‘Everything departs from the rhinoceros horn! Everything departs from Jan Vermeer’s The Lacemaker! Everything ends up in the cauliflower!’ Salvador Dalí once proclaimed to a rapt audience of 2,000 listeners at a lecture in Paris. As the story goes, the Spanish surrealist artist had driven to Sorbonne University in his Rolls-Royce Phantom – stuffed to the brim with 500kg of cauliflower.
These days, artists are still using Rolls-Royce cars as a canvas (albeit with less whiffy results) by virtue of the car marque’s art programme, which has realised commissions by Tomas Saráceno, Dan Holdsworth, Pipilotti Rist and Ugo Rondinone among others since its inception in 2014. Ever forward-thinking, Rolls-Royce invited friends and art devotees to the Serpentine Galleries during Frieze to reveal a fresh vision for its art programme.
Moving Mountains, 2016, by Yang Fudong. Commissioned by the Rolls-Royce Art Programme
Simply named Muse, the programme will branch out with two new biennial initiatives: the Dream Commission and the Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge. ‘As we look to the future, Muse will enable us to continue this legacy with a vision to expand the horizon of moving image and ignite a dialogue with some of the most exciting creative visionaries of our time,’ noted Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars chief executive.
The cornerstone of Muse, the Dream Commission supports moving-image works created by emerging and mid-career artists in a two-phase process. A shortlist of four artists – nominated by a panel of art-world doyens – will vie for the commission, with an expert jury of curators, artists and museum directors selecting the final winner. Fittingly, the initiative is presented in partnership with two major art institutions: the Fondation Beyeler in Basel and the Serpentine Galleries in London.
RELATED STORY
The nominators include Daniel Birnbaum, director of Acute Art; artist Cao Fei; Zachary Kaplan, executive director of Rhizome; curator Pablo León de la Barra; and Suhanya Raffel, director of M+ museum. The jury is made up of artist Julien Isaac; Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries; Katrina Sedgwick, museum director of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image; Terrie Sultan, museum director of Parrish Art Museum; and Theodora Vischer, senior curator at Fondation Beyeler.
Meanwhile, the Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge will see leading creatives from the spheres of architecture, art, fashion, design and craft reimagine the sculptural figurine that has adorned the bonnet of every Rolls-Royce car for over a century, based on a chosen material – in the first instance, textile. The inaugural three participants will be announced in late 2019 and the commissions will be presented in 2020, before proceeding on a global tour.
Hybrid Dark solitary semi-social Cluster BD–15 3966 built by: a duet of Nephila edulis – six weeks, a quintet of Cyrtophora citricola – eight weeks, rotated 180° (detail), 2018, by Tomás Saraceno. Courtesy of the artist; Andersen’s, Copenhagen; Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles; Pinksummer contemporary art, Genoa; Esther Schipper, Berlin. © Studio Tomás Saraceno, 2018. Supported by the Rolls-Royce Art Programme
INFORMATION
rolls-roycemotorcars.com; serpentinegalleries.org; fondationbeyeler.ch
-
A revamped Edinburgh apartment combines Californian-style modernism with modern craftArcher + Braun have transformed an apartment in a historic house with finely tuned contemporary additions and sympathetic attention to detail
-
Formafantasma’s biodiversity-boosting installation in a Perrier Jouët vineyard is cross-pollination at its bestFormafantasma and Perrier Jouët unveil the first project in their ‘Cohabitare’ initiative, ‘not only a work of art but also a contribution to the ecosystem’
-
Gingerbread City: architects sculpt London out of the season's favourite treatUntil December 29 in Chelsea, see London brought to life in a seasonal-appropriate medium by leading architects and designers
-
Looking at people looking at art: inside the mind of a gallery attendantVisitor experience workers at London’s Tate Modern, Serpentine, Barbican and V&A share what it’s like to watch people looking at art during a time of changing attention spans and rising vandalism
-
Gerhard Richter unveils new sculpture at Serpentine SouthGerhard Richter revisits themes of pattern and repetition in ‘Strip-Tower’ at London’s Serpentine South
-
Step inside Precious Okoyomon’s post-apocalyptic forest in MadridIn Madrid, Precious Okoyomon and Hans Ulrich Obrist reconvene for Obrist’s annual site-specific curation for Fundación Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
-
Tomás Saraceno’s spider-led show at Serpentine has legs, and lots of them‘Web(s) of Life’, the first major UK show by Tomás Saraceno, is a living, collaborative and multi-species call to climate action involving everything from dog-friendly sculptures to ‘spider diviners’ – but no phones allowed
-
Steve McQueen to screen his harrowing film 'Grenfell' at London’s SerpentineAcclaimed film director and artist Steve McQueen will screen his film, Grenfell, at London’s Serpentine South gallery (7 April-10 May 2023), six years after the Grenfell Tower block blaze killed 72
-
Barbara Chase-Riboud at Serpentine: alternative monuments, parallel histories‘Infinite Folds’ at Serpentine North Gallery celebrates Barbara Chase-Riboud, the American artist, novelist and poet who has spent more than seven decades pondering history, memory, and the public monument
-
Theaster Gates’ design for Serpentine Pavilion 2022 revealedThe American artist and urban planner reveals his plans for the Serpentine Pavilion 2022. Black Chapel has spirituality, music and community at its heart
-
Tom Hingston on designing for Serpentine Galleries, the V&A, and Wallpaper*
London-based art director and graphic designer Tom Hingston discusses his visual identities for Serpentine Galleries
