The Chief Creative Director of Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with the Men's Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton to produce ... this hideous thing. Project Geländewagen re-conceptualizes the G-Wagen as a race car, and if you think the sanded-down exterior is awful, wait until you take a peek inside.
It's fashion, baby. It's post-modern. It's deconstructionist. It "runs away from the idea of perfection" in an attempt to "disrupt future perceptions of luxury" and "celebrates the extraordinary." It hopes to inspire "young artists, engineers and designers to question the status quo," and Mercedes-Benz's VP of Marketing says it "perfectly encapsulates Mercedes-Benz's manifestation of contemporary luxury."
Righty-o then! We can't be the only ones thinking this emperor looks a tad on the trouserless side. High-minded artists Gorden Wagener and Virgil Abloh have taken the G Wagen, slammed it down low, widened it out with fat, racy bodywork, including side-vent exhausts, and sanded back half the paintwork in case people might think it looked too perfect.
They've completely gutted the interior and fitted a videogame-style steering wheel from the Project One, carbon race seats, window nets and a fire extinguisher. They've also fitted fat race slicks with Mercedes-Benz written in yellow where the Goodyear or Hankook should be.
Look, I don't know much about art, but I know what I find ridiculous, and here we are. Whatever comes after postmodernism, it can't come quickly enough. Wikipedia tells me it's post-postmodernism, which somehow sounds even worse. Just when you thought there were no new depths to be plumbed, along comes 2020.
Project Geländewagen will be auctioned as an art piece in the Sotheby's Contemporary Curated selection, and Virgil Abloh's Virgil Abloh™ "Post-Modern" Scholarship Fund will continue inspiring the next generation of artists. Enjoy a video below, and if you're feeling masochistic, why not check out more photos in the gallery.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
