MotoArto Network
3 July, 2025 – 5th July, 2025
The Bike Shed
Shoreditch
London, UK
Something is happening under the arches in Shoreditch. From 3 to 5 July, the Bike Shed will host MotoArto network, a new event that brings reimagined cars and contemporary art under the same roof. It doesn’t look like a car show. It doesn’t act like one either.
Instead of spotless concours lines or catalogue-perfect restorations, what’s on display here is work — personal, altered, reimagined. The event centres on cars, but not in the usual way. These are machines re-envisioned with intent, often outside the rules, sitting alongside pieces of sculpture, painting, moving image and installation.
Oil on canvas
The idea comes from Marchella De Angelis and Kim Shaylor, who’ve worked in and around film, curation, and design. What they’ve built feels more like an exhibition than a trade event. There are no sales pitches. No velvet ropes. Just a space where the car is treated as something to respond to — or provoke.
De Angelis spent years immersed in the world of modified classics, sometimes called “Outlaw” cars. Her involvement led to a film, and then to this — an attempt to give the scene a public shape, one that puts it in conversation with art, culture and contemporary design.
MotoArto is the first of its kind in London, and possibly the first anywhere to bring these two fields together with equal footing. For decades, there’s been a quiet culture of independent builders working on cars that defy categories. This show gives them a platform — not to sell or compete, but simply to be seen.
On the automotive side, there’ll be work from Thornley Kelham, Frontline Cars and Renard, all known for their approach to low-volume, hand-built projects. But just as prominent is the art. More than 20 artists are involved, many of them producing new work for the event. Some respond directly to cars; others take the culture around them — speed, memory, identity — as material.
There’s no set brief. Some pieces sit on walls. Some move. Others are built to be experienced, not explained. Artist Sophie Tea will work live on a car across the three days. Other names on the list include Lawrence Lek, Maxim, Emma Gibbons, Alistair Morrison and Paul Fuentes — artists better known in galleries than garages.
The organisers have taken care to open the doors wider than most car events typically do. There’s a fair split of male and female contributors, a mix of generations, and an emphasis on accessibility — both in terms of audience and pricing. It’s less about collecting, more about connecting.
MotoArto isn’t trying to make grand statements. But it does point to something that’s been building quietly: a shift in how people relate to cars. Less about ownership, more about meaning. Less about models, more about stories.
What Shoreditch is getting isn’t just a new kind of car show. It’s a chance to see what happens when machines are treated as something beyond function — and when art gets its hands dirty.
MotoArto opens on the 3rd of July, 2025 until the 5th of July, 2025 at The Bike Shed, Shoreditch
©2025 MotoArto
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