THE FADING EXHIBIT
An innovative public exhibition turning fading artwork into a powerful metaphor for Alzheimer’s.
ART DIRECTORS CLUB 2025 AWARD
CLIENT
Alzheimer Forschung Initiative e.V.
YEAR
2024
AGENCY
VML Germany
JUNIOR CREATIVE
Technical research
Artist castings & liaison
Exhibition set up
Event programming
Social media content
Case film script
Press release
ROLE
ABOUT THE PROJECT
THE RESULTS
The Alzheimer Forschung Initiative needed a way to spark nationwide
awareness with a limited budget. Our solution: transforming art into a
living, fading metaphor for memory loss.
Knowing the influence that art plays in Berlin, we used 15 innovative artworks to start a conversation and educate the public about Alzheimer’s. The Fading Exhibit featured artists with a family history of Alzheimer’s. Each artist painted a personal memory using a thermochromic pigment. We fitted the paintings to custom designed frames with a hidden, built-in heating system.
Each day of the exhibit, the heat of the frames was turned up, which caused the paintings to fade more and more. Tickets to the exhibition became donations on site, and finally, the paintings were put up for a silent auction which helped increase the amount raised.
65%
increase in donations within one week
OVER 9.5M
20x
reach
more social engagement
In short: record engagement for the cause.
