
London/ Munich. BMW and Frieze continue their
long-term partnership with BMW Open Work by Frieze, the annual major
art initiative. In 2023, Marseille-based artist Sara Sadik will debut
a film and video game conceived for the new BMW i5 at KOKO in Camden
Town. The pioneering multi-platform format, curated by Attilia Fattori
Franchini is bringing together art, technology and design.
Both works will premiere during Frieze London, which runs October
11-15, 2023. This year the fair celebrates its 20th anniversary with
its most international edition to date and an extensive programme of
cultural collaborations and events, including the BMW Open Work format.
Attilia Fattori Franchini (Curator, BMW Open Work) said: “I couldn’t
be more excited to work with Sara Sadik, whose practice carefully
investigates and mines the intersection of art, gaming and digital
technology. Sadik’s project for BMW Open Work 2023 – a video game
specially conceived for the BMW i5, using the car as a unique
experiential device, and a film to play in the BMW lounge – brings the
program in a wholly new direction. I can’t wait for this project to
take over the spaces of KOKO, reinforcing Frieze and BMW’s joint
commitment to experimental artistic practices.”
Sadik’s video and performance practice lies halfway between fiction
and documentary. Drawing on video games, anime, science fiction and
French rap, the artist creates initiatory stories that centre
characters striving to achieve moral and physical transformation. Her
commission at Frieze London comprises an interactive playable game,
conceived specifically for the new, fully electric BMW i5 in
collaboration with BMW Gaming and Innovation Lab experts, as well as a
video presented both on the exterior of KOKO and in the BMW Lounge.
BMW i5 designers will support Sadik in the technical conception of the
game and extending the gaming experience in the car through sound and light.
Titled LA POTION (EH), Sadik’s commission utilises computer-generated
scenarios to investigate the changing emotional states of young male
characters. Her world-building renders their emotions visible while
investigating the construction and performance of masculinity, its
ethical and moral codes, and what it reveals about societal structures
more broadly.
Sadik succeeds Nikita Gale (2022), Madeline Hollander (2020-21),
Camille Blatrix (2019), Sam Lewitt (2018) and Olivia Erlanger (2017)
as the artist chosen for the BMW Open Work initiative.
BMW Open Work by Frieze
BMW Open Work by Frieze
is an annual joint initiative that brings together art, technology and
design in a pioneering multi-platform format. Each year since 2017,
BMW Open Work by Frieze invites an artist to create a visionary
project inspired by technology, engineering prowess and BMW Design
that explores current and future technologies as a vehicle for
innovation and artistic experimentation.
Further information can be found at https://www.frieze.com/bmw-open-work