Art Not Oil

See also Another Victim of the Gulf Oil Spill: The British Arts?

In the early evening of Tuesday September 14th 2010, a group of artist/activists staged another art-intervention in the Tate Modern turbine hall, with a choreographed sequential squeezing of BP-logo-ed tubes of paint containing 'an oil-like substance'. You can see a 3 minute video clip of the performance here:

http://www.youandifilms.com/2010/09/crude-2010-oil-painting-protest-over-bp-sponsorship-in-tate-modern-turbine-hall-liberate-tate-calls-for-footprint-of-art-museum-to-be-free-from-big-oil/

For immediate release.

Oil Painting Protest over BP sponsorship in Tate Modern Turbine Hall

Liberate Tate calls for footprint of art museum to be free from Big Oil Tuesday (14 September) art activists from Liberate Tate staged a guerrilla art intervention in Tate Modern, covering the floor of the iconic Turbine Hall with dozens of litres of oil paint in protest at the museum taking sponsorship from BP.

The flash mob-style event was staged a day before a Tate Board of Trustees meeting. Liberate Tate is part of a growing public movement calling on Tate’s governing body to end its sponsorship agreement with the oil company. Tate’s Board of Trustees has decided to review the BP corporate sponsorship.

At 5pm, around 50 figures dressed in black entered the gallery each carrying a BP-branded oil paint tube.

In a circle they placed the paint tubes on the floor and each stamped on one, spraying out dozens of litres of paint in a huge burst across the floor. The installation art work, 'Crude', was then signed ‘Liberate Tate’ and offered to Tate for its collection.

Blake Williams, a participant in the performance, said: “Ten years ago tobacco companies were seen as respectable partners for public institutions. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has brought home to an even wider public that the impact of big oil companies like BP on the environment and the global climate makes them equally unethical for an art museum, especially one that purports to demonstrate leadership in response to climate change.”

Tate’s latest annual report (2009/10), released this month, claims “sustainability is a prime consideration throughout Tate’s work”. Tate reduced its energy use and overall carbon emissions last year and makes much of its partnership with the Carbon Trust and that it was a founding signatory to the national 10:10 campaign, launched at Tate Modern, aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.

Liberate Tate said: “Tate has so far chosen to take a very narrow view of its footprint in relation to climate change and to not yet take into account its formal relationship with Big Oil. At a time when arts institutions wish to demonstrate how central the arts are in bringing social benefits to all and thus deserving of strong public funding, the museum must accept responsibility for its full impact in society.”

“Tate has a sponsor in BP that is engaged in socially and ecologically destructive activities. This is incompatible with Tate’s ethical guidelines, its stated vision in regard to sustainability and climate change, and for maintaining Tate’s reputation. In addition, its mission is undermined if visitors to Tate galleries cannot enjoy great art without the museum making them complicit in creating climate chaos. We call on the governing body to recognise this and end Tate’s relationship with BP.”

Earlier this year Liberate Tate issued an open invitation for artists, art lovers and other concerned members of the public to act to ensure that Tate ends its oil sponsorship by the end of 2011 ahead of Tate Modern’s expansion into its cleaned out underground oil tanks.

ENDS

Notes

1. Images and footage will be released shortly, see www.twitter.com/liberatetate for tweets on online location. Liberate Tate can be contacted via liberatetate@gmail.com. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2. Liberate Tate is a network dedicated to taking creative disobedience against Tate until it drops its oil company funding.

   The group’s previous performances include the June 28th oil spill at the Tate Summer Party celebrating 20 years of BP support and May 28th disruption of Tate Modern’s 10th Birthday celebrations by hanging dead fish and birds from dozens of giant black helium balloons in the Turbine Hall. These performances can be seen here http://vimeo.com/12664991 and here http://tinyurl.com/29o98su.

   The network was founded during a workshop in January 2010 on art and activism commissioned by Tate. When Tate curators tried to censor the workshop from making interventions against Tate sponsors, even though none had been planned, the incensed participants decided to continue their work together beyond the workshop and to set up Liberate Tate.

3. In March 2010, participants in a Tate symposium in collaboration with the Royal Society, “Rising to the Climate Change Challenge: Artists and Scientists Imagine Tomorrow’s World”, voted 80% in favour of Tate dropping BP sponsorship by 2012.