Taika Waititi collaborates with Zeekr on photographic exhibition, because car ads are 'pretty boring'

• Spotlight exhibition open at Studio 230 from September 17-20.
• Seven images created physically, no special effects.
• Light provided by Zeekr 7X, suspended from studio roof.

Zeekr has collaborated with film-maker, writer and actor Taika Waititi on a photographic exhibition called Spotlight, running at Studio 230 in Ponsonby, Auckland from September 17-20.

The project was instigated by New Zealand Zeekr importer NordEast, and gave Waititi complete creative freedom to do whatever he wanted in the studio.

The result is a series of seven images, each with a distinctly Kiwi sensibility, lit only by the headlights of a Zeekr 7X SUV. The images were all physically created with no computer effects, which required the 2.5-tonne 7X to be suspended from the ceiling on a bespoke rig to allow its headlights to shine down on the subjects.

Dane Fisher, group general manager of NordEast, says the brand wanted to engage an audience in a way beyond just automotive: "We describe our Zeekr community as being in a ‘Lane of One’, Kiwi who define their own path, and we chose to collaborate with Taika to create Spotlight because he absolutely epitomises this ethos. The perspective he’s brought to this project is unmistakably his.”

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Waititi said one thing that drew him to the project was his disdain for car advertising: "I do a lot of advertising, and one thing I really don't like is car advertising, because they're always like... it's got to be lit a certain way, it's got to be perched on a mountain, there's got to be a family on the roof, and all of it is pretty boring. 

"When Zeekr agreed that we could take these photos of a car in which you can barely see the car, I thought that was pretty amazing and pretty courageous and ballsy.

"Most of the stuff I do is photography, but there's 24 of them a second, and it's nice to be able to take some time and set these scenes and create these worlds, and then just make the scene perfect.

"I think they all tell a story, and I hope you see that in there. Many, many people helped; it was a collaboration. That was very special to me."

The exhibition is free to visit. Time slots can be booked at the ZeekrbyTaika website.

The seven worlds of Waititi’s Spotlight