I can’t imagine a more interesting marriage of art than car maker BMW and contemporary artist Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson was given the opportunity to design the 16th BMW Art Car and illustrate the synthesis between industrial and organic design.
His purpose was to transform an advanced industrial form of art into a piece that reflects on the relationship between global warming and the car industry. Because the BMW H2R is a hydrogen-powered vehicle, Eliasson created a “climate car” that can only exist in a below-freezing microclimate.
Eliasson’s team first removed the body of the car and replaced the outer shell with two layers fence-patterned wire nets. In the micro-climate, the car was then sprayed with 530 gallons of water to create layers of ice protecting the frame as an arctic blanket.
The car was unveiled last night at SF MOMA.
We waited in quite the line to enter the icebox and read this elegantly dramatic environmental message. Unlike some pieces of modern art, which try to say more by doing less, his piece was utterly intricate and complex in sight.Pictures snapped from my camera phone:
Jeff, wrapped in a blanket, peering through the ice frame
A look at the steering wheel through the layers of ice
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