DOHA: BMW’s long-running Art Car initiative took center stage at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, with Thomas Girst, BMW Group’s head of cultural engagement, reflecting on five decades of collaboration between artists, engineers and the automobile.
Speaking at the fair, Girst situated the Art Car program within BMW’s broader cultural engagement, which he said spanned “over 50 years and hundreds of initiatives,” ranging from museums and orchestras to long-term partnerships with major art platforms.
“Every time Art Basel moves — from Miami to Hong Kong to Qatar — we move along with them,” he said. “That’s why we’re here.”
The occasion also marked the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car series, which began in 1975 with Alexander Calder’s painted BMW 3.0 CSL. Since then, the project has grown into a global collection that brings together motorsport, engineering, design and contemporary art. “Those Art Cars speak to a lot of people at the intersection of motorsports, technology, racing engineering, arts, lifestyle and design,” Girst said.
For Girst, the relationship between art and the automobile has deep historical roots. He pointed to early modernist fascination with cars, noting that “since the inception of the automobile,” artists have seen it as both a subject and a symbol of modernity. “There’s a reason for arts and culture and cars to mix and mingle,” he said.
