Group Cultural Engagement
For almost 50 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 contemporary and modern art, classical music and jazz 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, Jeff Koons, Daniel Barenboim, Jonas Kaufmann and architect Zaha Hadid have co-operated with BMW. In 2016 and 2017, female artist Cao Fei from China and American John Baldessari created the next two vehicles for the BMW Art Car Collection. Besides co-initiatives, such as BMW Tate Live, the BMW Art Journey and the “Opera for All” concerts in Berlin, Munich, Moscow and London, the company also partners with leading museums and art fairs as well as orchestras and opera houses around the world. As part of its art programme “Muse”, Rolls-Royce partners for the initiative “The Dream Commission” with two internationally esteemed art institutions. Together with Fondation Beyeler and Serpentine Galleries, emerging and established artists are invited to submit a moving-image work that delivers an immersive sensory experience. The artists are nominated and chosen by renowned personalities of the art world like Daniel, Birnbaum, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Cao Fei, and Theodora Vischer. BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all its cultural activities for granted – as this initiative is as essential for producing groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business.

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The BMW Group
With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group production network comprises 31 production and assembly facilities in 15 countries; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2019, the BMW Group sold over 2,520,000 passenger vehicles and more than 175,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the financial year 2018 was € 9.815 billion on revenues amounting to € 97.480 billion. As of 31 December 2018, the BMW Group had a workforce of 134,682 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based 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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