BMW ART MAKERS: INSOLARE by artist Eva Nielsen and curator Marianne Derrien at Paris Photo 2023. BMW France is official partner of the fair and presents the project of this year’s winning duo.

• Each year, the BMW ART MAKERS programme supports an artist-curator duo in the creation of an experimental project in the visual arts.
• Eva Nielsen and Marianne Derrien, the 2023 winners, present their project INSOLARE.
• Eva Nielsen was selected by Fiona Rogers, curator of the Elles x Paris Photo programme, launched by the French Ministry of Culture to promote women photographers.
• BMW France, a partner of Paris Photo and the VIP programme for the 21st year, is providing the Fair with a fleet of electric cars to transport its guests.
• With an exhibition exploring the impact of human activity on landscapes and a recyclable scenography, the BMW ART MAKERS programme goes even further in taking into account the impact of the territory, in line with  BMW Group's environmental and circular strategy.

Paris. For half a century, BMW Group has been a major patron of culture, supporting hundreds of projects around the world. The Group contributes to the diffusion of knowledge and the arts through long-term partnerships such as the one forged two decades ago with Paris Photo. BMW France supports the VIP programme and provides Paris Photo with a fleet of electric cars to transport collectors, artists, curators and fair VIPs. Each year, the BMW ART MAKERS programme supports an artistic project and produces an exhibition conceived by a duo of artist and curator.

INSOLARE, the exhibition presented by the BMW ART MAKERS winning duo.
The INSOLARE project is a new experiment, the fruit of collaboration between Eva Nielsen, artist, and Marianne Derrien, curator, and was conceived especially for the Rencontres d'Arles and Paris Photo, of which BMW is an official partner. Their approach, which is both poetic and scientific, questions time and the sedimentation of the urban and Camargue landscape. With this project, the duo evoke the changes in the environment that are leading to the disappearance of certain urban, industrial and natural landscapes, where the human footprint is always in question.

Eva Nielsen has taken up the subject of geographical and geological change, a subject that few women have echoed. The winning artist made several trips to the Camargue, where she took hundreds of photographs. These images were printed on curtains and transparent paper and then photographed again, superimposed on new samples taken in the Camargue. Thanks to this process and the use of different materials and media - photography, silkscreen, painting, veils and fabrics - the images are superimposed and hybridised, resulting in a form of transfiguration. Like a topographer, the Franco-Danish artist defines her work as a 'state of awareness' of the reality of a territory, its architecture and its environment. With INSOLARE, the works change, like the urban and industrial landscape of the Camargue.

Marianne Derrien, the winning curator, explains that in INSOLARE, Eva Nielsen explores climatic and geological phenomena that reappear as spectres of both rural and industrial reality. She crosses her roadtrip trajectories with those of the territories at the gateway to Arles, where the Camargue begins. In a visual confusion, the artist creates a play of resonances between photography, silkscreen and painting. Contrary to any official cartography, the paths she takes trace a subjective geography. The sedimentation of these solar and liquid landscapes gives rise to a horizon of experience, a feminine gaze where body and water are linked. Eva Nielsen and Marianne Derrien have designed a scenography that minimises the impact of their project on the environment.

Reusable and recyclable scenography
The scenography has been designed to respond to environmental and cultural heritage preservation issues. In line with BMW Group's circular strategy, the exhibition has been designed to ensure that materials are produced and used as sparingly as possible.  Self-supporting metal structures have replaced the traditional picture rails. They were designed to be reused after the Rencontres d'Arles, at Paris Photo for this November's edition.

"The BMW ART MAKERS programme reflects BMW Group's commitment to culture and society. From the concept to the final exhibition, the INSOLARE project interweaves territory and ecology with a feminine perspective, presenting an original vision of the Camargue. With its reusable scenography, the project also echoes the BMW Group's environmental and circular strategy", comments Maryse Bataillard, Head of Corporate Communications and CSR BMW Group France.

For Florence Bourgeois, Director of Paris Photo, "our 21-year partnership with BMW testifies to the strength of our commitment to artists. The strength of the BMW ART MAKERS sponsorship programme and the visibility offered to an artist-curator duo each year is a remarkable support for creativity. We are proud to welcome the INSOLARE project by Eva Nielsen and Marianne Derrien to the 26th edition of Paris Photo, at the Grand Palais Ephémère from 9 to 12 November 2023.”

More information is available at BMW (parisphoto.com)

Since 2022, BMW Group France has also been an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival and Paris + by Art Basel.

The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.