BMW opens virtual Art Car gallery online

The BMW Art Car Collection website is formatted to function like an online museum, with the site opening with a short video narrated by Dr. Thomas Girst, BMW Group Culture Communication Spokesman. Dr. Girst offers a brief introduction to this innovative online museum of BMW Art Cars and when that video ends, the window closes and you are in the virtual museum – complete with other guests seemingly staring at these amazing, rare BMW vehicles.

The online tour of the historic BMW Art Cars begins on the “ground floor”, which includes a look at five of the unique BMWs from the early to mid 90s. As you scroll from side to side of this museum level, you see the five cars on display in this section and as you pass over them with your mouse pointer, the name of the artist pops up along with the year and model of the BMW and two links – one for a video walk around featuring Dr. Girst and the other offering more details on each vehicle. This information ranges from the inspiration by the artist to the specifications of the car to the race record when applicable.

Once you’ve gotten your fill of the first level of the BMW Art Car online tour, passing your mouse over the arrow above the Art Cars moves you up to the next level with six more vehicles on the second floor and another six on the top floor of this virtual automotive museum. Along the way, you come across famous models like the BMW M1, the 850 CSi, a pair of M3s and the BMW M3 GT2 race car (the most recent BMW Art Car) along with artist names like Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alexander Calder.

Me talking about the awesome new BMW Art Car online tour can only do so much so click here to head on over to the official BMW website for a look at this online museum exhibit for yourself! The information on the site is available in both German and English, and for those who would rather have someone guide them through the Art Car history rather than flipping through the interactive museum, BMW also includes a 40 minute video explaining the past of this incredible intersection of popular artistic culture and the automotive world.

(Image captured from the online BMW Art Car tour)

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