The worlds of art and technology often intersect, but it’s rare to see it happen on the hood of a car. But when the 2024 Frieze exhibition opened here in Los Angeles, lead sponsor BMW premiered their ground-breaking i5 Flow Nostokana.
This BMW Art Car is a tribute to world-renowned South African artist Esther Mahlangu, and makes use of their proprietary color-change technology to reinterpret the artist’s distinctive style.
This technology showcases what BMW sees as the future potential for customized vehicles.
About the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA
The one-of-a-kind vehicle combines color-change technology developed by BMW with the artistic language of South African artist Esther Mahlangu. The designer piece, with sections of attached film that can be electronically animated, embodies the latest development in color-change technology for vehicle surfaces in cooperation with E Ink.
The contemporary tribute recalls the BMW Art Car designed by Mahlangu in 1991. “The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA honors 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.
The animations are also accompanied by an equally extraordinary sound, specially composed by Renzo Vitale, the BMW Group’s Creative Director, Sound, for the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA. To combine the soundscape of the BMW brand with that of the South African Ndebele culture, Vitale used sequences from Mahlangu’s voice, as well as the sound of the feather brushes she used for painting.
These were combined with sounds produced by the color pencils employed in the BMW design studio and the acoustic signal heard as feedback when operating the BMW i5’s touch display. This created a sound mix that starts off softly at the beginning of each color change and increases in intensity as the animation progresses.
About Esther Mahlangu
In 1991, Mahlangu designed the 12th BMW Art Car, based on a BMW 525i – becoming the first woman and first African artist to do so. “Her art inspired me years ago, back when the concept of color change on a car was just an idea in my head,” says Stella Clarke, Research Engineer Open Innovations at the BMW Group. “Now, being able to realize this idea, and work with Esther Mahlangu, is absolutely surreal.”
The 88-year-old artist’s signature colors and geometric patterns are perfect for bringing the innovative Flow technology to life in the BMW i5. The versatility of the electrophoretic color changes makes the fully-electric sedan a dynamic work of art. “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.
As a globally respected artist, Esther Mahlangu is known for her Ndebele paintings, whose ornamentation originally symbolized major events or festive occasions. Mahlangu separated the designs from their original meaning and transferred them for the first time to canvas, carpets and everyday objects, thus preserving them for the future. The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA is now reinterpreting this artistic language.
Sponsor of Frieze
In presenting this designer car at Frieze Los Angeles, BMW continues its long-standing cooperation with the renowned art fair. At the same time, the BMW Art Car that formed the basis for this tribute will also be on display in South Africa for the first time in over 30 years as 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 until 11 August 2024, honors the life’s work of one of South Africa’s most influential artists and cultural ambassadors.
In Los Angeles, BMW will once again be presenting Frieze Music in collaboration with Frieze. Since 2019, the joint initiative between the two partners has brought together a large group of musicians at the intersection of music and art. The event’s return to Los Angeles will be celebrated on 29 February with a live performance by Sudan Archives at the Hammer Museum.
About Frieze
Frieze is the world’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art, dedicated to artists, galleries, collectors and art lovers alike. Frieze comprises three publications, and four international art fairs, Frieze London, Frieze LA, Frieze New York, Frieze Seoul and Frieze Masters.
It’s held annually here in Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Airport’s Barker Hangar.
MomsLA was invited to experience the BMW i5 Flow at the 2024 Frieze LA exhibit.
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