Product placement: via Kultureflash comes news of (yes) an art show (yes) with (guess what?) a DIFFERENCE.
Presumably to promote some new motor which they want to position as ‘edgy’ in some way, BMW are sponsoring a group show on the theme of ‘car’, and it’s to run from lunchtime tomorrow until sometime on Sunday evening. Continuously! Wow! That’s like, all night, folks!
It’s called carparc (that second c is presumably a 2004 equivalent of Tom’s 1991 y) and as with most group shows it looks like it contains a load of old tosh with a few gems thrown in. I’m always interested in what Trevor Jackson’s up to, for example.
It sounds intriguing, but there’s always that fear that you turn up to one of these ‘sounds intriguing’ events and stand there feeling self-conscious and wishing you hadn’t bothered. It’s in a car park!
Years ago I’d have fumed at commerce getting its oily fingers over art. More recently I’d have shrigged and thought it was the way of the world. Now I’m actively quite pleased that some corporate advertising cash goes to someone who might do something interesting with it. That’s not to say I think corporate sponsorship of art is always or unreservedly a good thing, but that’s a more complex question for another day.