To show the vast transformations it was undergoing to the 2019 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Gazprom Neft PJSC, Russia's third-largest oil producer, turned to exhibit designer IBS Expo LLC – and a 19th century mathematician. "It was interesting finding the perfect form for the booth in a way that reflected this unique multimedia project," said Irina Shchennikova, development director of IBS Expo. Conceptually – and dramatically – conveying the company's rapid evolution from regional to world player was an amoeba-shaped screen that seemed to stream over the exterior of the 44-by- 49-foot exhibit. Inspired by August Ferdinand Mobius' eponymous 1858 concept that suggested an infinite loop in perpetual motion, the display contained 876 individual LED modules and spanned roughly 2,260 square feet. Continually cycling over the massive screen was a five-part film designed by Russian media artist Maxim Zhestkov, its nonstop imagery appearing at times like an iridescent whale, a topographical map on acid, or weather patterns seen through a kaleidoscope. "It was mesmerizing," said an impressed Exhibit Design Awards judge.

Inside Gazprom's double-deck exhibit, the company articulated the theme of continuous change in several ways. On the ground floor, for instance, multiple monitors and a 7-by-9-foot LCD wall ran the same dreamlike imagery as the giant exterior screen. Meanwhile, the wall behind the bar in the upstairs lounge was decorated with 3-D panels whose various slats were pointed in multiple directions, signifying incessant movement. Equally protean was the room's ceiling fixture, which, with the press of a button, shifted its ring-like components into different positions. Like the Mobius strip, Gazprom's booth became a symbol of the company's own endless and elegant change. E