PORTAL XI  Black Mantle

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Permanent museum installation at the recently inaugurated Black Gold Museum in Riyadh, designed by Zaha Hadid and directed by Jack Persekian.

The museum is dedicated to the history of oil and its global impact, a material that has shaped the modern world from industrial expansion to geopolitical tensions, and now serves as a space for reflection where art, science, and cultural narratives converge.

​Organized into four interactive sections, Encounter, Dreams, Doubts, and Visions, the museum traces the discovery and evolution of oil, from its early uses in the 19th century to its role in shaping contemporary society.

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The installation is structured between a dark chamber and a luminous space, the work proposes a passage where separation becomes connection, suspended between concealment and revelation. It explores a spatial transition between darkness and light, guiding the viewer through a compressed threshold into a luminous field. A fractured, mantle-like surface evokes forces formed beneath the earth’s crust, linking geological time with human experience.

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Artists featured in the museum include Christo, Alfredo Jaar, Doug Aitken, Ahmed Mater, Romain Langlois, Eduardo Basualdo, Wim Delvoye, Fabian Oefner, Georges Rousse, and Faig Ahmed, among others.

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PORTALS Black Mantle, 2024
720 x 400 x 120 cm
Thermoformed ABS, lightbox, drywall

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Curator: Stéphane Berthier

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