Taika Waititi is a very busy man working on multiple feature films and TV projects, but his latest offering might surprise some as he mixes art and advertising.
The Academy Award-winning New Zealand filmmaker has teamed with luxury car brand Zeekr to launch a new photography exhibition this weekend in Auckland.
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Open now until Sunday at Auckland’s Studio 230, the exhibition features seven original photographic works from Waititi, each built and captured entirely by hand.
Speaking to Rolling Stone AU/NZ this week from the studio, the Wellington-born director said he was interested in the project only if it had something to say.
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“I wanted to make something weird,” he explained.
“I’ve done a lot of advertising. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, I can usually find a way to make most things fun, but when it came to this, I feel like every car commercial and every promo for cars is always the same, and they’re just super boring. So I said to [Zeekr], look, I’m interested in doing a collaboration with you guys, but only if we can make these vignettes that actually say something, or pose some questions, or just make people think, rather than a car that’s all shiny on the beach while people eat marshmallows ’round a bonfire, which we’ve seen a million times.”
Waititi said Zeekr’s tagline of being in “a lane of one” was the inspiration behind his exhibition. He flew back to Auckland to shoot the project in July.
“I took [it] to mean as just a way of exploring the beauty of loneliness, although they’re never going to admit that!” he said.
“Because all the scenes are very strange, and they’ve got this sort of melancholic individuality to them, and that’s what made me excited.
“Also, full credit to the Zeekr brand for agreeing not to actually see the car in the shots. It’s always about the car, usually, and they said, ‘Look, it’s cool that it’s about these scenes and these people,’ [and] making it a bit more artistic and that the car’s lighting should light these scenes.
“They were down with that, which I think is really cool.”
There is some hope that the exhibition will come to Australia, which could also mean Waititi will make his way back too. However, with anything, timing is everything.
“Depending on when it is!” he said. “My wife loves Sydney so much, it’s quite frustrating. There’s a very good chance I’ll be over there.”
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Keep an eye on Rolling Stone AU/NZ for the full chat with Waititi.
