Audi of America Debuts All-New Flagship A8 at Prestigious Event Preceding Design Miami/ Art Basel 2009
HERNDON, Va., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ — At a gala event to kick off their involvement in Design Miami/ Art Basel 2009, Audi of America last night unveiled its all-new flagship sedan, the 2011 Audi A8. The exclusive party took place at the Audi Pavilion, a temporary Museum structure built on Miami Beach in proximity to the iconic Fontainebleau hotel. There, Audi also debuted “The Art of Progress” exhibition. The event was hosted by film and television star Lucy Liu and attended by celebrities including Kellan Lutz (“The Twilight Saga”), Chris Noth (“Sex and the City”), Christina Ricci (“Speed Racer,” “Black Snake Moan,” multiple television programs), Ben McKenzie (“The O.C.,” “Southland”), musician Pharrell Williams, famed shoe designer Christian Louboutin, President and CEO of Best Buddies International Anthony Kennedy Shriver, Design Miami/ Director Ambra Medda, the principle of Design Miami/ Craig Robins, Art Basel Miami Beach Directors Annette Schoenholzer and Marc Spiegler, as well as other luminaries from the art world, media and local tastemakers.
“The Art of Progress” event helps to conclude the Audi brand’s 100th anniversary celebration and kick off the world’s most important fairs for art and design in grand fashion. Audi has been the Exclusive Automotive Sponsor of Design Miami/ for four years and Art Basel for two.
As a satellite exhibition of Design Miami/ 2009, “The Art of Progress” will host a by-invitation-only Audi Collectors’ Brunch on December 1st and then open its doors to the fairs’ visitors and Miami residents from December 2nd to 5th. In addition, as “designer among designers,” Audi will showcase the new Audi A8 at a Design Miami/ site-specific installation: a full-size car will turn into a miniature collectible on a coffee-table and be surrounded by supersized furniture.
Bringing together new works from British superstar designer Tom Dixon and a selection of contemporary art masterpieces on loan from the Rubell Family Collection, “The Art of Progress” will merge culture and technology, design and art in an exceptional way. Audi has partnered up with Design Miami/ to develop the exhibit’s curative concept.
About Audi of America
Audi of America Inc. and its 270 dealers offer a full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. The Audi lineup is one of the freshest in the industry with 23 models, including 12 models launched during model years 2008 and 2009. Audi is among the most successful brands globally. In selling one million vehicles worldwide in 2008, AUDI AG recorded its 13th consecutive record year for sales and profits. Visit www.audiusa.com.or www.audiusanews.com for more information regarding Audi vehicle and business issues.
About Design Miami/
Design Miami/ is the most prominent and substantive forum for international design, representing a convergence of commerce and culture. Its annual shows in Basel, Switzerland (June) and Miami, USA (December) bring together the most influential designers, collectors, dealers, curators and critics from around the world. For more information please visit www.designmiami.com.
About the Rubell Family Collection and the Contemporary Arts Foundation
The Rubell Family Collection is one of the leading collections of contemporary art in the world. Started in 1964, soon after Don and Mera Rubell were married, the collecting group expanded some years later when their children Jason and Jennifer, then quite young, joined their parents in acquiring art. Jason’s wife, Michelle, is the latest addition to this collaborative effort. The family’s extensive collection of works dates from the 1960s to the present. In 1994, the Rubell family founded the Contemporary Arts Foundation (CAF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit located in the Wynwood Art District in downtown Miami, Florida. Open to the public since 1996, the CAF and Rubell Family Collection are housed in a converted 45,000-square-foot former Drug Enforcement Agency confiscated-goods facility. The museum features twenty-seven galleries, a sculpture garden, a research library with over 40,000 volumes including rare texts and periodicals, a film and lecture theatre, and a bookstore. CAF believes that great works of art are an intrinsically transcendent, elevating, liberating and empowering force, and that the artifacts of our time are the legacy of society as a whole. Based on this premise, the Foundation seeks to prompt social intercourse and debate, an essential freedom of a democratic society, by sharing with the world the physical, sensual and intellectual properties of contemporary art. CAF advances public interaction at the Rubell Family Collection by presenting works from the collection of the Rubell family in rotating, curated exhibitions with accompanying documentation, as well as through a variety of educational and community outreach programs. CAF commissions new works of art and produces traveling exhibitions, which are presented throughout the world. In addition, CAF operates as a lending resource for curators and museums.
About Tom Dixon
Tom Dixon is a British furniture and lighting designer who first rose to prominence in the 1980s. He designed the iconic ‘S’ chair whilst working for Italian giant Cappellini before starting his own company ‘Eurolounge,’ through which he designed and made the celebrated Jack light. In 1998 Tom was appointed as head of design by Habitat where he then became Creative Director until 2008. Tom Dixon’s products are in permanent museum collections across the globe including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Museum of Modern Art, New York and National Craft Museum, Tokyo. Tom holds an honorary doctorate of the University of the Arts London and is a cultural ambassador for the UK’s Department of Culture Media and Sport. In 2000, Tom’s work was recognised by the award of an OBE by Her Majesty The Queen. With a range of over 50 products sold through a distributor network across 52 countries, Tom Dixon launches new collections annually at the Milan international furniture fair. The Tom Dixon brand also includes an Interior Design arm, Design Research Studio who have designed Shoreditch House for the Soho House Group, as well as Sony and Tokyo Hipsters Club.
SOURCE Audi of America