Petromelancholia

One day, the last barrel of oil will have been opened. I am already nostalgic for the beauty of the petroleum culture.

In Rotterdam, I visited an exhibition called “Patromelancholia - The Beauty of Oil”. The longing for the beauty of the currently dominant form of energy production. It has made all our modern achievements a reality and has shaped our society to the core.

At the height of the oil age, the belief in progress was boundless. Where is our belief in progress today?

A new utopia

In the present day, it is quite difficult to believe in progress. Current and future generations will no longer experience the same prosperity as in the days of the oil boom.

But why not look positively into the future again? We already have the technologies. After the Stone Age, steam-driven industrialization, the nuclear and oil age, the future will belong to renewable energies.

So we can look forward to the future and look back wistfully on the wonderful times made possible by the oil technology of the past.

The beauty of oil

I have designed a new series of posters to celebrate the end of the oil boom. I want to revel in the beauty of steel, concrete and color.