Frank Stella in 1976 covers the body of a BMW 3.0 CSL with the rigorous design of a black-and-white lattice; Andy Warhol in 1979 personally paints, in twenty-eight minutes using six kilograms of paint, a BMW M1; Jenny Holzer, twenty years later, customizes a BMW V12 LMR with some of her own compositions, made with reflective chrome letters and fluorescent foil; Ólafur Elíasson transforms a race car into an igloo, with the BMW H2R in 2007.

BMW’s Art Cars project - born in 1975 from the intuition of French racing driver and art lover Hervé Poulain to turn a sports racing vehicle into a blank canvas for one of his favorite artists, Alexander Calder, who signed the first edition - in the course of nearly fifty years has involved some of the leading contemporary artists, giving them absolute freedom of action, and opening up a prolific dialogue between art and technology in a field, motoring, only seemingly distant from that of creativity.

This dialogue continues in 2024 with the unveiling of BMW’s 20th Art Car, the BMW M Hybrid V8, the result of a collaboration between the German manufacturer of luxury vehicles and Julie Mehretu.

The Ethiopian-born American artist tells us about the genesis of this major work in Paris, in the main hall of the Centre Pompidou, before the thin, iridescent cloth that hides the car from the eager gazes of all present is finally lifted to show it to the world: “I was flattered that I was chosen by the commission, but I said ‘thank you’ and backed out. I had no idea how I could approach the project of painting a car, and I respectfully declined BMW’s invitation.”

What changed her mind, and her accepting this new challenge during the time of the pandemic, was the inspiration she got from reading an article by Indian writer Arundhati Roy in the Financial Times titled “Pandemic is a portal,” which ended with an invitation to overcome the drama of that moment by embracing the change that every pandemic naturally brings. But most of all, the presence of art critic Okwui Enwezor, who passed away in 2019, on the jury that initially selected her was crucial.

“She expresses dynamism within a form”, says Enwezor of Julie Mehretu, emphasising the dynamic aspect of her painting, which is devoted to movement and speed in space.

The project was then back on the table in 2020 and realized magnificently in 2024, with this strikingly shaped contemporary car, signed by designer Huessein Al Attar, who in describing his approach to this process at once creative and engineering, spoke of a “people centered” way of working: “a racing car is certainly designed for the drivers, and to make sure that they are in the best safety conditions to race, but without forgetting the performance aspect. The performance of a car is not only about the result, but also about the audience. In this sense, an approach that puts people at the center aims to create something that excites, that people can find a connection with”.

The shift to three-dimensionality, new for Mehretu - as it had been for Frank Stella, whom the American artist cited along with Jenny Holzer among the previous artists who most inspired her on this path - was realized from one of her works, currently on display in the major solo exhibition in Venice, Julie Mehretu. Ensamble at Palazzo Grassi, donated to the permanent collection of MoMA New York.

Out of this monumental work, entitled Everywhen (2021 - 2023), came an incisive and powerful image that the artist told us about so: “In the studio where I had the model of the BMW M Hybrid V8 I was simply sitting and looking at my painting and I imagined that the car was about to take off at full speed to drive through it. (...) The idea was to make a remix, a mash-up of the painting. I kept seeing the color dripping from the canvas onto the car”.

From imagination to reality: “We worked with 3D renderings and 3D models to figure out how to adapt the painting to the peculiar shape of the car, with all the complexities that rigorous aerodynamic research includes. We also tried printing the imagined texture on sheets and placed them on the model to figure out how to best distribute the color over the entire surface.”

Yes, because Julie Mehretu’s BMW M Hybrid V8 is not just a collector’s racing car, but as Thomas Girst, BMW’s head of cultural engagement, called it, it is “The Beast” designed to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June 15, featuring a strong hybrid drive system of nearly 640 hp, consisting of a 4-liter V8 engine and an electric motor, capable of reaching up to 345 km/h.

Just like the cars signed by Calder, Stella, Warhol, Holzer, and Jeff Koons, the BMW Art Car 2024 will also take part in the French car marathon on the Circuit de la Sarthe.

And this is the key element of Julie Mehretu’s idea for BMW, not to simply paint a car, but to think about a real race car intended for the speed of the race.

As the artist explains, “I think my work was a response to the project that Huessein [Al Attar] had already done with the engineers and mechanics. I was there in Monaco when the components were assembled, and it was phenomenal to see how this object is made of carbon fiber, and I can’t believe the speed it can reach. So my involvement complements the actual design, and for me it was a unique opportunity to watch the tireless work of so many forms of imagination, skills and professionalism come together to make the car run as fast as possible”.

If it seems unbelievable that a car, which is also a work of art, can take part in a race on a racing track without concerns about possible damages, in fact one has to look at this experience as part of the artist’s process: “The changing of the tires, the debris that scratches it, the insects that stick on the bodywork: the car at the end of the race will be completely different and so it can be said to be a finished work. All these marks will contribute to the final result.” Julie Mehretu’s painting then becomes performative, evolving not only in a three-dimensional space, but also in movement, speed, energy, in a real performance.

Before going to Le Mans, BMW Art Car #20 will make an appearance at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on Lake Como on Sunday, May 26, 2024. As part of the exhibition of historic vehicles organized by the BMW Group and the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este, the car will be displayed in the gardens of Villa Erba along with BMW Art Cars by Alexander Calder (1975), Frank Stella (1976), Roy Lichtenstein (1977), Andy Warhol (1979), Jenny Holzer (1999), and Jeff Koons (2010).

But Julie Mehretu’s journey with BMW does not end there: the artist in collaboration with the automobile manufacturer, and the producer and screenwriter Mehret Mandefro, co-founder of the Realness Institute, which works to strengthen the media ecosystem in Africa, will organize the PanAfrican Translocal Media Workshops project. By promoting activities in various African cities and regions throughout 2025, these gatherings will provide spaces for African artists to engage with each other and develop a network of connections useful in promoting their art. The series of PanAfrican Translocal Workshops will stop in the cities of Dakar (Senegal), Marrakech (Morocco), Kigali (Rwanda), Lagos (Nigeria) and Cape Town (South Africa). The results of this great work will be presented together with the 20th BMW Art Car at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town in the first half of 2026.

The two portraits of Julie Mehretu with Bmw Art Car #20 are by Tereza Mundilová © Bmw Ag (05/2024)