The new Arteon is captured in a way that has never been seen before: by the blind photographer, Pete Eckert. The fascinating result of a five days photoshoot was an unscripted documentary that showed how he approached the new Arteon and created an image in his mind’s eye using his remaining senses: hearing, touch and memory. After he has defined this image in his mind’s eye, he recreates it with the help of different coloured lights, time exposures and his analogue camera, making his imaginary picture visible. The results of Pete’s artwork proved that you don’t need eyes to see beauty.

With the new Arteon, Volkswagen launched a new model on the market in 2017 that appeals to a brand new target group: design lovers. And it was precisely this group that we wanted to convince of the beauty of our new fastback-saloon.

Ever since Pete Eckert lost his sense of sight, he compensates for it with an extraordinary sense of hearing. An original score was composed, that tells his story, while at the same time it is an acoustic depiction of his world as he perceives it.

The track starts in a minor key, whichs stands for a tragic turning point in Pete’s life: when he lost his sight. As the film proceeds, the key modulates from minor into major to reflect how Pete moved on in life while never resigning himself to his fate. On the contrary, he uses his blindness to create pictures that no sighted person ever could make.

Referring to Pete’s ability of „echolocating“ sound waves – and thereby „seeing“ things that reflect them – we created sound effects, that are played backwards, to mimic Pete’s sense of hearing.