Exclusive BMWs shine at the Art Market Budapest 2022 contemporary art fair.

Munich/ Budapest. Art Market Budapest 2022, one of the largest contemporary art fairs in Central and Eastern Europe, was held from 5-9 October 2022, and BMW Group Hungary contributed to its resounding success with a real four-wheeled artwork. For a few days this year Budapest became one of Europe's most attractive meeting places for contemporary art.

The art fair, which was held for the 12th time this year, featured 116 exhibitors from nearly 30 countries on four continents and more than 500 artists' works on an area of around 8,000 square metres in the Bálna Budapest. This year, Art Market Budapest offered a higher quality and wider selection than ever before to its international panel of gallery owners.

Among the many accompanying events, Bálna Budapest also hosted Art Photo Budapest, the only international photography fair in Central and Eastern Europe, the Inside Art international art conference and the 360 Design Budapest design exhibition. Serbia was the guest of honour at Art Market Budapest 2022. Art Market Budapest continues to be a partner of the Liszt Festival International Cultural Festival, which showcases the most important figures and the latest works of the national and international art scene, and has contributed significantly to Budapest's cultural tourism attractiveness as a key international art component of the festival.

BMW Group with a half-century history of supporting culture, so as BMW Group Hungary is a key partner of the leading art fair in Central and Eastern Europe. With more than 100 initiatives in the fields of modern and contemporary art, classical music, jazz and sound, architecture and design, BMW is a key player in the international cultural scene.

BMW i7 and Forwardism
The BMW Group Hungary's three exhibited models perfectly matched the theme of the fair, as the public could see the BMW i7 electric luxury limousine for the first time and gain insight into the world of Forwardism, created as part of the car's international launch campaign, developed by world-renowned British fashion photographer and artist Nick Knight in collaboration with BMW.

BMW 8 X Jeff Koons
The BMW 8 X Jeff Koons model, inspired by the BMW Art Cars series launched in 1975, was also presented in Hungary at Bálna Budapest.  For more than a decade, BMW has maintained a close relationship with the leading icon of attractive pop culture, Jeff Koons, who this year created an extremely limited edition of just 99 models based on the technical basis of the BMW M850i xDrive Gran Coupé. The special edition "THE 8 X JEFF KOONS" celebrated its world premiere on the stage of the Frieze Los Angeles art exhibition in February 2022 as the most elaborate work of art in BMW model history. Following its unveiling, the model has also appeared on the stages of the 16th Istanbul Contemporary, Paris Photo, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Art Dubai, West Bund Art & Design Fair Shanghai, Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Basel Hong Kong, among others, as well as being a celebrated crowd favourite at Art Market Budapest.

BMW RE:DESIGN iX
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BMW Group's commitment to culture, BMW Slovenia offered young artists the opportunity to artistically reimagine the bodywork of the long-sustainable technology flagship. The most expressive interpretation of the parallels between sustainability, art and mobility, was created by Urban Klinkon, a master's student at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. The special design was another highlight of Art Market Budapest 2022.

BMW Forwardism Lounge
In addition to the exhibited models, BMW Group Hungary, as a key partner of Art Market Budapest 2022, hosted a Forwardism Lounge in the Bálna, where it presented its commitment to art to invited VIP guests, press, dealers and visitors of the exhibition for 5 days. The BMW Lounge also featured two sculptures of sharks by Hungarian sculptor Miklós Gábor Szőke, from the Gabor M Szoke Studio, a satellite exhibition space of Art Market Budapest. Foreign guests of the 360 Design Budapest exhibition, organised as part of the art fair, were transported by BMW during the event.