Cars are mobile sculptures

Felix Krämer is the new manager of the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf and one of the best art curators in Europe. In a conversation with the journalist Uschka Pitroff from Manager Magazin he explains why classic cars are also art:

"Cars are mobile sculptures that vibrate, make noise and have a roadholding. Which you do not notice, when the car just stands around". So let's take a closer look at the cars. Everything is there: Kindchenschema, cars with big eyes smile, swelling forms. A game with sexuality between male and female formal canon, the golden section. The designers knew exactly (well - not all) what they do: proportions and aesthetic principles play the same role as in art. "

For this reason, the Kunstpalast in Dusseldorf presents for the first time in an art museum from September 2018 to February 2019 automotive art titled "PS: I love you. Sports car design from the 1950s to the 1970s "And also one of the world's most important art fairs, the Art Basel has now founded a car leasing company, the Grand Basel took place for the first time in September 2018. The other locations of Grand Basel will be in Miami Beach, USA, from 22 to 24 February and in Hong Kong / China next year.

With its three locations, the Grand Basel is the world's first and only art fair that presents the automobile in contexts of art, design, architecture and lifestyle. Grand Basel speaks to an international audience of connoisseurs, collectors and enthusiasts who celebrate "excellence on the move". The show structure means that extraordinary cars are shown in "frames" to honor these cars as the masterpieces that they are.

The entry into the art curator Felix Krämer describes the temporarily polarized situation of the automobile in society and politics, which is located at a crossroads. Diesel Affair here, Share Economy there. The questions arise why there is growing yearning for "bleach with soul" in a time where cars lose their sensory-lose function, as they at some point will only be running on battery and autonomous driving. But that is no resistance, rather the whole reason for the love of the classic automobile.

And you compare the phenomenon of automobiles with mechanical watches. Actually, in the time of smartphones no human is needed. But auto-mobile watches are still status symbols, as it is about history, timeless values ​​and passion. Beyond that, however, it seems that fair sculptures, which look like the cultural designer-like career, have not been defined in the field of visual arts.

After being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2015, its assignment to fine art is the second honor for the great automobile creations and the people who have created them.

A remarkable development at a time where there are controversial talks about the future of the market of the classic cars.

Claus-Henning Guthard