Pebble Beach 2016: Petersen announces new exhibits and a think tank
At its customary Sunday morning breakfast meeting just off the 18th fairway at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, executives from the Petersen Automotive Museum announced plans to expand current exhibits, create new exhibits, and establish a transportation think tank that one office called “Davos, on wheels.”
Assembling several of his board members before a small audience of supporters and donors, museum Executive Director Terry Karges said the Petersen’s first full year since its $90-million remodel would see 400,000 visitors and a doubling of museum membership.
For the coming year, Petersen board Chairman Peter Mullin said that the L.A. museum’s successful exhibit of a Land Rover painted by late pop artist Keith Haring had been so successful that the museum will now gather every vehicle Haring ever painted into one huge automotive art exhibit.
Mullin also announced an exhibit on the 100th anniversary of BMW and said the museum would designate significant space to a large “Art of Bugatti” exhibit, which will contain artwork from several generations of the Italian design family — furniture from Carlo Bugatti, sculptures from Rembrandt Bugatti, automobiles from Ettore Bugatti, and more.
Additionally, Mullin said, a 1937 Talbot-Lago coupe from his own collection, which was recently awarded the first annual Peninsula Hotel best of the best award, would be on loan to the Petersen starting this week.
Museum officers did not supply details on their idea for creating a unit devoted to deeper questions about automotive policy, but Mullin gave a hint of the direction the institute might go.
“There is a new revolution in transportation, around autonomous cars, driverless cars and alternative fuels,” he said. “It’s exciting for us to celebrate the history of the automobile and also be part of tomorrow’s transportation solutions.”
The Petersen’s Art of the Bugatti exhibit will open in late October.
