This post-modern Porsche 911 art car was inspired by the Memphis band

While many artists seek to express their visions and feelings on canvas, others use more three-dimensional mediums to connect with the people and world around them, and an all-white car may be the perfect candidate. Choosing a car can be tricky, but in the case of renowned Italian artist Cleto Munari, the Porsche 996 had curves in all the right places to allow him and his closest friends to thrive. Cleto Munari first met architect Carlo Scarpa in 1973. A relationship that lasted for decades. He oriented all his research and activities towards industrial design and worked for large companies around the world. Over the years, Munari created objects from almost every material, but it was those masterfully crafted in gold and silver that made him most famous, occupying the permanent collections of many major museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

From the golden sculptures to the egg-yellow headlights of the Porsche 996 generation, the life of this art car began in the same way as every other example of Stuttgart’s sports car. First registered in 1998, sporting a pastel yellow over classic black leather, the car was purchased by Aurelio De Laurentis’ company, FilmAuro, who promptly cast it in the big screen in the film “Paparazzi.” It was from there that the life of this 996 began to take a very different trajectory. After the filming, the managing director of Porsche Italia, a certain Dr. Casadei, and the famous designer from Vicenza, Mr. Cleto Munari, got together and agreed to use it in a major project that would bring together artists and the automotive world.

Work began quickly to prepare the car for its new role as a blank canvas, which would later be showcased at an exhibition curated by renowned critic Achille Bonito Oliva, to be held at the future Castel Sant’Angelo: “The Figure of Things” in the year 2000. For the work of art to work, the car needed a colour change, and the 996’s unique yellow paint was replaced with white, with a matching white deerskin interior, allowing Cleto Munari’s vision to come to life. He called upon four of the greatest figures in post-modern art and design: Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass, Mimmo Paladino and César Pelli to work on different panels of the Porsche, allowing the car to take on an entirely different look from every angle.

Mendini, known for his love of late 1970s design, created a multi-colored cubist structure reminiscent of two of his masterpieces: the Alessi corkscrew and the Proust armchair. In stark contrast, the Italian-Austrian Sottsass, known as the founding father of the Memphis Group and for designing the iconic Olivetti typewriters and calculators, returned to his beginnings with a mosaic of squares on a black background that shifts from red to salmon pink. Paladino, a fan of techniques such as graffiti and mosaic, revamped the Porsche’s hood with a black tribal mask. Finally, architect César Pelli, designer of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, redesigned his skyscrapers on the roof of the Porsche with the sky blue symbolizing a perfect summer’s day. To complete the rolling art, Cleto Munari himself got to work signing the car all around the bumpers with the words “Cleto Munari for Porsche,” as well as creating the highly refined acid yellow-green puzzle graphics along the rear of the car.

The result is a car that invigorates the senses, each panel contrasting with the next. Once completed and on display, the AutOpera 996 was auctioned at the 2016 Porsche Festival in Misano Adriatica, where it was donated by Porsche to raise money for earthquake victims. It has since been exhibited at festivals around the world and continues to inspire generations of new and established artists to push the boundaries of creativity.

Although this car is a one-off, our friends at Studiosokue in Hamburg took inspiration from the post-modern Porsche Art Car and teamed up with K&YFOB to bring us the perfect weekend bag for art and Porsche connoisseurs. Handmade in Italy from the finest high-quality leather, the StudioSokue x K&YFOB Art Bag embodies the ethos of the avant-garde Memphis Milano group. The best part? You can now get your hands on one in the CD Shop!

BUY NOW