Guggenheim Foundation and BMW Group Announce a Major New Global Initiative

BMW GUGGENHEIM LAB

NEW YORK, October 1, 2010 - Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and
Museum, and Frank-Peter Arndt, Member of the Board of Management, BMW AG,
today announced a long-term collaboration that will span six years of program
activities, engage people in major cities around the globe, and inspire the
creation of forward-looking concepts and designs for urban life. The
initiative will engage a new generation of leaders in architecture, art,
science, design, technology, and education, who will address the challenges
of the cities of tomorrow by examining the realities of the cities of today.

An innovative movable structure that travels from city to city, the BMW
Guggenheim Lab will bring together ambitious thinkers from around the world
and be a public place for sharing ideas and practical solutions to major
issues affecting urban life. There will be three different BMW Guggenheim
Labs, each with its own architect, graphic designer, and theme and each
traveling to three major cities worldwide. The BMW Guggenheim Labs will
travel in separate, consecutive two-year cycles, for a total project period
of six years.

In each city, a four-member, multidisciplinary BMW Guggenheim Lab Team of
early- to mid-career professionals identified as emerging leaders in their
fields will develop new concepts and designs around a specific theme. In
collaboration with Guggenheim staff, they will also develop the programs and
events for the BMW Guggenheim Lab. The BMW Guggenheim Lab Team members will
be nominated by an Advisory Committee, composed of internationally renowned
experts from the creative, academic, and scientific fields.

The first 5,000-square-foot BMW Guggenheim Lab will be installed in late
summer 2011 in North America, where it will present its programming into fall
2011 before moving on to cities in Europe and Asia. Site-specific workshops,
public discussions, performances, and formal and informal gatherings will tie
the BMW Guggenheim Lab into the everyday fabric of the city. The structure
also will present the responses of the BMW Guggenheim Lab Team members to the
first theme: Confronting Comfort: The City and You.

At the conclusion of each three-city cycle, an exhibition will be
presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, exploring issues
that were addressed at the BMW Guggenheim Lab's different sites.

The Tokyo-based architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow has been commissioned
to design the first BMW Guggenheim Lab, and the Seoul-based firm of Sulki &
Min has been announced as the designer of its graphic identity.

"Our collaboration with BMW brings together three kinds of expertise-an
international museum, international design firms, and emerging talents from a
number of different fields-for a research-and-development project with almost
limitless potential," stated Richard Armstrong. "We are grateful to BMW for
their collaboration on this adventurous project and greatly respect the
company's long-standing commitment to design, architecture, and the arts."

"For almost 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in many
international cultural cooperations. To us, sustainable commitment in the
cultural sector is being aware of our social responsibility whilst preserving
absolute creative freedom for our partners," stated Frank-Peter Arndt.

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is curated by David van der Leer, Assistant
Curator of Architecture and Design, and Maria Nicanor, Assistant Curator,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The cities on the tour, Advisory Committee and
BMW Guggenheim Lab Team members, programming information, and the design of
the first BMW Guggenheim Lab will be revealed over the next several months.

Betsy Ennis/Lauren Van Natten, Guggenheim Museum, +1-212-423-3840, pressoffice at guggenheim.org; Melissa Parsoff, Ruder Finn, +1-212-593-5889, parsoffm at ruderfinn.com; Thomas Girst, BMW Group, +49-160-905-22122, thomas.girst at bmw.de; NOTE TO EDITORS: To view the October 1, 2010, BMW Guggenheim Lab press conference at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, go to guggenheim.org/livepressconference. For the complete press kit, go to guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-kits. For publicity images, go to guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/press-images. User ID = photoservice, Password = presspass.