Camille Blatrix Explores Desire in 2019 BMW Open Work Commission

Frieze and BMW announce the third BMW Open Work commission will be created by acclaimed Paris-based artist Camille Blatrix. Curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini since its inception in 2017, BMW Open Work gives an artist a platform to push the boundaries of their art, utilizing design and technology to pursue their practice in innovative new directions. Blatrix will present the new commission at Frieze London 2019, which takes place in The Regent’s Park from 3 to 6 October 2019.

For the 2019 commission, Blatrix has chosen to work directly with BMW Individual, the BMW department focusing on car customization. Making use of the department’s technical skills and craftmanship, Blatrix will explore the concept of desire, considering the perversity of attraction and delving into perfection as an endlessly fascinating, frustrating, even disturbing ideal.

Blatrix said: ‘My practice is deeply rooted in a close dialogue with makers and suppliers, with ideas emerging intuitively from a direct technical conversation. Working with the BMW Individuality Department on this project, I can harness unparalleled technical knowledge, skills and facilities in a truly open-ended way. I’m excited to explore possibilities of production and consider the limits of physical perfection in working towards the commission at Frieze London.’

Fattori Franchini said: ‘In its third year, BMW Open Work has developed into a unique encounter between industrial knowledge, technology, and artistic thought. Working with such a talented practitioner as Camille Blatrix is an exciting privilege; I can’t wait to see how his interest the emotional possibilities of functional objects produces new and uncanny relationships through working with BMW.’

Launched in 2017, BMW Open Work invites an artist to develop a visionary project drawing on expertise from BMW design, engineering and technology, considering them as tools for innovation and artistic experimentation. For its first iteration, artist Olivia Erlanger integrated motion-sensitive sculpture, audio and immersive fog in her work Body Electric; while in 2018, Sam Lewitt engaged with BMW intellectual property and engine production to reimagine the manufacturing cycle as an engine in CORE (the ‘Work’).

Blatrix is now in the process of developing his commission for BMW Open Work, which will be premiered at Frieze London in October 2019. Following recent presentations at institutions in Europe, this will the artist’s first major project to be shown in London. Further details will be announced in the coming months.

About the Partnership

Further information on BMW Open Work here.