WATCH | Esther Mahlangu’s art comes alive in animated BMW i5 paintwork

Three decades after creating an ethnic Ndebele-themed 525i Art Car, BMW and artist Esther Mahlangu have collaborated again on a car with high-tech colour-change technology.

The BMW i5 Flow Nostokana is a one-of-a-kind vehicle with 1,349 sections of film attached across the body that are electronically animated. It’s a technology first seen on the BMW iX Flow where the SUV could play with shades of white, grey and black.

Like an e-book reader, there are several million microcapsules in each E Ink film. The structure and arrangement of the colour particles they contain can be changed by applying an electric voltage. This allows the typical colours and patterns of Mahlangu’s art to be generated in constantly changing compositions.

Named Nostokana after Mahlangu’s first son, the electric BMW was unveiled on February 29 at the Frieze Los Angeles art fair in the US. The contemporary tribute recalls the BMW Art Car designed by Mahlangu in 1991, the first to be designed by a woman and an African artist.

“Her art inspired me years ago, back when the concept of colour change on a car was an idea in my head,” said Stella Clarke, research engineer open Innovations at the BMW Group.

“Now, being able to realise this idea and work with Esther Mahlangu is absolutely surreal.”

The 88-year-old artist’s signature colours and geometric patterns bring the innovative Flow technology to life in the BMW i5. The versatility of the electrophoretic colour changes makes the fully-electric sedan a dynamic work of art.

“It is fascinating to see how modern technology can expand my art and make it accessible to a completely new audience,” said Mahlangu.

Adran van Hooydonk, head of BMW group design, said: “The BMW i5 Flow Nostokana honours the history of the BMW brand and continues the story of our global cultural engagement in a unique way. It combines art and design through progressive technology. Here, technology itself becomes art.”