BMW France and Réseau LUX launch LUX Tour photography caravan with electric iX3
BMW France is backing a year-long travelling photography studio across France, with an all-electric iX3 towing and powering a caravan where visitors create images from their own heartbeats.
- September 2026 – September 2027
- 33
- more than 30
- 20+
What Happened
BMW France has become the official partner of the LUX Tour, one of the flagship projects of the Bicentenary of Photography, endorsed by the French Ministry of Culture. The travelling photographic studio, housed in a caravan, will tour France from September 2026 to September 2027 with Réseau LUX, the French national network of photography festivals and fairs. After its official launch on 3 September 2026 in the courtyard of the French Ministry of Culture in Paris, the caravan will make stops at more than 30 festivals and fairs and connect the network's 33 members across the country.
At each stop, visitors are invited to take part in “À l'origine du cœur” (At the Origin of the Heart), an artistic experience conceived by Trigone collective. Inside a darkroom, a participant triggers the creation of a photograph using their own heartbeat: the heartbeat is captured and transformed into an electrical impulse, which produces a unique image on photosensitive paper. Once developed, digitised and printed, the photograph is presented to its creator as a singular imprint of a moment in life.
To support the tour, BMW France is providing Trigone with the new all-electric BMW iX3, which is zero-emission in use. The car tows the LUX Tour caravan across the country and, through its bidirectional Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) charging technology, supplies power to certain pieces of equipment used in the mobile studio. The project's theme is summed up as 'a contemporary electricity fairy' that both generates images and carries them to France's regions.
“Nicéphore Niépce did not only invent photography. Together with his brother Claude, he also helped develop one of the world's first internal combustion engines. This unexpected connection between image-making and mobility resonates strongly with our commitment alongside Réseau LUX. Through the LUX Tour, we are helping take photography closer to audiences across France while showcasing how electric mobility can support a unique artistic experience. We are proud to support a project that creates a dialogue between heritage, innovation, contemporary creation and regions.”
The tour draws a parallel with history: Nicéphore Niépce, internationally recognised as the inventor of photography, also co-invented one of the world's first internal combustion engines with his brother Claude. BMW France says the project resonates with that link between image-making and mobility. It also complements BMW ART MAKERS, the company's programme for contemporary artistic creation, which since 2021 has supported an artist-curator duo in producing an original project presented at Rencontres d’Arles and Paris Photo. BMW France says the partnership with Réseau LUX reflects more than twenty years of support for photography and contemporary creation.
- 5–6 Sep GLAZ Festival (Rennes); 12–13 Sep Rencontres Image et Environnement (Thoré-la-Rochette); 26–27 Sep QPN – Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise (Nantes); 3–4 Oct EOP – Espaces d’Œuvres Photographiques (Rouen); 10–11 Oct Nicéphore+ (Clermont-Ferrand); 16–17 Oct Les Villes Invisibles (Nîmes); 24–25 Oct Planches Contact Festival (Deauville); 7–8 Nov Le Mois de la Photo / Lumière d’Encre (Céret); 11–15 Nov a ppr oc he / Les Nuits Photo / Paris Photo / Photo Days / Photo SaintGermain (Paris)
- 12–13 Mar Printemps Photographique de Pomerol (Pomerol); 27–28 Mar Les Photographiques (Le Mans); 3–4 Apr Itinéraires des Photographes Voyageurs (Bordeaux); 8–9 May LUM Festival (Seix); 15–16 May BPM – Biennale Photo de Mulhouse (Mulhouse); 22–23 May L’Événement Photographique (Nancy); 29–30 May Présence(s) Photographie (Montélimar); 5–6 Jun Festival Photo La Gacilly (La Gacilly); 12–13 Jun Moulin Blanchard – Hors les Murs (Perche-en-Nocé); 19–20 Jun Les Femmes s’Exposent (Houlgate); 26–27 Jun Mondes en commun – Albert Kahn Departmental Museum (Boulogne-Billancourt); 3–4 Jul Mesnographies (Les Mesnuls); 10–11 Jul OFF Arles – La Kabine (Arles); 24–25 Jul L’Été Photographique de Lectoure (Lectoure); 18–19 Sep Photoclimat (Paris)
Why this matters
Photography's 200th anniversary is the backdrop: BMW France is helping Réseau LUX take an interactive photo-making experience to audiences at more than 30 festivals across the country. The tour is powered on the road by an electric BMW iX3, which tows the caravan and supplies electricity to its darkroom through V2L charging. The initiative is endorsed by France's Ministry of Culture, showing official support for marrying art and electric mobility.
Terms in This Story
- Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) charging
- Technology that lets an electric vehicle supply power from its battery to external devices, not just charge itself.
- Photosensitive paper
- Paper coated with a light-sensitive chemical that records an image when exposed to light.
- Darkroom
- A light-proof room used for processing light-sensitive materials such as photographic film or paper.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.