Rolls-Royce Arts Program commissions Yang Fudong video 'Moving Mountains'

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has unveiled a new video work by Chinese artist Yang Fudong as part of its Arts Programs. The 46-minute black-and-white film, titled 'Moving Mountains,' was already presented at the Shanghai Center of Photography and will tour China in 2017. Yang Fudong, who previously created a promotional campaign for Prada in 2010 and participated in the 2007 Venice Biennale, drew inspiration from the ancient Chinese fable of 'the fool'—a didactic children's story teaching perseverance—as well as ink painting from the early 1940s by painter Xu Beihong. The painting appears only at the film's end, serving as a structural foundation for Yang's interpretation. The project aligns with Rolls-Royce's broader Arts Programs, which the company says celebrate a shared philosophy between the brand and the art world, viewing cars as artworks that transcend their primary role as transportation. This initiative follows a different approach from BMW's Art Car series, which included works by Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons, and most recently a BMW M6 GTLM by John Baldessari presented at Art Basel Miami Beach.