In June 1998 BMW sponsored the ‘Art of the Motorcycle’ exhibition (installation designed by Frank Gehry) at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, at the time it created some controversy with various critics condemning it as ‘a tarted up trade show’. It can be asked just how many of the lines between what is the product and what is art were being blurred at this time? And just how far would museums go to draw in the crowds?
The exhibition, however, was a success and (as expected) drew in record numbers of visitors. It went on to be displayed at both the Guggenheim museums in Bilbao and Las Vegas, as well as at the Orlando Museum of Art (BMW though, was not the sponsor here).
This type of corporate sponsorship for art exhibitions is not entirely new and has become extremely popular in recent decades. One possible cause is cuts in government funding for museums in countries such as France, Germany and the UK leaving no choice but for many museums and art galleries to seek alternative ways of funding their exhibitions. If it means entering into partnerships with potential sponsors than that is what has been done. High profile museums such as the Tate, the Guggenheims, and the Louvre have attracted sponsorship from major companies including the Swiss Bank UBS, Nokia, Accenture, AGF the French insurer of Allianz, and BMW, Volkswagen and Ford. This type of sponsorship raises a number of issues such as conflicts of interests between sponsor and host museum. By entering into ‘deals’ with the companies are the museums being influenced into the type of exhibitions that can be put on, and are there conditions put upon museums when accepting sponsorship from such companies?
The ‘Art of the Motorcycle’ exhibition was not BMWs first association with the arts and certainly not its last. Since 1975 major artists, such as Hockney and Andy Warhol have been painting various models of BMWs that have been displayed with the collection ‘BMW Art Car Collection.’ The collection is currently on a world wide tour.
The ‘Art Cars’ have already been displayed in the Guggenheims of New York and Bilbao, the Royal Academy of London, the Louvre in Paris and the New York Whitney Museum of Modern Art. Have the cars now become the art?
A number of issues have been raised and one that I shall look at more as part of my research into this case study is whether recent corporate sponsorships are starting to blur the lines between art and advertising? Are the exhibits displayed just grandiose adverts or are they art in their own right?
URLography
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_12_86/ai_53408972
A Brief Article taken from Art in America, written by James Hyde Dec, 1998, on the ‘Art of the Motorcycle Exhibition’ held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E2DF1F3CF935A15755C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
An article from the ART REVIEW, ‘Machines As Art, And Art As Machine’, by MICHAEL KIMMELMAN. The article provides another critics views on the ‘Art of the Motorcycle’ exhibition that was shown at the Guggenheim Museum in 1998.
http://www.dexigner.com/design_events/3219.html
The Art of BMW. This website discusses the close relationship that BMW has maintained with the arts.
http://www.bmwzentrum.com/
BMW’s own museum based in North America. The site showcases the exhibits from the museum and provides general information on BMW.
http://www.bmwgroup.com/bmwgroup_prod/e/nav/index.html?http://www.bmwgroup.com/bmwgroup_prod/e/0_0_www_bmwgroup_com/verantwortung/kultur/bildende_kunst/bmw_art_car.html
BMW group official website provides information on BMW Art Car collection
http://www.bmwworld.com/artcars/
A website devoted to all things BMW. The site displays pictures all the cars from the BMW Art Car Collection and the artists that painted them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/28/ntate28.xml
Tate breaks its own rules by hanging a sponsor's collection, by Chris Hastings and Beth Jones.
The article discusses the recent decision (2006) of the Tate Gallery in London to display works owned by their biggest corporate sponsor the Swiss bank UBS.
http://www.acfnewsource.org/art/culture_inc.html
‘Is it art or product placement?’ Article discusses the issues related to corporate sponsorship. Focuses of exhibitions of transportation and product design.
http://www.nac.gov.sg/new/new02a.asp?id=289
The National Arts Council of Singapore website provides details of the vast number corporate sponsors in 2005.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/february98/sponsorship_2-6.html
THE ART OF CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP
Does corporate sponsorship undermine the integrity of cultural exhibits?
February 6, 1998