Riyadh Opens Oil Museum, Black Gold Read Through Art

Jack Persekian, director of the Black Gold Museum. (Photo: Arab News)

JAKARTA - Saudi Arabia has a new way of telling stories about oil. Not through production figures, barrel prices, or economic graphs, but through paintings, sculptures, photos, videos, and archives.

Disadur dari Arab News, Jumat, 24 April, Museum Black Gold yang baru dibuka di Riyadh menampilkan lebih dari 350 karya seniman Arab Saudi dan internasional dari sekitar 30 negara. Museum ini berada di bangunan kontemporer rancangan Zaha Hadid.

Director of the Black Gold Museum, Jack Persekian, said the museum wanted to show the role of oil in shaping human history.

"The vision of this museum is to present the story of oil through the eyes of artists," Persekian told Arab News.

Works from Ahmed Mater's "Fulgurite" series on display at the Black Gold Museum. (Photo: Arab News)

According to Persekian, oil is not only a fuel. Oil is also present in food, clothing, transportation, housing, the medical sector, and many objects that humans use every day.

Persekian said major changes occurred since the mid-19th century, when oil began to be processed industrially and used to drive machines. From there, the pace of human development increased sharply.

However, this museum does not only photograph oil as a source of progress. The exhibition also highlights the nature of oil as a limited resource that needs to be used carefully.

"This is a scarce resource and its quantity is limited on Earth. So, we must be very careful in using it," said Persekian.

The first section of the museum, Encounters, traces the history of Saudi Arabian oil, including the discovery of Dammam Well No. 7. The final section, Visions, features artists' ideas about the future of oil and its possible replacements.

Persekian calls this museum a unique attraction. According to him, there is no other place that tells the history of oil through the artist's point of view.

Saudi Arabian artist Ahmed Mater also featured works at the museum, including Evolution of Man, which was created in 2010. The work is known as a critique of excessive dependence on petrodollars.

Mater said his work saw oil as both an energy source and a symbol of 20th-century economics.

"We must not forget that oil is basically an organic material, a natural substance from the earth," Mater said, quoted by Arab News.

According to Mater, oil is difficult to separate from geopolitics, society, and the economy. Therefore, oil is a strong theme for artists. He opens up many interpretations, from progress, wealth, dependence, to the future of energy.

Mater said this museum also opened a discussion about alternative energy and sustainability.

"The question is, how can we invest in sustainability by using these resources?" he said.