Artwise were asked to devise an exciting and original way of showcasing the Honda F1 team and their sponsor's commitment to creativity and innovation that would engage audiences beyond the racetrack over a period of sponsorship transition. We created a tailored art and lifestyle programme for the client which fit their brand and engaged audiences, choosing the name 'Tribe Art' to reflect the profile of an original thinking urban audience. Originally conceived as a major annual commission which would follow international F1 circuits around the world, the project grew in its success to encompass more than 20 highly original and ground-breaking art and design projects that were commissioned by Artwise for the client.
Varying in scale, budget and venues (from museum and gallery partnerships to warehouses, railway stations, car parks, clubs and bars), the project was supported by a cutting edge international art and lifestyle travel website that was able to maximise audiences and ensure the integrity of the artists' visions and that the quality of the project was never compromised.
Tibe Art highlights include:
- Julian Opie, 'Imagine you are driving, fast' - British artist Julian Opie was selected as the recipient of Tribe Art Commission1 based on his on-going preoccupation with movement. Opie responded with a 60-metre-long, full-colour wallpaper installation that featured portraits of famous Honda drivers juxtaposed with images of Grand Prix racetracks. The resulting iconic piece, Imagine you are driving, fast, was first shown to great acclaim in a vast warehouse in London's Truman Brewery (2002). It has subsequently toured to TN Probe, Tokyo (2002); Grand Central Station, Milan (2003); and most recently the Nasional Museum, Jakarta (2005), where the work was extended to include a soundscape.
- Hussein Chalayan, 'Place to Passage' - Artwise selected cutting-edge fashion designer Hussein Chalayan as the recipient of Tribe Art Commission2, based on his uncompromising vision and characteristically genre-defying practice. Chalayan responded to the challenge with Place to Passage, a highly complex project that incorporated such diverse elements as film footage, conceptual animation by Neutral, and a soundtrack by Jean-Paul Dessy. Hussein Chalayan was selected to represent Turkey at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005) and Place to Passage was included in his major retrospective. To date, it has been shown at Proje4L, Istanbul (2004); Theatre du Nord, Lille (2004); Spazio Etoile, Rome (2004); Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva (2004); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2004); the ICA and Truman Brewery, London (2003); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2005); Groninger Museum, Groningen (2005); Galerie Jesco von Puttkamer, Berlin (2005); and the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2005-6). Tribe Art Commission2 required Artwise to project-manage a team of over 80 involved in fabrication, filming, animation, installation, music, press, events and more.
- Paul Veroude, 'View Suspended' - Artwise selected emerging Dutch artist Paul Veroude for a Tribe Art Project, based on his passion for cars and his equally obsessive urge to take them apart. Veroude used his impressive knowledge of racing cars to create View Suspended, an awe-inspiring installation for which he 'exploded' a Honda F1 Racing car, reconstructing its form by suspending the thousands of components dramatically in mid-air. Likening his installation to an animal skeleton, Veroude made manifest those car parts normally invisible to the viewer, and in so doing paying homage to the intricacy of the car's structure and engineering. Veroude's installation perfectly captured the potential symbiosis between art and technology. View Suspended had its first public exhibition in Shanghai (2005), attracting 13,000 visitors over four days and went on to travel to Amsterdam and London. Since the Tibe Art project finished the car was re-adapted to a Mercedes F1 car and is now permanently installed at the Mercedes World Museum.
- Urban Short Film Programme - Artwise selected a range of emerging and more established filmmakers and artists to present films, including three new commissions, based on personal experiences and urban incidences in cities throughout the world. Featured artists were Dora Longo Bahia, George Barber, Sarah Beddington, June Bum Park, Thomas Köner, Zilla Leutenegger, McCormack & Gent, Mirza & Butler, and Matthew Noel-Tod.
- Young Designers - To continue Tribe Art's commitment to supporting emerging talents with a programme that includes research and development young designers were selected from multimedia design disciplines for their ability to push the boundaries of avant-garde technology. They include: Random International, Christopher Pearson, Rowan Mersh and Philip Worthington.