Technology in the Service of Art. Michael Hansmeyer is the Artist of BMW Art Club 2022.

Warsaw. BMW presents the third instalment of the “BMW Art Club. The future is art” project. This year’s artist is Michael Hansmeyer, who has been commissioned by BMW to create a monumental 360-degree multimedia projection and an architectural sculpture designed using artificial intelligence, which will be the counterpoint of the video. His exhibition “Digital Grotesque” will open at Nowy Teatr on 6 October.

Traditionally, as part of the BMW Art Club, the brand joins forces with a leading cultural institution in Poland to jointly prepare an innovative cultural event. Vibrancy, unfettered imagination, innovative use of new technologies and homage to beauty are the common denominator of the installations and sculptures of the artist, whose work has so far been shown at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among others. Throughout his work, Michael Hansmeyer asks: “What are the things that were previously unattainable and became possible thanks to innovation?”. This is exactly the question that guides BMW as a future-oriented brand.

By inviting the artist, architect and artificial intelligence expert Michael Hansmeyer to collaborate, BMW is creating an experience that will allow us to ask about the relationship between humans, technology, art and the world. As BMW Art Club project curator Stach Szabłowski reveals: “For our commission, the artist is preparing an immersive multimedia installation called ‘Digital Grotesque’ and a sculpture inspired by ancient columns to complement the virtual world. His hallmark is harnessing machines and intelligent algorithms to explore and create beauty. His artistic practice is a kind of laboratory for experimenting with the new possibilities that the development of intelligent technologies opens up for us in the fields of shaping space as well as creating beauty,” explains Szabłowski.

“Digital Grotesque” is Hansmeyer’s flagship project, which the artist has been perfecting for years. He works on every aspect of it: from writing code and algorithms using artificial intelligence, to 3D printing at the highest level of complexity currently possible, to the handiwork that requires surgical precision – the finishing of the installation. Designed especially for the Nowy Teatr space, the work will allow us to – literally – touch the effect of the algorithms created by the artist.

As Michael Hansmeyer himself explains: “I am interested in how developments in technology are redefining before our very eyes what is possible in architecture and design and, above all, what is conceivable. In my opinion, algorithms are a tool, but one that, in partnership with humans, is able to help them understand themselves, recognize their capabilities and even come closer to grasping the nature of such a fleeting concept as beauty.”

BMW is a pioneer of new technologies, setting trends in sustainable mobility. At the Research and Innovation Center (FIZ) in Munich, BMW creates solutions that shape the future. Michael Hansmeyer’s art combines the latest advances in programming and artificial intelligence with unrestrained creativity, for which tomorrow is the horizon. For his art practice, a visit to the FIZ in Munich was an inspiring and opening experience, and for BMW, the selection of the artist for this year's BMW Art Club was in turn a natural fit with the brand's core values.

The exhibition “Digital Grotesque” as part of BMW Art Club. The Future is Art 2022 will be on show from 6 to 22 October at the Nowy Teatr in Warsaw.

The entry will be free to all visitors of the Nowy Teatr. With this gesture, BMW fits in with the trend of making culture as widely available as possible, which has become stronger especially in a post-pandemic world. The brand is consciously creating a new form of cultural patronage. 

The project partner is the Nowy Teatr, and the technology partner is Epson, which is providing the projectors used in the exhibition.