BMW’s Art Cars go Digital for the First Time Ever with Cutting Edge Art App, Acute Art

BMW today announced a new collaboration with cutting-edge art app Acute Art that brings the world-famous BMW Art Car collection into the digital realm for the first time ever. To celebrate over 50 years of BMW Group cultural engagement, the BMW Art Cars will be shown in augmented reality (AR) through Acute Art, marking the first time that the rolling works of art are available digitally for everyone to enjoy no matter where they are in the world. The first 10 BMW Art Cars will digitally launch in Acute Art on July 21, 2021, with the subsequent nine vehicles debuting every two weeks until all 19 BMW Art Cars are available in the app.

Initiated by French race car driver and art aficionado Hervé Poulain and conceived in collaboration with the founder of BMW Motorsport Jochen Neerpasch, the first BMW Art Car was commissioned when both asked Alexander Calder to design Poulain’s BMW 3.0 CSL race car in 1975, which he would later race at Le Mans. Since then, 18 more world renowned artists have gone on to express their own artistic vision using some of BMW’s most iconic models as their canvas.

Utilizing Acute Art’s unique VR/AR/mixed reality technology, the digitally reproduced Art Cars can be virtually staged anywhere a user desires in this wholly immersive 360° AR exhibition. To achieve an exact digital reproduction, the real Art Cars were carefully scanned from all angles using a photogrammetry methodology, capturing every detail of the artists’ expression on each car’s surface.

The first wave of BMW Art Cars that can be experienced via the app are: Alexander Calder (BMW 3.0 CSL, 1975), Michael Jagamara Nelson (BMW M3, 1989), Ken Done (BMW M3, 1989), Matazo Kayama (BMW 535i, 1990), Esther Mahlangu (BMW 525i, 1991), Jeff Koons (BMW M3 GT2, 2010) and John Baldessari (BMW M6 GTLM, 2016). From then on, further BMW Art Cars will be integrated in the Acute Art App every two weeks. To fully discover and experience the interactive BMW Art Cars, the Acute Art app is available free of charge on the App Store and Google Play.

BMW x Acute Art (Esther Mahlangu)
BMW x Acute Art (Jeff Koons)
BMW x Acute Art (Jeff Koons)
BMW x Acute Art (Matazo Kayama)
BMW x Acute Art (Matazo Kayama)
BMW x Acute Art (Michael Jagamara Nelson)
BMW x Acute Art (Alexander Calder)
BMW x Acute Art (Alexander Calder)

“The BMW Art Cars are an essential part of the DNA of BMW’s 50-year-long cultural engagement. Finally, they are entering the digital realm and can be accessible everywhere and for everyone. I am excited about the collaboration with Acute Art as we both strive for innovation and cutting-edge technology,” said Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands and Sales.

Acute Art collaborates with the world’s leading contemporary artists, providing access to cutting-edge technologies that allow them to translate their creative vision into new digital mediums – including virtual, augmented and mixed realities.

“We are thrilled about this partnership with BMW, a company that has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to technological innovation and art over decades.” says Jacob De Geer, CEO of Acute Art. “Acute Art was founded on the vision of democratising art and bringing it to places where it could not be before. In these challenging times we have to find new solutions. The collaboration with the BMW Group will intensify the exchange between technology, design and art. Together we will explore future landscapes involving today’s most innovative minds working in these fields.”

During Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland, the BMW Group will celebrate 50 years of cultural engagement with this unique interactive exhibition at Kunstmuseum Basel on September 21, 2021. The 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car by Alexander Calder will be on display both physically and in a specially created augmented reality area where guests can experience the digital Art Cars in the Acute Art App on-site.

More information on BMW’s longstanding commitment to culture and the arts can be found at www.bmwgroup.com/culture.

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Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.