Milan, environmentalists daub Andy Warhol's BMW at Fabbrica del Vapore exhibition

A leap forward for the protests of radical environmentalists who have been targeting museums around the world for weeks: this time they decided to turn on an unprotected object. It happened at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan, where the exhibition Andy Warhol. The Publicity of the Form, dedicated to Andy Warhol, and where the BMW M1 Group 4, with bodywork interpreted by the father of Pop Art, which participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979, finishing sixth, is on display. It is a unique piece, owned by the BMW Art Car Collection, which is on display at the carmaker’s museum in Munich and until now has never been featured in an exhibition dedicated to Andy Warhol.

The activists entered with bags of flour in their pockets, and in a lightning-fast action, as seen in videos circulated online, they pulled them out and poured the contents onto the car (eight kilograms of flour). Two activists then glued themselves to the windows of the car. Paint was then spilled on the ground, but it is not known whether it reached the car body. During the action and during the brief scuffle between the activists and security officers, the car was also bumped. The activists had entered by paying a ticket. The extent of the damage done to the car is not known at the moment, but the exhibition organizers have let it be known that the value of the work is 10 million euros and that the organizers are waiting to figure out how to proceed. Meanwhile, those responsible for the gesture have been identified by officers of the Milan Police Headquarters.

The artist interpreted the car with bright colors, reds and greens in almost acid tones, to suggest a sense of speed. The BMW M1 Group 4 was part of a series conceived by driver Hervé Poulain in the 1970s, who convinced BMW’s then sports section director, Jochen Neerpasch, to have the Munich-based manufacturer compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with cars painted by the best artists of the day. The first, in 1975, was the car painted by Alexander Calder: this was followed by Frank Stella in 1976, Roy Lichtenstein in 1977, Andy Warhol in 1979, Ernst Fuchs in 1982, Robert Rauschenberg in 1986, and others in the years to follow. The tradition then continued in recent years (examples include Olafur Eliasson’s car in 2007 and Jeff Koons’ car in 2010).

Milan, environmentalists daub Andy Warhol's BMW at Fabbrica del Vapore exhibition

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