Bastion Aotearoa and Taika Waititi create art exhibiton for Zeekr

Bastion Aotearoa’s recent work for premium electric vehicle brand Zeekr began with a blank sheet of paper and ended with a photography exhibition.

The exhibition, ‘Spotlight’, was created by director Taika Waititi and sees the Zeekr 7X car suspended from the ceiling, its headlights illuminating seven different scenes. It was held in the Tāmaki Makaurau suburb of Ponsonby over September 17 to 21.

As it was also Te Wiki o te reo Māori, the exhibition’s launch acknowledged te reo as a transmission of knowledge, not just a language, says Bastion chief creative officer Oli Green.

“It linked your life force to the work you produce. Taika is an artist – so the goal of our project was to get that life force into our work.”

The collaboration came about through the power of human connections – Green, Waititi and Dane Fisher, group general manager of NordEast, Zeekr’s New Zealand distributor, have all known each other for awhile.

“It’s a testament to the size of New Zealand, relationships and the open nature of the opportunity for Taika, too,” says Green.

He also acknowledges Fisher, describing him as a brave client: “He understands that creativity takes leaps. He had faith in Taika and our humble agency.”

Outside the comfort zone

What surprised Green the most about the work was that Waititi chose photography as his medium – something he’d never done before.

“[Waititi’s] work in film has become a template for New Zealand comedy and had an incredible impact on us as a country. So the big surprise was that he chose not to pull any levers that would give him a sense of security or safety,” says Green.

It was an iterative journey that worked on the visions Waititi had in his mind. With the Zeekr 7X suspended from the ceiling, its headlights were the sole light source for the photographs.

Green says the goal of this exhibition was about making work that stands out. “In advertising, we operate in a sea of sameness everywhere we look. This exhibition was always going to be different, the art becomes the advertising. I want people to see it and to understand the sophistication.”

Seven scenes

The seven scenes Waititi created are named Caveman, Sunburn, UFO, Paparazzi, Bodybuilder, Disco and Feast, each featuring elements that are a little unexpected, leaving you to make of them what you will. The Disco scene for example sees a woman in a business suit smashing a large disco ball.

“Most of the time, interpretation is ripped out [of advertising]because you want people to understand the message in no uncertain terms. This exhibit treats people like adults, this brand sees you as an equal. It’s not trying to bamboozle you or talk down to you,” says Green.

He adds that people have been blown away by the images and the creativity behind them.

Difficult is worth doing

It was also important to Waititi and the Bastion team that the scenes be created by hand. “We have a saying at the agency, ‘Difficult is worth doing’,” says Green. “If you can do it as easily as the push of a button, you’ll get slop.”

Hoisting a car from the ceiling meant hiring a crane and being in the studio for some tough, long days, but it was worth it, he adds.

“I love to see Taika stand in front of the work and be proud of it – we’re proud of it too.”

Waititi’s scenes now being used as out of home assets, and behind the scenes content is running on social media. “Anything that shows process is important – nothing comes from nowhere,” says Green.

“In the first iteration, we removed the wires from the car, but it looked like we had just created the image in photoshop, so we put it back in.”

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