Julie Mehretu, BMW Art Car shown in Munich alongside Warsaw survey
Published on 08/28/2026 at 11:01 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Julie Mehretu appears this August with her BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car in the exhibition BMW ART CARS - 20 ARTISTS, 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION. REUNITED AT BMW WELT in Munich, and simultaneously with the museum survey Kairos / Hauntological Variations in Warsaw. As the BMW Group press communication and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw outline, both presentations fall into the late-summer window of 2026.
Art Car and museum survey in late August
The BMW Group announces that all 20 BMW Art Cars, including Mehretu's BMW M Hybrid V8 from 2024, are on display at BMW Welt in Munich from July 29 to August 31, 2026 in the exhibition BMW ART CARS - 20 ARTISTS, 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION. REUNITED AT BMW WELT. BMW press release
In the same late-August period, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw presents Mehretu's large-scale survey Kairos / Hauntological Variations, which the museum dates from March 20 to August 30, 2026 and describes as her first extensive presentation in Poland. Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw exhibition page
The fair and biennial dimension
The BMW Art Cars presentation operates with a fair-like logic, bringing together vehicles from Alexander Calder through Julie Mehretu within the architecture of BMW Welt and framing them as 'rolling sculptures' for a broad public. The context underlines Mehretu's position in a lineage of commissioned artists linked to automotive innovation.
While not part of a traditional art fair, the Munich display intersects with biennial-scale visibility through the planned trajectory of Mehretu's Art Car project, which the BMW communication connects to the African Film and Media Arts Collective and to a future exhibition titled Turning Towards the Sun at Zeitz MOCAA, scheduled beyond the current 30-day window.
All news and background on Julie Mehretu
For additional reporting on Julie Mehretu's exhibitions, commissions and institutional projects, the AD HOC NEWS archive offers further English-language coverage and updates.
The work core and practice
Mehretu's BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car forms part of her broader exploration of layered mark-making, cartographic references and digitally inflected abstraction, here translated to the body of a racing vehicle. The Art Car operates as both sculpture and mobile support for her painting-inflected surface.
In Warsaw, Kairos / Hauntological Variations brings together works from the late 1990s to recent canvases, allowing viewers to trace serial developments such as diagrammatic early paintings, dense palimpsest-like abstractions and large multi-panel works that map political and social turbulence across time.
Where the artist stands now
As of late August 2026, Julie Mehretu's commissioned BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car remains on view within the exhibition BMW ART CARS - 20 ARTISTS, 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION. REUNITED AT BMW WELT at BMW Welt in Munich until August 31, 2026, while Kairos / Hauntological Variations continues at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw through August 30, 2026.
Julie Mehretu at a glance
- Artist: Julie Mehretu
- Medium / Genre: Painting and drawing (abstract, large-scale), with extensions into installation and commissioned projects such as the BMW Art Car
- Born: 1970, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice primarily in the United States, with long-term work based in New York
- Active since: mid-1990s, with significant institutional visibility emerging in the early 2000s
- Key work groups: Stadia, Black City, Mogamma, Kairos / Hauntological Variations
- Current/last exhibition: Kairos / Hauntological Variations, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, March 20–August 30, 2026
- Major collections: Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
- Awards: MacArthur Fellowship (2005), U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts (2015)
- Next date: Exhibition end dates within the 30-day window: August 30, 2026 at Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, and August 31, 2026 at BMW Welt in Munich
Frequently asked questions about Julie Mehretu
Where can Julie Mehretu's work be seen at the end of August 2026?
Mehretu's work is on view in the survey Kairos / Hauntological Variations at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw until August 30, 2026, and her BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car is part of the Art Cars display at BMW Welt in Munich until August 31, 2026.
What is special about Julie Mehretu's BMW Art Car?
The BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car, realized in 2024, extends Mehretu's abstract, layered painting vocabulary onto a racing vehicle, aligning automotive engineering with her painterly language and connecting to wider initiatives such as the African Film and Media Arts Collective.
How does the Warsaw exhibition position Julie Mehretu's practice?
Kairos / Hauntological Variations in Warsaw gathers works from the late 1990s to recent years, presenting Mehretu's evolution from diagrammatic compositions to complex palimpsest surfaces and framing the show as her first extensive presentation in Poland.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
