BMW Mini arrived at the Mini Paceman Garage in Milan with a carefully crafted installation called Kapooow !, which spotlighted the Mini Paceman.

The art project was the central feature of a much broader experience at the Garage, serving as a space where artists and designers were invited to exchange their creative visions in a series of meetings, sessions and workshops.

MINI Kapooow ! freezes the MINI Paceman mid-flight through a three-dimensional comic strip as it leaps between two cells.

The new multi-dimensional installation, developed by the Mini Design Team headed by Anders Warming, encompassed the live vibe, the feel of high speed and connections with people.

The project was inspired by the personality of the Sports Activity Coupé and the emotions it evokes.

The vehicle has two different halves, each belonging to its own universe, while being part of one integral car body. The car is shown “leaping” from one world into another one, … “in which colours and materials change and open the door to unimagined realms of experience.”

It was all hands on deck to get Mini Kapoow off the drawing board and into reality.

The installation within the Garage was divided in two halves.

The first half –  featured the stock rear end of the Paceman, with its passionate design as a highly dynamic sculpture. It is just a plain car seen as it is in real-life, a car that is just about to enter a new dimension and goes through a wall.

The back of the car, painted in chrome, is connected with a plethora of people pictured on the wall—the ties are embodied through actual thick red threads that embody the car’s energy and high speed.

It is seen as a real, chromed vehicle about to embark on its metamorphosis. The individual vehicle components seem to fly apart, the colourful threads emanating from it representing this highly energy-charged process.

At the same time the MINI is “interwoven” into a greater context and connected with the people whose profiles are anticipated at the front end.

On the other side of the wall, we see the second part of the installment, the transformation of the Mini.

The MINI Pacemen breaks through the wall, which symbolizes the second phase of the car’s personality.

In this new dimension the vehicle abandons its original form and the front end becomes an idea made of paper, with only its contours now suggested. Through numerous bits of paper and coloured tabs the MINI Paceman materialises into a new physical representation.

The front part of it gets into the parallel world, in which Mini turns white and gets decorated with a plethora of multicolored paper pieces with words and numbers. The creators of the installation comment on this idea:

Anders Warming

“The use of paper symbolizes the ‘prototyping’ of a creative process and as such opens up the possibility of drawing on its two-dimensionality to represent a new three-dimensional sculpture.”

The aim of this inspirational journey is to present a colourful “wall of fame” displaying not only successful MINI models but also well-known film and cult personalities.

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Mini Garage

In addition to the installation, Mini has also launched its temporary Mini Paceman Garage within the Tortona District, during the world’s biggest furniture design fair.

The creative garage was open for six days, inviting guests of the show to enjoy the burst of creativity during the activities that will include various meetings and workshops as well as hot DJ sets and show cooking sessions

Guests can grab a bite from the on-site restaurant or take part in one of the breakfast events to network with like-minded MINIacs.

Artists and creatives from the design scene will be able to enjoy hot DJ sets, meet and greets, show cooking sessions and the “Starlight Blue Night” – all under the banner of the youngest member of the MINI family: sporting, flamboyant and versatile.

A MINI cinema awaits those in need of a matinee break, and an on-site barbershop will get you trimmed and looking dapper for a night of Milanese fun.

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