DEMOCRATISING ART WITH AI WEIWEI
An artwork belonging to anybody who chooses to build it.
We amplified a collaboration that turned making itself into a radical act of accessibility.
Internationally acclaimed artist and activist Ai Weiwei partnered with German DIY giant HORNBACH and creative agency HEIMAT Berlin for a radical art meets advertising project focused on accessibility: Safety Jackets Zipped the Other Way. An artwork anyone can recreate using materials from HORNBACH.i.
Leveraging our passion for both art and advertising, we led the PR launch, amplifying both the artwork and Ai Weiwei’s broader message about the value of accessible art.
he aim: to democratise art by making it truly accessible, with only the material costs involved. The piece centres on the concept of the ‘readymade’ - an industrial object reimagined as art, a recurring theme in Ai Weiwei’s practice. In Safety Jackets Zipped the Other Way, high-visibility jackets are zipped together and stripped of their original purpose, merging into a shapeless soft sculpture. The assembled readymade artwork transforms realities and triggers unexpected perceptions.
Ai Weiwei: “Everybody can be an artist or has the opportunity or ability to make art”
We helped orchestrate a unique press conference and private view at Ai Weiwei’s legendary and vast underground studio in Berlin - inviting key journalists to meet the artist and offering personal interviews. The story reached art, news and creative press worldwide, with coverage spanning the US, UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Albania, Africa, and Asia.
