When Energy Becomes Form (English Edition)

For its inaugural exhibition, the Black Gold Museum has partnered with curator Christian Janicot in an experiential exhibition on the material nature of petroleum through selected works of the French artist collective BP. Over the last four decades, BP has associated the fetishizing of modern art with the worship of commercial gods in response to the tutelary power of oil. The shifting nature of the dialogue between past and future continues to provide Renaud Layrac – who has continued the collective’s legacy since 2008 – with ever-shifting approaches and reactions to petroleum products and industry. This catalogue conceptualizes and contextualizes discourses on the shifting nature of this vital and world-changing material. With texts by Christian Janicot, Arnauld Pierre and a foreword by Mona Khazindar.