BMW Art & Culture is calling for applications for the BMW Residency dedicated to Photography, at GOBELINS, the School of Visual Arts Paris.

Paris. After 6 years of partnership with the Nicéphore Nièpce Museum, and as the BMW Group just celebrated his 100 years, BMW Group France confirms the new direction of the 2018 Residency through its partnership with GOBELINS, the School of Visual Arts in Paris, for the second consecutive year.

For this new edition, BMW, which has always fostered a pioneering spirit, is more than ever putting the emphasis on experimentation. This is why GOBELINS was a natural choice for BMW; the two companies sharing the same values of excellence and innovation.

The innovative pedagogy and experiments of the school, the transmission between experts, laureates and students perfectly reflect the philosophy expressed by BMW for the years to come. BMW defends the values of aesthetics and technological innovation. The car brand has chosen to accompany photography as an original and specific medium, a founding invention of modernity as well as the automobile. BMW expresses its support for photography around an unprecedented and ambitious cultural partnership initiated in 2011. Unprecedented, because it tends to propose new keys of understanding the interaction between art and technology and their impact on man and society. Ambitious, because it favors artistic and technological experimentations and innovations.

The call for applications for the next BMW Residency is available on BMW and GOBELINS websites.

The projects presented by the applicants for the BMW Residency will have to focus on innovation and experimentation to offer a fresh vision of our world in motion, by all means: technical, narrative, documentary, humorous...

The Artistic Director's contribution

François Cheval will be the artistic director for the BMW Residency at GOBELINS.

He will be involved in the preselection of applications and will submit this selection to the Jury. He will support the laureate in his/her researches and artistic project, handle the production, curate the exhibitions and write the presentation texts. Communication et relations publiques

The BMW support for the Residency

Funding and resources

- The artist will receive a grant of 6,000€ and accommodation in Paris, if necessary for the three months in Residency at Gobelins. This support will freed him/her of any material constraints throughout the Residency period to be able to concentrate on the photographic project with the support of the School, the advice of the artistic director and BMW support.

- A selection of images produced during the Residency will be exhibited at the Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles and at the Paris Photo Fair. BMW is partnering both of these major events, for 9 years and 15 years respectively.

- The work produced in Residency will be published in a book with éditions Trocadéro.

- The works produced during the BMW Residency, signed and serially numbered, will be divided into three batches:

o The first batch will be exhibited and then returned to the artist.

o The second batch will be made up of two images for GOBELINS, including one chosen for communication purposes.

o The third batch, a selection of works chosen jointly by the artist and BMW France, will go to BMW France in exchange for its patronage.

The BMW Residency at GOBELINS

The BMW Residency is remaining true to its fundamental principle: continuous support for the winner, from the creation and production of works to the edition of a book published by éditions Trocadéro.

To these guiding principles is added the residency’s team contribution that puts all its expertise behind this photographic project, creating interactions between the winner, and the GOBELINS educational staff and students.

A third-year student will act as photographic assistant to the winner. This will be a very rewarding experience for the student. The student will work alongside the artist, and benefit from the advice of François Cheval, the artistic director of the Residency.

GOBELINS will also provide a photography team of students, who will contribute to promote the BMW Residency on the social networks, through arranging meetings as well as producing photos and videos. This team will foster interactions with the school's other students in conjunction with BMW, the winner and GOBELINS.

Applications files must be composed of a biography, a file presenting the general approach of the artist, a series of completed works as well as a note of intent on the artistic project. Ten photographers will be selected in a preselection.

They will be asked to make themselves available for half a day for an interview with the jury and present photographic prints and work done.

The files will be transmitted digitally: candidatures.residencebmw@gobelins.fr until April 4th, 2018.

The jury will meet in May for an announcement of the winner in June. Shooting should be done by the end of December, and production before March 1st, 2019.

