daan roosegaarde creates 'living membrane' for BMW at art basel 2019

daan roosegaarde has created an immersive installation inspired by BMW‘s vision for a driverless car future at art basel 2019. entitled ‘SYNC’, the dutch artist combined music and light with a flexible membrane to create a ‘living’ space that responds to human touch and movement.

images courtesy of BMW

premiering during art basel 2019, the aim of SYNC is to illustrate how essential human interaction is for our sustainable future by creating an artwork that depends on the dual action of creator and consumer. the starting line for the design collaboration between studio roosegaarde and the BMW i design team were inspiring dialogues about the opportunities and challenges of autonomous driving.

SYNC invites visitors to step onto a flexible membrane that responds to their touch and its pressure. on the floor, the artwork shows contour lines which are projected through the flexible membrane surface using a laser scanning light underneath it. when the membrane is touched, or pushed, it reveals reveals lines of light that interact with your evolving behaviour.

set to an immersive soundtrack from celebrated italian electronic music producers tale of us, SYNC creates a unique space of changing light depending on each visitor. the more people experience the space, the more different it connects and transforms into a collective moment.

‘when I was a boy I never stayed inside, I always went outside,’ said artist daan roosegaarde.‘playing in nature of the netherlands, I was so used to personalizing and customizing the world around me; building tree-huts, looking at the flow of wandering ants, exploring new worlds. for me this is the essence of design; to create landscapes to which you feel connected, with your mind, your body, with each other.’

‘collaborations with designers and artists are a very valuable source of inspiration for me and my team,’ said adrian van hooydonk, senior vice president BMW group design. ‘the creative exchange with daan roosegaarde and his approach encouraged us to research and experiment new forms of interaction. sync is an emotional approach to the integration of high tech, which we have called ‘shy-tech’ in our BMW vision iNEXT.’