To celebrate the arrival of the brand on the Chinese market, the company unveiled the Aston Martin Beijing 008 art installation at the city's Today Art Museum. The Aston Martin Beijing 008 debuted in front of a select group of 100 VIPs on 5 August and is the work of artist Qin Yufen.
The Aston Martin Beijing 008 is based upon Professor Stephen Hawking's statement that 'disorder increases with time because we measure time in the direction in which disorder increases’.
The Aston Martin Beijing 008 embraces history, time, culture and speed. A giant tape measure, built from steel and wood and carefully covered in hundreds of hexagons of yellow-dyed silk,
symbolises the importance of eternal standards. Within the measure itself, a 2.4m high structure, the artist has illuminated Hawking's quote using bright yellow neon. The measure is set on a vast carpet, imprinted with the distinctive radial city map of Beijing, signifying the earth, while high above, in the Today Art Museum's cavernous main gallery, fly a swarm of kites, a traditional symbol of the city. Each kite has been painstakingly made by hand, depicting the evolution of form from bird into sports car. Finally, the piece is completed by a sculpture of Professor Hawking himself.
