Planet B: BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt

Foreword

"The best leaders and artists give us perspective on our social condition and greater appreciation of our world, ourselves, and our choices. They bring us closer together by providing a forum for shared experiences and by forging a sense of community."

Michael O'Malley, author of "Every Leader Is an Artist"

The BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt promotes responsible leadership and inspires leaders worldwide to work towards a peaceful, just, and sustainable future. Through our activities, we aim to advance the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

This ambitious agenda can only be achieved through new ways of thinking, new ways of leadership, new ways of collaboration. Art - in all its variety - speaks a universal language that can shift and enrich our perspectives, and provide ideas and inspiration for the collective effort to imagine new solutions. This is also why we try to harness the creative energy of art at our global leadership programs. We ask our participants to engage in painting sessions or sculpture, we read poems, we sing and dance. We try to connect with ourselves through art - so that we can better connect with others.

This sensory approach does not only apply to our leadership programs around the world; the changing art exhibitions in our offices in Berlin and Munich provide a wonderful opportunity for contemplation, discussion, and inspiration.

For 2020, we have chosen seven international artists that are based in Germany's capital to be part of an exhibition reflecting on the Foundation's mission of inspiring responsible leadership. This catalogue showcases their works. Enjoy!

Planet B

Selected Works 2020

BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt

Our open call inviting artists to participate in this year's exhibition received an overwhelming response. Of the many interesting and diverse proposals submitted, finally seven wonderful artists were chosen: Katerina Belkina, Jay Gard, Ulrike Hannemann, Keiko Kimoto, Tegene Kunbi, Tom Streit, and Cate Wind.

These artists have radically diverse approaches to their work, but each of them excels not only in quality and authenticity, but also displays complimentarity to the other artists. Of course, the works will have to stand the test of continuously inspiring not only our guests at the Foundation but also our team, which will be "living" with these art works on a daily basis. Contrary to a traditional "white cube" situation, the works are exhibited in hallways, conference rooms, and reception areas, exposed to varying light situations and occasionally forced to share a wall with a socket, an escape plan or a fire extinguisher.

We hope you will share our appreciation: From Belkina's precisely staged character studies and the finely crafted form language of Gard's objects to the intuitive, masterful paintings of Kimoto and the ingeniously minimal landscapes of Streit; from the spontaneous and vivid, albeit strictly organized color fields of Kunbi to Hannemann's meticulous and sensitive analogue photocollages to the post-futuristic holistic compressions by Wind - in the spirit of responsible leadership we offer you a palette of tools to consider the thought experiment "Planet B" as a way of looking at the world.

We are grateful for the opportunity to curate this third exhibition for the BMW Foundation and thank you for your continued support and trust. Thank you also to all artists that responded to our call and, of course, especially to our seven selected artists - we are most grateful for your trust and generosity!

Artists

Katerina Belkina | Born 1974 in Samara, USSR

Jay Gard | Born 1984 in Halle/Saale, GDR

Ulrike Hannemann | Born 1979 in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, GDR

Keiko Kimono | Born 1977 in Kyoto, Japan

Telegne Kunbi | Born 1980 in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia

Tom Streit | Born 1984 in Salzburg, Austria

Cate Wind | Born 1967 in Durban, South Africa

Planet B was curated by Ianessa Norris and Matthieu Séry.

Further information on the exhibition is available on request at

ianessa.norris@gmail.com | arobasz@gmail.com

BMW Foundation

Herbert Quandt

Reinhardtstraße 58

10117 Berlin

Germany

 This exhibition is not for the public.