Key details
Date
- 8 April 2022
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 2 minutes
Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture features futuristic work from the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre (IMDC), alongside artworks and vehicles detailing the history of automobile design.
Intelligent Mobility Design students from the Royal College of Art are taking part in a major exhibition curated by the renowned British architect Norman Foster at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture, which runs from 8 April to 18 September 2022, explores the intersection of automobile design and art from the late nineteenth century to the present day.
The RCA is one of a select cohort of academic institutions from around the world to feature in the exhibition’s Future gallery. RCA students – alongside students from 15 other renowned design schools – were invited by the Norman Foster Foundation to consider the future of vehicle design and imagine what mobility might look like at the end of the twenty-first century, coinciding with the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of the automobile.
“We are delighted to form part of this landmark global exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which celebrates the history of automobile design while looking to its future. It is fitting that the RCA with its position as a centre of excellence in vehicle design should be included in an exhibition that celebrates advancements in mobility alongside art, design and technology.”
Chair of the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre and Head of Intelligent Mobility Design
Students on the MA Intelligent Mobility programme have collaborated with Bentley Motors, which also celebrates its centenary this year, to develop projects which look to the future of sustainability and luxury in car manufacturing over the next 100 years. Marking this exciting 100-year anniversary, RCA students were challenged to work with Bentley to embody the idea of cross generational ownership, sustainable longevity and re-birth in mobility design.
Visitors to the exhibition’s Future gallery will be able to view the seven resulting models, as well as eight short films and a longer showreel about the RCA’s Intelligent Mobility Design Centre (IMDC). Taking cues from natural ecosystems, the projects incorporate carbon capture technology, optimised efficiency and seamless integration with one’s surroundings – designing a future for Bentley that prioritises both luxury and sustainability.
“We are at a turning point where the onset of autonomous vehicles must be balanced with sustainable materials and processes: students have developed a wide range of responses to this need in collaboration with Bentley who have supported them throughout the design process.”
Chair of the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre and Head of Intelligent Mobility Design
Split across seven galleries – Beginnings, Sculptures, Popularising, Sporting, Visionaries, Americana and Future – the wider exhibition brings together nearly forty automobiles which are displayed alongside artworks reflecting their period, including pieces by RCA alumni Henry Moore and Bridget Riley, as well as works by Andy Warhol, Dorothea Lange and Ed Ruscha.