The call for applications and the rules and regulations can be downloaded from the websites:

BMW Group France: www.bmw.com/ResidenceBMW

GOBELINS, the school of image: www.gobelins.fr/bmw-Residence2018 Communication et relations publiques

The first six winners

The BMW Residency has drawn the work of the first winners to the attention of photography professionals as well as making it known to the wider public.

- In 2011, Alexandra Catière was the first year's winner. This young artist from Belarus stood out for her sensitvity, for her intelligence, and for her works blending together both classical and avant-garde techniques.

Book co-produced by BMW Art & Culture and éditions Trocadéro. BMW Residency Collection, Alexandra Catiere 2011.

- In 2012, BMW supported Marion Gronier, a young French photographer, in her personal endeavours on the human figure and its various masks. Her photography captures the moment when the form of the mask breaks down, or when the face, disembodied, empties.

Book co-produced by BMW Art & Culture and éditions Trocadéro. BMW Residency Collection, Marion Gronier 2012.

- In 2013, the duo Mazaccio & Drowilal, attracted a very wide audience with the "Wild Style" project, questioning the imagery of wildness in mass culture.

Book co-produced by BMW Art & Culture and éditions Trocadéro. BMW Residency Collection, Mazaccio & Drowilal 2013.

- In 2014, Natasha Caruana, a young British artist, devoted her time in the Residency in seeking the truth of "love at first sight". She took her inspiration from her own life and drew on popular myths and scientific surveys to get closer, through photography, to the truth of this phenomenon that will always be inexplicable.

Book co-produced by BMW Art & Culture and éditions Trocadéro. BMW Residency Collection, Natasha Caruana 2014.

- In 2015, Alinka Echeverría, with her "Fieldnotes for Nicephora" project, examined the historic, technical and philosophic links between photography and ceramics. Her project took us into the museum's archives.

Book co-produced by BMW Art & Culture and éditions Trocadéro. BMW Residency Collection, Alinka Echeverria 2015.

- In 2016, Dune Varela, in "Always the sun" project for the BMW Residence questioned the different forms of photographic representation through various temporalities. She reflects on the alteration and fragility of photography as a medium, and the integration into the image produced by the process of disappearance.

Book co-published by BMW Art & Culture and Trocadéro editions. BMW Residence Collection, Dune Varela 2017.

- In 2017, Baptiste Rabichon currently in residency at Gobelins, School of Visual Arts

BMW France and Photography

Dare to create, dare to innovate has always been in the genes of BMW. Since 2003, BMW France has supported photography, consistent with its core business of innovation, aesthetics and driving pleasure. This commitment first came to fruition alongside Paris Photo in the BMW - Paris Photo Award. Awarded for 8 years, this prize has become an international reference taking pride in the work of artists presented by galleries and contributing to the renewal of the photographic language. BMW has been a partner of Paris Photo since then and has today become an official partner. It continued with the Rencontres d'Arles, of which BMW has been a partner for nine years. This commitment was reinforced in 2011, with the setting up of the BMW Residency. Communication et relations publiques

