BMW Guggenheim Lab Hits the Streets in 2011

German manufacturer BMW together with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum announced this week the start of the so called six-year Program of Traveling Laboratories for Urban Experiments and Public Programming (or BMW Guggenheim Lab for short), an endeavor meant to tap into the imagination of the general public when it comes to concepts and designs for urban life.

To include both experts and amateurs in architecture, art, science, design, technology, and education, the BMW Guggenheim Lab will kick off in North America in 2011 and will comprise three different labs.

Each will have its own architect, graphic designer, and theme and each will travel to three distinct cities around the world in separate, consecutive two-year cycles. In each of the locations, the BMW Guggenheim Lab will address a specific theme.

As said, the first such endeavor kicks off in North America next year and will take to Europe and Asia. The theme for this first lab is Confronting Comfort: The City and You and will try to find ways to make people feel more comfortable in the cities they live in.

The BMW Guggenheim Lab will be in North America until fall 2011. When the two year cycle is completed, the Guggenheim Museum in New York will be presenting the projects in special exhibitions.

“For almost 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in many international cultural cooperations. To us, sustainable commitment in the cultural sector is being aware of our social responsibility whilst preserving absolute creative freedom for our partners,” said Frank-Peter Arndt, BMW member of the board.