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The Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson has now become one of very few artists commissioned to redesign a BMW as a part of the BMW Art Car project. Unlike predecessors like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur has not just painted an “ordinary” BMW (if there ever was such a thing as an “ordinary” BMW); Olafur has actually taken the hydrogen powered H2R concept vehicle and stripped it’s chassis, replacing the body with his own artwork. The car, which he calls “Your mobile expectations”, is made of steel mesh, reflective panels and ICE! Over 500 gallons of water were sprayed over the vehicle to create layers of ice over it. Olafur Eliasson is considered one of the most significant representatives of contemporary art. “He is best known for his alluring, site-specific installations that harness optical cognition and re-contextualize meteorological elements such as light, wind, temperature, and especially water, in all its various stages. He electrified the art world in 2003 with The weather project - a gigantic artificial sun installed inside the Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern.” (mwerks.com) The car is a part of Your Tempo: Olafur Eliasson exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and will be on display from September 8th until January 13th 2008.  "Eliasson's transformation of the H2R car is a powerful provocation to design and a reminder of the profound effect design can have on our lives," Urbach remarks. "He has given us a work that challenges the way we understand cars now and helps point us toward a different future. It's an experiment, really, as much a social and political intervention as an aesthetic one, and one whose effects will likely be felt for years to come."
(mwerks)References: sfmoma.org, mwerks Filed In: |
