STUTTGART.- 125 years of automotive history meet modern and contemporary art: The Daimler Art Collection presents a guest exhibition at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, its first at this venue. The unusual exhibition Art & Stars & Cars, on view until September 25th 2011, includes some 250 works by around 120 internationally renowned artists and is hitherto the most comprehensive presentation of the Daimler Art Colllection. The special exhibition ranges from classic examples of Constructivism and Concrete Art from the southern German region through Minimalism and Conceptual Tendencies to contemporary photographs and videos by present-day artists from around the world. The exhibition is further enhanced by three new commissioned works.

Art & Stars & Cars is an exhibition organized by the Daimler Art Collection, established in 1977. The internationally renowned corporate collection comprises some 2000 works focusing on the abstract avant-garde, young media artists as well as commissioned works around automobile themes and includes 30 large-scale sculptures in various publicly accessible locations. The Collection has so far been seen in temporary exhibitions in international museums among others in Singapore and São Paolo, Cape Town and Vienna.

Arranged according to chronological, aesthetic and thematic criteria, highlights from the Collection as well as the three new commissioned works are positioned alongside the automotive highlights of the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The exhibition includes numerous works created as studies of the models and design of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, thereby entering into an artistic dialog with the history of Mercedes-Benz automobiles. These include the legendary CARS series by Andy Warhol, originally designed by the Pop Art icon 25 years ago for the 100th anniversary of the automobile. In addition, further works with automotive ties include pieces by Bertrand Lavier, Robert Longo, Simone Westerwinter and Vincent Szarek, as well as new commissioned works by Sylvie Fleury, Nic Hess, Philippe Parreno and Michael Sailstorfer. A separate exhibition area of 600 m² has been reserved exclusively for representatives of the abstract avant-garde and international media art. Here, around one hundred works of art invite the visitor to find out more about the special focus areas of the Daimler Art Collection: The constructivist and concrete tendencies evident in the pictures of Josef Albers, Anton Stankowski and Camille Graeser, the interaction of line, surface and space in works by Georges Vantongerloo, Norbert Kricke and Ben Willikens, pictures and decorative objects of the zero avant-garde of around 1960, classics of the Minimal Art movement by Charlotte Posenenske or Franz Erhard Walter from around 1970, and recent photographic and video works by artists from India, South Africa and the US.

With the Mercedes-Benz Design department, Swiss artist Nic Hess has created an installation for the racing bend in Legend room 7, comprising a patchwork nomad tent for a DTM automobile, an adhesive-tape "drawing", and further sculptural interventions. Michael Sailstorfer reflects the design process of "morphing" in his collage piece, in which a Mercedes-Benz 190 is transformed into a C 111 poised to pull away. The Algerian, Paris based artist Philippe Parreno addresses the theme of the "Eternal garden" in what can be described as a sculpture of film and time.

Artists:
Absalon (IL), Max Ackermann (D), Josef Albers (D), Jane Alexander (ZA), Are You Meaning Company (J), John M Armleder (CH), Jean Arp (F), Richard Artschwager (USA), Jo Baer (USA), Willi Baumeister (D), Max Bill (CH), Hartmut Böhm (D), Martin Boyce (GB), Daniele Buetti (CH), Daniel Buren (F), Dadamaino (I), Stéphane Dafflon (CH), Krysten Cunnigham (USA), Karl Duschek (D), Adolf Fleischmann (D), Sylvie Fleury (CH), Andrea Fraser (USA), Günter Fruhtrunk (D), Liam Gillick (GB), Hermann Glöckner (D), David Goldblatt (ZA), Camille Graeser (CH), Gerhard von Graevenitz (D), Isabell Heimerdinger (D), Al Held (USA), Jan Henderikse (NL), Nic Hess (CH), Albert Hien (D), David Hockney (GB), Adolf Hölzel (D), Johannes Itten (CH), Donald Judd (USA), Ida Kerkovius (LV), Imi Knoebel (D), Norbert Kricke (D), Jim Lambie (GB),Bertrand Lavier (F), Julio Le Parc (RA), Verena Loewensberg (CH), Richard Paul Lohse (CH), George Henry Longly (GB), Robert Longo (USA), Heinz Mack (D), Marcellvs L (BR), Almir da Silva Mavignier (BR), John McLaughlin (USA), Christian Megert (CH), Mathieu Mercier (F), Richard Merkle (D), Otto Meyer-Amden (CH), Gerold Miller (D), Jeremy Moon (GB), Francois Morellet (F), Sarah Morris (GB), Kirsten Mosher (USA), Julian Opie (GB), Philippe Parreno (DZ), Henk Peeters (NL), Charlotte Posenenske (D), Martial Raysse (F), Anselm Reyle (D), Robin Rhode (ZA), Gerwald Rockenschaub (A), Peter Roehr (D), Ugo Rondinone (CH), Ullrich Rückriem (D), Robert Ryman (USA), Michael Sailstorfer (D), Pietro Sanguineti (D), Eckhard Schene (D), Oskar Schlemmer (D), Andreas Schmid (D), Berni Searle (ZA), Santiago Sierra (E), Roman Signer (CH), Oli Sihvonen (USA), Dayanita Singh (IND), Pamela Singh (IND), Jesus-Rafael Soto (YV), Ferdinand Spindel (D), Anton Stankowski (D), Klaus Staudt (D), Haim Steinbach (IL), Katja Strunz (D), Vincent Szarek (USA), Guy Tillim (ZA), Jean Tinguely (CH), Georges Vantongerloo (B), Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart (D), Auke de Vries (NL), Andy Warhol (USA), Franz Erhard Walther (D), Simone Westerwinter (D), Ben Willikens (D), Georg Winter (D), Andrea Zittel (USA) Heimo Zobernig (A)