Artist Nino Mustica teams up with Land Rover on a gravity-defying installation in London

'Unstoppable Spirit' is a new installation by Italian artist Nino Mustica, unveiled this week on London's Southbank. Mustica worked in collaboration with Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern on the designs

(Image credit: TBC)

By Jonathan Bell

last updated 27 August 2022

Land Rover's latest urban intervention isn't in the shape of a new vehicle. Instead, the company has initiated an artistic collaboration that'll grace the banks of the Thames throughout the week of Frieze London. 'Unstoppable Spirit' is the work of Italian artist Nino Mustica, working hand in hand with Land Rover's unstoppable design director Gerry McGovern, a man with a strong sense of exactly where he wants his brand to go.

Flanking the Royal Festival Hall, in what's become a favoured spot for bold temporary structures, the seven-metre-tall pieces make a major impact. Mustica's paintings and sculptures have evolved over the course of his long career, finding fresh expression through technology and the leap from canvas to physical objects. Based in Milan since the mid 1980s, he was an early adopter of 3D-modelling software, using it as an artistic tool to create dynamic sculptures that were a visual precursor to so much of today's data-driven architecture and design.

Mustica's innovations have found a perfect parallel with the auto industry, and particularly with the strong, sculptural, unashamedly modern design language Land Rover has crafted over the past few years. Of course the new sculptures are also literal platforms to present a new product, and the car in question, the new Land Rover Discovery Sport, is an appropriately tough and dynamic machine to synch with Mustica's fluid forms.

The end result is akin to an explosion in a computer-design lab, with the sleek bodyshell of McGovern's Discovery Sport floating above Mustica's trademark splashes. The hybrid installations celebrate the interplay between surface, shape and light – and also Land Rover's ability to transcend any surface and any condition.

Giant red art sculpture of land rover from the back — The sculptures are literal platforms to present the new Land Rover Discovery Sport, an appropriately tough and dynamic machine that synchs with Mustica's fluid forms

Giant red art sculpture of a land drover - side view — They blast upward seven metres, akin to an explosion in a computer-design lab, with the sleek bodyshell of the car floating within

Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern, left, working on the designs with artist Nino Mustica

Giant blue art sculpture of land rover front view — The two pieces flank Royal Festival Hall in what's become a favoured spot for bold temporary structures

Giant blue art sculpture of land drover — Mustica's innovations align perfectly with the strong, sculptural, unashamedly modern design language Land Rover has crafted over the past few years

Giant blue art sculpture of land rover - back view — The hybrid installations celebrate the interplay between surface, shape and light – and also Land Rover's ability to transcend any surface and any condition

ADDRESS

Riverside Terrace
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London SE1 8XX

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TOPICS

Sculpture Land Rover

Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.