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100 Years of Industry. 100 Works of Art. An Anniversary as an Investment in the Future

Viru Keemia Grupp’s main communications challenge lies in operating in a sector that is often perceived in the public sphere as highly technical, distant, or deeply polarising. A traditional anniversary campaign would mainly have resonated with people already familiar with the field, but it would not have helped build trust or broader public understanding.

The strategic decision was to move away from tightly controlled messaging and instead create a platform for public discussion through culture. To mark the 100th anniversary of the oil shale industry, VKG chose not to rely on conventional corporate communications but to open itself up to social dialogue by bringing industry and art together for the first time in an exhibition on the scale of a biennial. Art was deliberately chosen as a medium capable of translating a complex and controversial industry into a human, emotionally accessible language and reaching new audiences.

At the core of the creative concept was a bold choice of format: the company’s anniversary took shape as a biennial-scale exhibition. More than 60 students took part in a summer internship at VKG and in Ida-Virumaa, experiencing the industrial landscape first-hand and interpreting what they saw through their own personal and independent perspectives. The result was an exhibition of more than 100 works of art, created in collaboration with the Estonian Academy of Arts, exploring the past, present, and future of the oil shale industry.

Results

The exhibition brought together industrial Ida-Virumaa and Tallinn’s art scene, connecting communities that would not normally have much in common.
The project placed the oil shale industry at the centre of cultural and public discussion and shifted the tone of the debate from confrontation to reflection.
The exhibition generated an estimated 706,538 contacts through nationwide media coverage.
In total, the project received 21 pieces of earned media coverage across television, radio, and print/online media, with an estimated media value of €318,811 (based on ROI calculations). The topic was covered by all major television channels, including AK, OP, K2 Telehommik, and TV3 Uudised.
On social media, the project reached more than 170,000 contacts, while digital advertising generated more than 752,000 contacts.
The project provided internship experience for 14 mentors and 65 Estonian Academy of Arts students, and for many of the students, it was their first opportunity to participate in a major public exhibition.
Nearly 1,000 people visited the exhibition. Special events were also organised for children, and works by the young artists were acquired for the art collections of a private company and private collectors.