BMW Group sponsors arts

BMW supports more than 100 cultural projects worldwide, in modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music, as well as in architecture and design, thus contributing to the dissemination of knowledge and the arts. In each of its partnerships, BMW Group guarantees artists absolute freedom, as it is as essential to the success of innovative artistic work as to the emergence of major innovations in a successful company. The story began in 1972, when three very large paintings "Rot", "Gelb" and "Blau" were ordered to the artist Gerhard Richter for the headquarters of the BMW Group in Munich. During this period, BMW introduced with Hervé Poulain the collection of BMW Art Cars, made by modern and contemporary artists of international renown, such as Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Olafur Eliasson or Jeff Koons. At the end of 2016, John Baldessari's 19th BMW Art Car was presented at Art Basel Miami Beach and placed 8th in the GTLM classification at the 24 Hours of Daytona (USA). In 2017, the BMW Art Car, directed by Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei, was shown in Beijing and raced in November at the 24 Hours of Macao. BMW supports museums and awards, such as the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, the Goethe-Institut, the "Premio de Pintura" in Spain, the Berlin Biennial, the Tate Modern in London, where BMW has created the "BMW Tate Live" ". In addition, partnerships with international fairs have intensified in recent years: alongside the abc (Berlin art contemporary), Gallery Weekend Berlin and the Berlin Biennial, BMW cooperates, for example, with Art Basel in Basel , Miami Beach and Hong Kong, Frieze Art Fair and the Frieze Masters in London and New York, Paris Photo, Kyotography, the Korea International Art Fair and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India. Since 2015, Art Basel and BMW have been supporting emerging artists through the BMW Art Journey, which allows the laureate to make a journey of discovery and creation. Finally, the 4th edition of the "BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors" was published in autumn 2016. 256 private collector's presentations take the reader on a journey around more than 43 countries, often in unusual regions.

GOBELINS, School of Visual Arts

As a member body of the Paris Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry, GOBELINS trains almost 800 students every year, 400 of them on apprenticeship contracts. The school also provides continuous training in photography, print and multimedia communication, graphic design, interactive design, animation and video game design for 1,900 trainees every year.

The school has gained national and international recognition. For the second year in a row, GOBELINS was ranked as the world's top school for animation (Animation career review, January 2017), top school for graphic design and top apprenticeship training centre in France in the graphical industries. GOBELINS is a pioneering provider of training in digital and interactive communication. It trains creative technology students with a comprehensive knowledge of design and user experience.

www.gobelins.fr

BMW Group in France

BMW Group has four locations in France: Montigny-le-Bretonneux (head office), Tigery (training center), Strasbourg (international PRA center) and Miramas (international technical test center). The BMW Group employs more than 5,000 employees in France with its commercial and financial subsidiaries as well as its exclusive distribution network. In 2017, BMW Group France registered 87,748 cars of the BMW and MINI brands and 16020 motorcycles and scooters of the BMW Motorrad brand. The annual volume of BMW Group purchases from French equipment manufacturers and suppliers amounts to billions of Euro. Among them are Dassault Systèmes, Faurecia, Michelin, Plastic Omnium, St Gobain and Valeo. The cooperation with PSA on 1.6-liter engines is a great success. As part of its electro-mobility strategy, BMW Group created the BMW i brand and introduced the revolutionary BMW i3 and BMW i8. BMW Group France also pursues an active and permanent sponsorship policy with renowned cultural actors such as the Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, Paris Photo and Gobelins, the school of visual Art where the BMW Residence is held for photography emerging. For more than 30 years, BMW Group France has been financing public utility projects through its Foundation under the auspices of the Fondation de France: currently road safety for young drivers. The social commitment of the BMW Group also comes with its partnerships in the French sport: French Golf Federation (FFG), and the French Rugby Federation (FFR) and the XV of France. www.bmw.fr Facebook: facebook.com/BMWFrance Twitter: twitter.com/BMWFrance Instagram: instagram.com/BMWFrance/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWFrance Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bmw-group-france?trk=top_nav_home

BMW Group

BMW Group, which includes the BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad brands, is the world's leading manufacturer of premium automobiles and motorcycles, also providing services in the areas of finance and mobility. A global company, BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly sites in 14 countries, as well as a sales network in more than 140 countries. For the 2017 fiscal year, BMW Group's worldwide sales reached a total of 2,463,500 cars and more than 164,000 motorcycles. In 2016, the company achieved a pre-tax profit of 9.67 billion euros for a turnover of approximately 94.16 billion euros. At December 31, 2016, the BMW Group had 124,729 employees. The success of the BMW Group has always been one of responsible, long-term action. Throughout the value creation chain, the company's development strategy is based on ecological and social sustainability, the manufacturer's full responsibility for its products and a firm commitment to preserving the company's values and natural resources. www.bmwgroup.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup