• New Audi A8 to be unveiled on the eve of Design Miami USA

• Exhibition with Briton Tom Dixon and the Rubell Family Collection

The 100th anniversary year of the Audi brand is set to be crowned by a very special occasion. November 30 sees the world premiere of the new Audi A8 – in the extraordinary setting of Miami. Here the brand’s new flagship will be presented in a truly innovative way in the Audi Pavilion, a temporary museum structure. It is to be the focal point of the exhibition “The Art of Progress,” which portrays cultural and technological progress and echoes the values of the new A8: Vorsprung durch Technik and design expertise that stirs the emotions.

Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, commented on the exhibition concept: “Our claim “Vorsprung durch Technik” also embraces design, which is one of the outstanding elements of the Audi signature. And as top design has now emerged as an acknowledged art form, we see the bridge between art and architecture as a logical step in advancing our brand.”

Miami has long since emerged as the worldwide capital of art and design. With the two high-profile fairs Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach, early December is traditionally the highpoint of the season for all art and design aficionados. On the eve of Design Miami the world premiere of the new Audi A8 will be held in this very beautiful setting.

Audi is celebrating the world premiere in unconventional style with an exhibition, which symbolizes the cultural and technological progress embodied in the Audi A8 with its history, its engineering and its emotion-packed design.

Inspired by the guiding principle “The Art of Progress,” the Audi flagship is due to be unveiled in the Audi Pavilion amidst selected art works from the new exhibition “Beg Borrow and Steal,” which belongs to the Rubell Family Collection, one of the world’s most important art collections, and the installation “The Light Light” – consisting of aluminium and LED light – by the British top designer Tom Dixon.

These three areas are linked thematically in the Audi Pavilion. They have in common an innovative and progressive nature and the courage to create new things, and are thus elegantly interlinked with each other in the exhibition.

“Artists, designers and engineers have one passion in common, which becomes evident in the “The Art of Progress” vernissage (exhibition),” emphasises Stefan Sielaff, Head of Design at AUDI AG: “And that is the handling of form, function, colour and material. To what extent the result is art is decided by the claim behind it, but also by the observer.”

Running until December 5, the exhibition in the Audi Pavilion is a satellite of Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach, and is open daily to visitors from all over the world to Design Miami and Art Basel.

Furthermore, this year Audi is acting as a designer among designers at Design Miami, where it will also be possible to see the new Audi A8. In the Audi Lounge, the brand’s flagship will be presented as a world premiere in an innovative setting to visitors to Art Basel Miami Beach and Design Miami. This year Audi is the exclusive automotive sponsor both of Design Miami and of Art Basel Miami Beach.

Audi Pavilion
45th & Collins Avenue (east of the large parking lot)
Miami Beach

Opening times:
December 2 through 5, 2009
Open daily from 12 noon through 8 p.m.

Audi Lounge at Design Miami
Design Miami Temporary Structure
NE 39th Street and 1st Court
Miami Design District

Opening Times
December 2 to December 5, 2009
Open daily from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m.

The Audi brand exceeded the milestone 100,000 sales mark in the UK in 2007 and 2008. Globally, the brand exceeded 1 million deliveries for the first time in its history in 2008. With its programmes for both road and race cars the brand continues to maintain its upward trajectory. On the road it has extended its reach into important new segments with new models such as the A5 Sportback, the Q5, the TT RS and the R8 5.2 FSI quattro, and in the near future will break further new ground with the A1 compact hatchback and the Q3 compact SUV. On the race circuit Audi Sport has contested the Le Mans 24-hour marathon eleven times since 1999, achieving a podium finish on all of these occasions and outright victory a total of 8 times.