Art Not Oil

Join our theatrical flashmob:British Museum, 3pm, November 18^th

On Sunday November 18th, the Reclaim Shakespeare Company is leaving the theatre through the stage door… and marching straight into the British Museum’s Great Court, for a theatrical flashmob with our friends from Liberate Tate, UK Tar Sands Network, Art Not Oil and London Rising Tide.

(Photo: David Hoffman)

Film of the performance

Much Ado About BP from Zoe Broughton on Vimeo.

Press release, 23. 10.12:

Tonight, members of the Reclaim Shakespeare Company jumped on stage at the Noël Coward theatre to deliver another surprise anti-BP performance. Just before the second half of a BP-sponsored Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) performance of Much Ado About Nothing was due to begin, the three actor-vists performed a short Shakespeare-inspired piece. They challenged the RSC over its decision to accept sponsorship from BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster, the company’s decision to start extracting highly polluting and destructive tar sands oil in Canada, and its enormous contribution towards climate change. Yesterday it was announced that BP has entered a partnership with Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft in order to exploit the hazardous and vulnerable Arctic.

(Adaptation by Chris Holden of El Greco's “Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple")

Protests end National Gallery's arms trade links

The National Gallery's long-standing sponsorship arrangement with weapons manufacturer Finmeccanica has ended, following a campaign by Campaign Against Arms Trade to 'Disarm the Gallery.' The arrangement has been terminated one year early and just weeks before the next protest event was planned.

A Gallery spokesperson told CAAT that Finmeccanica had "exercised their right to terminate" the agreement, but refused to disclose what discussions had preceded this decision.

http://bp-or-not-bp.org/news/twelfthnight/

See also this report and editorial in The Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/all-the-worlds-a-stage--and-all-the-men-and-women-merely-environmentalists-who-hate-bp-8194854.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/editorial-what-would-shakespeare-make-of-the-protests-8194642.html

and

http://professionalmanager.co.uk/news/

1st October 2012

RSC hit by yet another on-stage protest over BP sponsorship

Theatre staff fail to stop members of the Reclaim Shakespeare Company jumping on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon and delivering a surprise anti-BP performance in front of a full house.

Watch the film at www.bp-or-not-bp.org/news/twelfthnight/:

BP’s wyrd Executives are removed from the Museum by security, accompanied by loud declarations of approval from the other performers. Photo by David Hoffman.

Today (22.7.12), twelve members of the 'Reclaim Shakespeare Company' staged an unexpected protest performance inside the 'Shakespeare: Staging the World' exhibition at the British Museum.

(Image by Leo Murray, West London, July 20122)

'Brandalism – The Art of Self Defence

The Brandalism project brought 25 artists from 8 countries coming together for the biggest subvertising campaign in UK history.  Over five days a team of guerilla installers travelled to Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and London and put up artworks that seeks to confront the ad industry and take back our visual landscapes.

The results can be seen on their gallery page……

http://brandalism.org.uk/gallery-page/

Image by Kennard-Phillipps

'Candle' by Polyp