one of a kind - BMW UK

54 BMWMagazine
one
of a
kind
W i T H i T S n o M a d i C
a R T e X H i B i T i o n S , M i L a n ’ S
f o n d a Z i o n e n i C o L a
T R U S S a R d i H a S e M e R G e d a S
a M o d e L f o R C o n T e M P o R a R Y
a R T f o U n d aT i o n S .
B Y E V A K A R C H E R
f a t a M o r g a n a
L I K E A F I S H O U T O F W AT E R T H E B E A S T O F B U R D E N
S TA N D S T H E R E , A N E X I L E D C R E AT U R E D R I V E N B Y FAT E
F R O M I T S H O M E O N T O T H E H I G H S E A S . P O S T- D A D A I S T
S T I L L L I F E S ( I N K J E T P R I N T “ O .T. ( D O N K E Y ) ”, 2 0 0 3 ) A R E
I TA L I A N A R T I S T PA O L A P I V I ’ S S P E C I A L I T Y: I M A G E S F R O M
A N A R T I F I C I A L , S K E W E D R E A L I T Y.

56 BMWMagazine
B e a s t l y w e l c o m e
A F R A I D O F C R O C O D I L E S O R H I P P O S ? I N T H E H A L L W AY O F T H E
PA L A Z Z O L I T TA I N M I L A N , A S M A L L A R M Y O F T H E M M E N A C E
U N S U S P E C T I N G G U E S T S . T H O U G H F L AT A N D M A D E O F R U B -
B E R , T H E Y S T I L L H E R A L D TA L E S F R O M T H E A B Y S S , W H I C H N O
O N E T E L L S B E T T E R T H A N T H E FA M E D S W I S S A R T I S T I C D U O
P E T E R F I S C H L I A N D D AV I D W E I S S .
“J e t S e t L a d y ”
I S T H E T I T L E S W I S S A R T I S T U R S F I S C H E R G AV E T O T H I S E I G H T- M E T R E -TA L L T R E E
M A D E O F 2 , 0 0 0 R E P R O D U C T I O N S O F H I S PA I N T I N G S A N D D R A W I N G S : T H E F R U I T O F
T H E L A B O U R S O F A N O B S E S S I V E I M A G E C R E AT O R A L L T O O A W A R E O F H I S W O R K ’ S
I M P E R M A N E N C E A N D D R I V E N T O C O N S TA N T LY T R A N S F O R M H I S M AT E R I A L .

