When the world of cars, art, pasta and demolition come together, all sort of crazy things can kick into gear. In the case of Maurizio Cattelan, BMW, and the Rencontres d’Arles Festival of Photography, the whole business is going to end up with the ruins of a “Spaghetti Car.”
Currently on and running through September 25, the Rencontres d’Arles Festival of Photograph in Arles, France teamed with BMW and art publication Toilet Paper to create an artistic version of a BMW i3 from artist Maurizio Cattelan.
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Pay attention now: The resulting “Spaghetti Car” is an art car made out of a BMW. But, it’s not an official BMW Art Car from the company’s Art Car Series. Still, it’s a welcome addition to BMW’s Culture Division program — or it would be if it wasn’t set to be destroyed.
Due to the artist’s wishes following his retirement, Cattelan wants the work done away with once Rencontres d’Arles wraps in September. The actual BMW Art Cars this year are underway from U.S. artist John Baldessari and Beijing-based multimedia artist Cao Fei.
Cattelan retired from art after a 2011 retrospective of his work at the Guggenheim Museum. According to Cattelan, his doomed, four-wheeled creation is not “art.” It’s not because of the strong philosophy that art cannot serve another purpose — such as transportation. Instead, he described the car as the best attempt at creating a good spaghetti sauce.
And the guy is worth several million dollars.
