Munich/Los Angeles. The BMW Group presents a fusion of artwork and innovation on the Frieze Los Angeles artwork honest within the type of the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA. The one-of-a-kind automobile combines colour-change know-how developed by BMW with the inventive language of South African artist Esther Mahlangu. The designer piece, with sections of hooked up movie that may be electronically animated, embodies the most recent improvement in colour-change know-how for automobile surfaces in cooperation with E Ink. The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA celebrates its world premiere on the honest opening on 29 February. The up to date tribute recollects the BMW Art Car designed by Mahlangu in 1991. “The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA honours the history of the BMW brand and continues the story of our global cultural engagement in a unique way. It combines art and design through progressive technology. Here, technology itself becomes art,” says Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design.
In 1991, Mahlangu designed the twelfth BMW Art Car, primarily based on a BMW 525i – changing into the primary girl and first African artist to take action. “Her art inspired me years ago, back when the concept of colour change on a car was just an idea in my head,” says Stella Clarke, Research Engineer Open Innovations on the BMW Group. „Now, with the ability to realise this concept, and work with Esther Mahlangu, is completely surreal.” The 88-year-old artist’s signature colors and geometric patterns are good for bringing the progressive Flow know-how to life within the BMW i5. The versatility of the electrophoretic color modifications makes the fully-electric sedan a dynamic murals. “It is fascinating to me to see how modern technology can expand my art and make it accessible to a completely new audience,” says Mahlangu.
Mahlangu’s artwork meets cutting-edge know-how.
In the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA, which is called after Mahlangu’s first son, sections of movie that may be electronically animated are utilized, with two strips every throughout the roof, bonnet and rear part, in addition to the automobile’s sides. Like an e-book reader, there are a number of million microcapsules in every E Ink movie. The construction and association of the color particles they comprise will be modified by making use of an electrical voltage. This permits the everyday colors and patterns of Mahlangu’s artwork to be generated in continually altering compositions.
The animations are additionally accompanied by an equally extraordinary sound, specifically composed by Renzo Vitale, the BMW Group’s Creative Director, Sound, for the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA. To mix the soundscape of the BMW model with that of the South African Ndebele tradition, Vitale used sequences from Mahlangu’s voice, in addition to the sound of the feather brushes she used for portray. These had been mixed with sounds produced by the color pencils employed within the BMW design studio and the acoustic sign heard as suggestions when working the BMW i5’s contact show. This created a sound combine that begins off softly originally of every color change and will increase in depth because the animation progresses.
To precisely recreate each element of the advanced ornamentation, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA has been fitted with 1,349 sections of movie, every of which will be individually managed. The laser reducing course of used to trim the movie and the digital management design had been developed in partnership with E Ink. The adaptation of the know-how for curved surfaces, in addition to the programmed animations, are all BMW Group in-house developments.
Overall, colour-change know-how is creating quickly. The BMW iX Flow that includes E Ink offered in 2022 had the flexibility to change from white to black on the push of a button. This was adopted only one 12 months later by the primary multi-coloured implementation. The 240 sections of movie utilized to BMW i Vision Dee had been capable of show as much as 32 colors. This newest section of improvement now allows much more colors and patterns. At the identical time, the sections of the movie are extra strong – which may make potential future sequence manufacturing simpler. However, in the intervening time, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA will stay considered one of a form.
Tribute to a pioneering artist and her work.
As a globally revered artist, Esther Mahlangu is understood for her Ndebele work, whose ornamentation initially symbolised main occasions or festive events. Mahlangu separated the designs from their authentic that means and transferred them for the primary time to canvas, carpets and on a regular basis objects, thus preserving them for the long run. The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA is now reinterpreting this inventive language.
In presenting this designer automotive at Frieze Los Angeles, BMW continues its long-standing cooperation with the famend artwork honest. At the identical time, the BMW Art Car that shaped the idea for this tribute will even be on show in South Africa for the primary time in over 30 years as a part of the exhibition hosted by the Iziko Museums of South Africa and the BMW Group in Cape Town “Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting”: Esther Mahlangu. A Retrospective. The exhibition, which runs till 11 August 2024, honours the life’s work of considered one of South Africa’s most influential artists and cultural ambassadors.
In Los Angeles, BMW will as soon as once more be presenting Frieze Music in collaboration with Frieze. Since 2019, the joint initiative between the 2 companions has introduced collectively a big group of musicians on the intersection of music and artwork. The occasion’s return to Los Angeles might be celebrated on 29 February with a stay efficiency by Sudan Archives on the Hammer Museum.
If you will have any questions, please contact:
BMW Group Corporate Communications
Steven Woerns
Press spokesperson, BMW Group Design
Telephone: +49-151-601-16992
Email: Steven.Woerns@bmw.com
Prof. Dr. Thomas Girst
Head of BMW Group Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49-89-382-24753
Email: Thomas.Girst@bmwgroup.com
BMW i5 eDrive40:
Power consumption mixed in WLTP cycle: 18.9 – 15.9 kWh/100 km
Electric vary in WLTP cycle: 497 – 582 km