BMW honors its Art Car legacy with one of its most futuristic models.
BMW is known for combining its automotive luxury and design with incredibly creative artistry, boasting a series of Art Cars that are designed by notable artists from all over the world. At the Frieze Los Angeles art fair, that history of Art Cars is being celebrated in a futuristic, but equally creative way with a new one-of-a-kind BMW i5 with a design by South African artist Esther Mahlangu. Fans of the BMW Art Car series will notice that this new i5 takes after the 1991 BMW 525i Art Car designed by Mahlangu previously.
Named the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA, the car is named after Mahlangu’s son, and is employs color-changing technology via E Ink. It features sections that can be animated on the roof, hood, and sides of the car. The color changing technology is the latest in a rapid evolution of the innovation, with the BMW iX Flow featuring the ability to change from white to black, and the BMW i Vision Dee boasting the ability to change to 32 different colors.
The car was unveiled on February 29, the opening day of the Frieze Los Angeles art festival, continuing a longstanding partnership between BMW and the festival. Simultaneously, the original 1991 525i Art Car will be on display in Mahlangu’s home country of South Africa for the first time in over 30 years, in an exhibition hosted by the Iziko Museums of South Africa and the BMW Group in Cape Town. The exhibition, featuring some of South Africa’s most important artists and cultural icons, will run until August 11, 2024. Paying homage to a classic BMW Art Car, the new BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA evolves Mahlangu’s artistry with cutting-edge technology.
Image Source: BMW