World Famous BMW Art Cars Collection Visits NZ

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BMW Group
New Zealand
Corporate Communications

Media information

08 May 2007

World Famous BMW Art Cars Collection Visits New Zealand for the First Time

Auctioneer and racing driver Hervè Poulain made history in 1975 when he asked his friend Alexander Calder to give Poulain’s BMW 3.0 CSL a distinctive look for the 24- hour Le Mans race.

The result was so enthusiastically received that BMW decided to continue the experiment and subsequently Frank Stella, Roy Liechtenstein and Andy Warhol designed the artwork for BMW cars competing in the 24-hour Le Mans race. Since 1975 prominent artists from throughout the world have designed BMW automobiles of their times, all making extremely different artistic statements.

The current BMW Art Car collection of 15 cars tours the globe and has visited such prominent museums as the Louvre and Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, the Royal Academy of London and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

A selection of BMW Art Cars will visit New Zealand this year for the first time ever with an exhibition at Auckland Museum’s new Events Centre under the Dome from July 18th till August 12th 2007.

The exhibition will feature cars painted by Andy Warhol, Roy Liechtenstein, Frank Stella and Ken Done.

During the current tour, which began in Malaysia last year, the four cars have been exhibited in Singapore, the Philippines, Korea and Australia. After Auckland, the cars will move to India, before returning to Europe.

ENDS

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