Dutch Artist Paints Interactive Mural to Launch MINI’s Electric Car

To celebrate the global launch of their first all-electric car, MINI Netherlands has partnered with agency 180 Kingsday to create an interactive mural, inviting the viewer to rediscover the power of electricity. 

 

Designed by 180 Kingsday and Illustrated by Dutch artist Franky Sticks, the seven-metre-long mural, which sits in Rotterdam’s cruise terminal, pays homage to the city and celebrates MINI Netherland’s mission to put passion back into electricity. The MINI Electric, which will go to market in March 2020, has a battery that allows for a range of 232 WLTP kilometres and can be recharged in 35 minutes. 

 

Employing Franky’s signature style of strong flowing linework and vivid colour, the mural offers viewers a multi-sensory experience. Using conductive ink, the painting, which includes references to some of Rotterdam’s most iconic landmarks - including Piet Blom’s cube houses, the Erasmus bridge, the euromast tower and the city’s famed rave scene - becomes a circuit board. When triggered by human touch, the illustrations become animations, created by Flaton Arts, lighting up and moving across the wall. Music and sound emanate and hidden amongst it all is a camera, waiting to take the perfect selfie. 

 

 

Hidde-Jan Haven, head of marketing MINI at BMW Group Nederland said: “With the launch of MINI Electric, our first all-electric vehicle, we wanted to celebrate the wonder of electricity, something that so often gets taken for granted. It was important for us to create something that could reignite a passion for electricity and allow visitors to our global launch to experience it in a novel and fun way. 180 Kingsday really delivered on this.” 

 

Kalle Hellzen, ECD of 180 Kingsday said: “The power of electricity has become so mundane, such an afterthought in our lives, that we wanted to revisit it. We wanted to highlight MINI’s mission, to recharge electricity with passion and do this in a way that reflected the values of the brand - playful, energetic and innovative. The city of Rotterdam was the perfect canvas - an urban city, a city of industry that truly aligns with MINI.”