Olafur Eliasson returns to BMW's racing roots for its latest Art Car

Since 1975, outstanding artists from across the globe have collaborated with BMW in its Art Car Collection. Reflecting the cultural development of art, design and technology, the series has seen the likes of Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and David Hockney each make a unique artistic statement about the appearance and meaning of cars in their era.

Initially the Art Car concept was developed by auctioneer and racing driver Herve Poulain, and thus the collection was born. In fact, it was his friend and artist Alexander Calder who created the first design, transforming Poulain’s BMW racing car into a work of art, which he later raced at Le Mans.

With such an enthusiastic response from the audience and car fanatics from this first design, BMW established its Art Car Collection. Although initially using racing cars that had participated in the Le Mans 24-hour race, BMW later branched out and included its production cars.

The latest addition to the Art Car Collection comes in the form of Olufar Eliasson’s BMW H2R project. Returning to the series’ racing roots, Eliasson has transformed the hydrogen-powered car, and is currently being exhibited in ‘Your mobile expectations H2R project’ as part of his retrospective show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.