“a RT iTSeLf iS noT
S C a n da Lo U S , B U T T H e
i S S U eS THaT i T d e a L S
W i T H C eRTa i n LY a R e ,”
S aYS M a S S i M i L i a n o
G i o n i , a RT i ST i C
d i R eCTo R o f T H e
f o n da Z i o n e n i C o L a
T R U S S a R d i .
Tr u s s a r d i
B E AT R I C E T R U S S A R D I I S N OT O N LY M A N AG I N G
D I R ECTO R O F A VA S T FA S H I O N E M P I R E , S H E
A L S O H E A D S A N A R T F O U N DAT I O N . TO
C O M M E M O R AT E T H E C E N T E N A RY O F T H E I R
C O M PA N Y, H E R B R OT H E R TO M A S O
C O M M I S S I O N E D A V E RY S P ECIAL B M W 5
S E R I E S G R A N T U R I S M O.
a l l w h i t e
W H E N C U R AT O R M A S S I M I L I A N O G I O N I
N E E D E D S O M E W H E R E T O P U T PA O L A P I V I ’ S
E X H I B I T “ M Y R E L I G I O N I S K I N D N E S S . T H A N K
Y O U , S E E Y O U I N T H E F U T U R E ”, H E C H O S E
A N A B A N D O N E D O L D W A R E H O U S E I N M I L A N .
T H E A R T I S T T H E N L E T A V E R I TA B L E
M E N A G E R I E O F W H I T E A N I M A L S R O A M
A R O U N D I N S I D E : L L A M A S , S H E E P, R A B B I T S ,
G O AT S A N D O T H E R C R E AT U R E S
T R A N S F O R M E D T H E D I L A P I D AT E D S H E L L
I N T O A B I Z A R R E A L B I N O N O A H ’ S A R K .
Maurizio Cattelan is a notorious provocateur.
The 51-year-old italian enjoys flipping soldiers
upside down, dropping meteorites on top of
leading church figures, displaying suicidal
squirrels on top of a kitchen table, or presenting
London with a “football memorial wall”
engraved with the scores of every match lost
by the england national team.
ever since his first installations and performances,
the new York-based artist has
revelled in the absurd, while holding a mirror
up to society as often as he can – preferably
by using remarkably lifelike dolls made of wax
and plastic. His sculptures have achieved
worldwide notoriety. Why? Because they hit
society’s taboo nerve where it hurts; because
they almost always start spirited discussions
about art and the limits of provocation; and
because, rather than taking the moral high
ground, Cattelan’s works are plain funny. Their
inherent humour makes people laugh. His art
is appreciated, praised and – when people can
get at it – occasionally ripped to pieces. and
what exactly does the Milan-based nicola
Trussardi foundation have to do with it all?
Simple: it keeps commissioning new works
from the enfant terrible. Provocation, after all,
is the foundation’s bread and butter.
“art itself isn’t scandalous, but the issues
that art deals with certainly are,” says Massimiliano
Gioni, the foundation’s artistic director
since 2002. italian entrepreneur nicola
Trussardi originally set up the foundation in
1996, three years before his tragic death in a
car accident. Trussardi was not only an art
lover, but also a pioneering businessman. in
1971, aged just 29, he took over the glove
manufacturing business begun by his grandfather
dante and swiftly transformed it (the
sleek greyhound has been the company’s
emblem since 1973) into a luxury goods purveyor
that rode the coat-tails of the “Made in
italy” craze of the 1970s and ’80s to rapidly
become a world-class enterprise. from men’s
and women’s collections, Trussardi soon
turned to furniture, mopeds and protective
helmets. He designed interiors for trains and
aircraft, and even a prize-winning telephone.
finally, he opened the Palazzo Marino alla
Scala near Milan’s famed opera house – the
fashion world’s first-ever flagship building.
Today, in its centenary year, Trussardi
remains among the world’s top global fashion
houses, thanks in no small measure to nicola’s
eldest daughter, Beatrice Trussardi. President
and Md of the Trussardi Group since 2002,
she is blessed with visionary gifts similar to
those of her father. She is involved in environmental
projects, invests in new technologies
– and now, to mark the company’s anniversary,
she has brought British designer Michael
Young on board to create the “MY design”
project, as well as appointing sought-after
Turkish-German-american designer Umit
Benan as the firm’s new Creative director.
Beatrice loves art: “for me, art represents
a forum for discovery and change.” in this
spirit, she asked curator Gioni to transform the
foundation into a “nomadic vehicle”, an “openended
workshop capable of forging a new
relationship with the public”. from its experimental
beginnings, the reimagined foundation
has become a model of successful cultural
communication in an urban environment.
from a single office, the foundation stages
consistently spectacular shows and events in
Milan’s public spaces – or inside historic but
run-down Milan palaces, which are then renovated
as part of the exhibition preparations.
“We reinvent ourselves with every exhibition,”
explains Gioni. “We reflect today’s globalised
world with its fluid identity and extreme
flexibility.” Today the foundation is a sturdy
anchor of the city’s art scene – and beyond.
its artists include stars like Californian Paul
McCarthy, who graced the foundation’s first
Christmas card with a blood-smeared Santa
Claus motif. His principal work, Pig Island, was
exhibited inside the Palazzo Citterio, newly
renovated by Trussardi and reopened to the
public after a 30-year closure. in this way the
foundation elegantly blends its essentially
conservative cultural mission with a contemporary
attitude – while also acting as a trendsetter.
Brands like Louis Vuitton and Prada
have jumped on the restoration bandwagon
– witness the most recent Venice Biennale –
and are also renovating palaces to better
showcase their contemporary art collections.
But if there’s one thing all the foundation’s artists
have in common, it’s a fondness for
absurdist humour and good old-fashioned
pastiche. Swiss duo Peter fischli and david
Weiss, like their countryman Urs fischer, set
up self-contained comic-theatrical environments.
italian artist Paola Pivi creates living
dadaist still lifes, similar to the absurdist works
of fata Morgana: compare the former’s still
life with sheep, chickens, llamas and an
upside-down helicopter with the latter’s donkey
in a boat in the middle of the ocean.
artistic flirtations with fantasy and the
abyss aside, the Trussardi foundation sets
great store by the eternal lightness of being.
“Humour is absolutely decisive,” says curator
Gioni. Perhaps that’s why he chose a neonlettered
work by British post-minimalist Martin
Creed for the motto of the foundation’s
anniversary show – “8½”. it reads “everything
is going to be alright.” fasten your seatbelts!
B M W 5 S e r i e s G r a n Tu r i s m o b y Tr u s s a r d i
L I K E A F I N E LY-TA I L O R E D S U I T, A M O D E L S U C H A S
T H I S C A N O N LY B E B U I LT O N C E A C U S T O M E R P L A C E S
A N O R D E R F O R I T. T H E J O I N T P R O D U C T I O N P R O C E S S
AT B M W I N D I V I D U A L I N M U N I C H A N D T R U S S A R D I I N
N O R T H E R N I TA LY TA K E S S I X W E E K S .
Most fashion houses love exclusive interpretations
of their own products. Some labels, for
example, market off-the-wall handbag collections
designed by world-famous artists. Trussardi,
by contrast, doesn’t limit such refinements
to its own product line. The BMW 5
Series Gran Turismo by Trussardi is the best
– and biggest – example.
To commemorate his company’s 100th anniversary
this year, Tomaso Trussardi, a direct
descendant of the firm’s founder, commissioned
a custom-designed BMW 5 Series
Gran Turismo which combines the unique
strengths of both global brands.
While the external shape, quality and performance
of the 5 Series Gran Turismo are
typically BMW, the car’s interior bears unmistakable
hallmarks of traditional northern ital-
ian manufacturing. Trussardi designers used
the fine-quality leather of one of their own
classic gloves from 1911 as the basis for the
car’s interior design concept. Contrasting
brown seams along with the Trussardi
emblem embossed on the headrests underscore
the exclusive character of this custom
model. The firm’s distinctive greyhound logo
is also tastefully rendered in gold on the car’s
exterior, underneath the side indicators.
on the technical front, meanwhile, the BMW
5 Series Gran Turismo by Trussardi is based
on a BMW 530d xdrive* delivering 245
horsepower (hp). The Trussardi Model is also
available with the other 5 Series Gran Turismo
engine configurations: as a BMW 535d
with 300 hp, a BMW 535i with 306 hp, or a
BMW 550i with 407 hp.
58 BMWMagazine BMWMagazine 59
THe
BeSPoke
CaR
* BMW Gran Turismo 530d xDrive not available in the UK.