BMW Museum Goes on Tour

Press Release

Before the new BMW Museum receives its first visitors next year, it will present itself to a specialist international audience. The travelling exhibition "Museums in the 21st Century: Concepts, Projects, Buildings" uses architectural models and plans to provide an impression of how visitors will experience the BMW brand from 2007. The BMW contribution will be on show at MAXXI, the Museo Nazionale Delle Arti del XXI Secolo in Rome, from 20 September 2006.

The concept for the new BMW Museum is based on developmental timelines instead of complete chronologies. The BMW story doesn't come to an end with the present but continues into the future. This concept is realized as an ongoing development on the basis of the successful existing museum architecture. For this purpose, the world-famous circular construction with the white-and-blue logo on the roof - affectionately known as "bowl" - has been augmented by an adjacent extension. This enlarges the exhibition area to 5000 square metres. A pioneering system of roads, ramps and squares inside the complex guides visitors through the museum. The travelling exhibition sees BMW presenting its concept in the form of large-scale plans, pictures and models on a scale of 1:87. An architectural model presents an overall view of the new museum complex in conjunction with the internal structure. A second exhibit unveils the structure of the Central Space - the core of the new museum. An innovative multimedia feature integrated within the architecture there provides visitors with a special experience.

"Museums in the 21st Century: Concepts, Projects, Buildings" is an exhibition staged by the Art Centre Basel (www.artcentrebasel.com), creator of exhibitions based in Basel with an international reputation. The idea and plan for the mobile presentation of projects originated by selected world-class architects was developed by Suzanne Greub and Thierry Greub. Realisation was carried out by Christine Gisi (all Art Centre Basel).

BMW AG commissioned Stuttgart architect Atelier Brückner with the architectural design of the new museum. ART+COM from Berlin was responsible for the media presentations. Integral Ruedi Baur, Zurich, developed the graphic design.

The travelling exhibition is presenting a total of 27 projects that will be shown in some 15 art galleries on four continents between now and 2010. After they have been to Rome, the museum projects will be exhibited in Linz and Lyon.The next exhibition date in Germany is the culture forum at the Berlin National Museum from 29 February 2008 to 25 May 2008. The last venue in Germany will be the new BMW Museum in Munich from May 2010.