Black Gold Museum · Riyadh

We Are Oil

Facing a flow of oil, visitors see their own silhouette merge into the substance.

We Are Oil welcomes visitors at the entrance to the Doubt section of the permanent exhibition at the Black Gold Museum in Riyadh.

The installation unfolds on two planes. On the back wall, crude oil flows continuously, slow, heavy and viscous, with all the density of this substance. About 1.5 m in front of this wall, a transparent tulle forms a second projection plane, suspended between the visitor and the flow.

Client: Ministry of Culture (MOC)
Location: Black Gold Museum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Duration: Permanent

When visitors stand in front of the installation, their presence is captured by two depth cameras. Their silhouette then appears on both planes at once: emerging and viscous in the oil flowing down the back wall, and on the tulle close to them, wrapped in multicoloured, shifting iridescence. As they move along the installation, they see themselves inscribed twice in the substance. They are oil: the literal meaning of the installation's title.

The overlapping planes create a striking sense of depth: as visitors move, they perceive one plane sliding against the other, which heightens the illusion of being immersed in the substance. A generative soundtrack accompanies the flow and accentuates the physical presence of the material.

We Are Oil

Credits