Quinten de Kort

This painting is part of the triptych: The Motor of Munich. The triptych The Motor of Munich explores how the car and BMW shape the city. Three panels depict the core aspects of this “motor system”: production, movement, and use. Together, they show not only pride and progress, but also the downsides: hidden labor, urban segregation, and the ongoing transformation of Munich.

This panel shows the consequences of the daily use of the car. To enable mobility, large infrastructures have been built: roads, tunnels, connections. But these structures also create separation: barriers in the city that isolate people and neighborhoods from each other. The painting thus emphasizes the ambiguous legacy of use: mobility brings freedom, but also imposes harsh limits on urban life.