Nissan Qashqai sponsors Street Art at Tate Modern

Nissan is to marry its urbanproof Qashqai with a unique new Street Art exhibition at Tate Modern.

The sponsorship deal will offer Nissan the opportunity to stage an exciting showcase for its best-selling Qashqai, with support going far beyond traditional sponsorship deals. The exhibition will feature six international street artists, with their work created directly onto the iconic Tate Modern’s river façade – in the first major public display of Street Art in the UK.

Nissan will use the partnership to bring to life in huge scale the sense of ‘urban adventure’, with activity designed to engage more people with street art while reaching Qashqai’s target audience of 16–34 year olds.

It means the partnership is a perfect fit for Nissan Qashqai and street art, said Andy Connell, Nissan Motor GB’s senior manager for marketing communications.

"Nissan has utilised striking street art in its advertising for the Qashqai since the car was launched last year, so we are naturally keen to support this form of art – an art that re-interprets the urban environment in the same way the Qashqai does,” said Connell.

“We plan to support this exhibition in a unique way. We want to maximise this opportunity and really engage people, to expand their experience of urban art. So we will be running exciting tours of existing street art, offering maps for self-discovery, marking out and branding the best spots from which to view the exhibition, and running a series of articles in the mainstream press.”

The partnership is part of Nissan’s on-going marketing for the best-selling, multi award-winning Qashqai.

A spectacular new TV ad directed by Danny Kleinman, the award-winning director responsible for creating the title sequences for the recent James Bond films, will be on screens from mid April. The advert shows a city coming to life to play with the ‘urbanproof’ Qashqai.

Street Art has been curated by Cedar Lewisohn of Tate Media. A fully illustrated book on Street Art by Cedar Lewisohn will be published by Tate this May.

The participating artists are: Blu from Bologna, Italy; the artist collective Faile from New York, USA; JR from Paris, France; Nunca and Os Gemeos, both from Sao Paulo, Brazil and Sixeart from Barcelona, Spain. They will be creating the works directly onto the Tate Modern building using spray paint, household paints, photography and fly posting.

Sarah Robinson, Head of Corporate Development at Tate Modern, said: “We immediately felt the Nissan Qashqai offered a great fit for Street Art and the partnership will really do justice to what is going to be a spectacular exhibition.”

Street Art at Tate Modern opens on 23 May as part of Tate Modern’s four day festival of art and performance, UBS Openings: The Long Weekend and fits with the theme for this year’s event – States of Flux.