2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural / Context information for the jury

When you think of cars, a few elements come to mind: The brand. The look, the feel. The experience. The engine and horsepower. Even fuel the consumption. But what never comes to mind, is the engine oil you use. (85% of drivers don't know the oil brand they are using) And actually, why would it. Car ads don’t show the engine oil. The adventures you capture with your phone show the car without the oil. And when you sit in your car, you don’t think about what oil is running my engine. Whilst there was no shortage of ways to increase awareness for our product, none of them were really taking the product out of the realm of claims into a personal relationship. So we gave ourselves a challenge. How can people see the engine oil behind every car, every experience, every adventure, every driver.

Tell the jury about the art direction.

We partnered with a specialized artist to find a technical solution to our idea. After much experimentation we learned you can take used car oil and add to it oil paint as a medium. Then add turpentine as a solvent, which helps oxidation and the drying process along with linseed oil to get the viscosity right. Depending on the proportions, the texture gets affected assisting with the layering affect proper of oil painting. At the end of the day, we realized that by recycling the used engine oil of a car, we could give more than a voice to its engine. We recreated a gallery-like experience by showcasing the posters and adding a small plaque with title, year, author (Magnatec) and technique.