The Black Gold Museum has opened in the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) in Riyadh.
The museum, which seeks to explore the history of oil, mapping its effects on humanity through the lens of modern and contemporary art, houses a collection of work by 170 artists from across the globe, including Manal AlDowayan, Muhannad Shono, Ahmed Mater, Mohammad Alfaraj and Ayman Zedani. Across four floors, comprising a permanent collection gallery, a rotating exhibition gallery, an event space and a garden outdoors, the museum invites visitors to ponder the place that oil has held in society thus far, while looking towards the future.
The permanent collection of the museum, which holds more than 350 artworks in total, is part of the collection of the Saudi Ministry of Culture, led by Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan. The Black Gold Museum will see curator Jack Persekian take the helm of the institution as director.
Established in partnership between the Ministry of Culture’s Museums Commission and KAPSARC, and supported by the Quality of Life Program, it is housed in one of five buildings in the KAPSARC complex designed by the late Zaha Hadid, which previously served as a research library. The interiors of the museum were conceived by DaeWha Kang Design, a London-based architecture firm.
