Are automobiles (also) art?
09/08/2018
The question of whether an automobile could be a work of art is one that is open to debate at Grand Basel . In any case, the cars on display there are like the works of an artist. They sit in their own "frames", with plenty of air around them. They are flatteringly illuminated and (almost) nothing around them distracts the viewer's gaze.
This allows the artistic forms to be viewed and compared in the best possible way, as no one will deny. The car is actually reduced to its form, because other aspects, such as the technology, the feel or the possible background noise, fade completely into the background.
Narrow definitions of the concept of art demand that a work of art be created by a single person. This is rarely the case with an automobile and none of the vehicles exhibited at Grand Basel are likely to be the work of just one "artist". However, the cars in Basel are certainly artistic, and no one can deny that.
The Grand Basel with its more than 100 "works of art" can still be viewed until Sunday evening (September 9, 2018). Our full report will follow.
