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Thanks to Spielberg's Jurassic Park, we all know about the preservative powers of amber: trapped in fossilised resin, insects have been suspended in time for millions of years. And though extracting dinosaur DNA remains the stuff of fiction, amber remains a powerful visual metaphor for resisting the march of time.


 

In its new campaign for Mercedes-Benz' G-Class, Berlin creative agency antoni has taken inspiration from these prehistoric amber artefacts. To highlight the fact the first Mercedes-Benz G-Class cars are still on the road today - and many of the iconic design elements from the original model can be found in the new generation cars - the agency created its own moment of suspended animation, by 'freezing' an original 1979 model G-Class inside a giant, amber-like block.

Weighing in at 44 tonnes, the installation was built in Hamburg before being shipped to Detroit, where it was unveiled this week at the North American International Auto Show - and though it's not real amber, the overall effect is still pretty impressive.

 

 

Accompanying the installation is this short film, Stronger Than Time [above]. Directed by Ole Peters through Sehsucht Hamburg (who also handled the VFX) the two-and-a-half-minute film mixes live-action and CGI, transitioning between mesmerising close-ups of amber resin, and footage of the three new G-Class models on and off the road.

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