BMW returns to Art Basel in Miami Beach as official automotive partner. Launching the new BMW Concept XM, BMW features artist Kennedy Yanko and Grammy-award winner NAS.

Munich/Miami Beach. BMW is again official partner of Art Basel in Miami Beach in 2021. In the latest chapter of the partnership, BMW held the official world premiere of an all-new concept vehicle, the BMW Concept XM, on Monday, November 29 in Miami Beach. As longstanding global partner of the shows in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong, BMW once again offers its VIP shuttle service and celebrates 50 years of BMW Group Cultural Engagement with the presentation of the new BMW XM concept car together with the artist Kennedy Yanko and hip-hop legend NAS.         

The BMW Concept XM, an all-new standalone concept vehicle by BMW M, was debuted at a special event on Monday, November 29 at Herzog & de Meuron’s famous 1111 Lincoln Road parking deck in Miami Beach, Florida. The vehicle embodies a radically new concept: a zero-compromise BMW M with striking BMW X design language including the new, progressive front-end design of BMW’s forthcoming luxury-class models which can be seen on the BMW Concept XM for the first time.

The world premiere treated guests to the concept vehicle debut, a sculpture of art specially created by Kennedy Yanko for the event, and a special musical performance by GRAMMY-award winning hip-hop and recording artist NAS. Creative freedom and partnership at eye level are essential for BMW Group’s cultural engagement.

“This moment of co-creation between visual art and music by Kennedy Yanko and NAS brings together two cultural fields that have inspired each other for many decades and are two main areas of BMW brand cooperations,” said Stefan Ponikva, Head of BMW Brand Communication and Experience. “It all started with a dialogue with our designers around the BMW Concept XM and this exchange on eye-level is what makes our collaborations authentic. And Art Basel as the most renowned art fair with plenty creative and expressive minds across the disciplines, offers us the perfect platform to present our latest cultural engagement.“

“Art Basel in Miami Beach is the perfect moment to launch the BMW Concept XM, a product unlike anything we’ve ever produced,” said Uwe Dreher, vice president of marketing, BMW of North America. “This unique concept vehicle is matched perfectly to the expressive artwork from our partner artists, underscoring BMW Group’s five-decade long commitment to supporting culture and the arts in meaningful ways.”

Kennedy Yanko is a Brooklyn, New York-based artist and sculptor. Using the BMW Concept XM as inspiration, she created an original sculpture work utilized in the activation. The piece was inspired by a creative dialogue with NAS starting point of which was the encounter of the artists with the BMW Concept XM. “Intrinsic Sage”, as the artwork is called, joins paint skin and metal in a surge of intuition. Created with the artist's spirit in mind, this piece emphasizes the power that comes from following one's creative impulse towards innovation. Its namesake nods towards the sanctity of a deep consciousness that can only come from trusting one’s innate knowing. “Intrinsic Sage” will be on display alongside the BMW Concept XM at the Miami Beach convention center at the north side of the Grand Ballroom Level 2 from December 1-4.

Besides the recent artist collaboration on the occasion of Art Basel in Miami Beach, Art Basel and BMW founded the BMW Art Journey in 2015 – an initiative to support emerging to mid-career artists. The BMW Art Journey can take an artist almost anywhere in the world – to research, to network, to envision and to create new work. After the journey through Europe and Mexico of BMW Art Journey winner 2020, Leelee Chan, BMW presents the collectable of the sculptor summarizing her experiences and impression from her journey “Tokens from Time.” The book is published by Hatje Cantz and available online.

Since more than 50 years after its first edition, Art Basel has become one of the artworld’s leading events, attracting gallerists, artists, curators, journalists, and art lovers from all over the globe edition after edition. BMW Group is delighted to take part in this success story as a long-term partner of the shows in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong. The BMW Group laid the foundation of its cultural commitment in 1971. At that time the artists Gerhard Richter was commissioned to create three large-scale paintings for the entrance hall of the new Munich corporate headquarters. Since then, a hundred long-term cultural initiatives of the BMW Group in the fields of modern and contemporary art, classical music, jazz and sound as well as in architecture and design have been well established throughout the decades. BMW Group was receiving manifold congratulatory messages to celebrate 50 years of BMW Group’s cultural engagement.