Art Not Oil - previous site "archive" - to 06th Oct 2013

http://blog.platformlondon.org/content/coming-soon-tate-tate-audio-tour

29 July 2011 - For Immediate release 

Selected artists for guerrilla sound art commission announced
 ‘Tate a Tate’ an audio tour in response to BP-sponsorship of Tate to be launched in Autumn 2011
 
The artists that will be creating a major new sound installation inside Tate institutions have been announced. ‘Tate a Tate’ is a site-specific audio tour in three parts that addresses the increasingly controversial issue of BP-sponsorship of UK’s premier arts institution. The three conceptually different works are being designed to be experienced in Tate Britain, Tate Modern and on the Tate riverboat that transports people between the two institutions.
 
The artists that will be working on the project are:
 

Ansuman Biswas (Tate Britain)
Phil England and Jim Welton (Tate Modern)
Isa Suarez, Mark McGowan and Mae Martin (Tate riverboat)

 
The announcement of the new work comes at a time when Tate is coming under increasing amounts of criticism for its sponsorship links with the oil giant, with art-interventions on the subject being featured in 2011 on Channel 4 News, the Guardian and on the front page of the Financial Times.
 
Kevin Smith from arts/activist/research group PLATFORM said:
 
 “The rooms full of amazing art in Tate galleries are creating a disconnect between the discrete little BP sunflower logos, and the horrific impacts that the company has on the climate, and communities and ecosystems around the world. This unsanctioned sound installation inside Tate galleries will provide visitors with a new experience of the presence of BP within those spaces.”
Sheena Swain from art-interventionists Liberate Tate said:
 
“BP has embarked on its first major advertising campaign since the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe, and it has chosen to feature its sponsorship programme in these adverts instead of its primary product. They are now focusing on advertising their own sponsorship. In the adverts sportspeople are seen in galleries and museums and in one case one of Britain's top athletes is seen running on a pristine beach. BP’s sponsorship of arts institutions like Tate is clearly not an act of philanthropy, it’s a very cheap piece of PR to detract attention away from the devastation it is causing around the world.”  
 
The audio tour, which will be launched in Autumn, will be downloadable from a website onto MP3 players and smart phones. Listeners will be able to move about the Tate galleries and hear this alternative tour. The completion of ‘Tate a Tate’ will be celebrated in a special Liberate Tate performance of the sound works.
 
The work has been commissioned by the groups PLATFORM, Art Not Oil and Liberate Tate, and has been supported through a crowd funding initiative, through the Artists Project Earth and Network for Social Change foundations and through Arts Council England.
 
For more info/comment, call 07847 830164 or email kevin@platformlondon.org
 
***** ENDS ******
 
Notes to the editors
 
PLATFORM (www.platformlondon.org) works across disciplines for social and ecological justice. It combines the transformatory power of art with the tangible goals of campaigning, the rigour of in-depth research with the vision to promote alternative futures. Contact: info@platformlondon.org
 
Liberate Tate (http://liberatetate.wordpress.com/) is an art collective exploring the role of creative intervention in social change dedicated to taking creative disobedience against Tate until it drops its oil company funding. Contact: liberatetate@gmail.com
 
Art Not Oil (www.artnotoil.org.uk) encourages artists – and would-be artists – to create work that explores the damage that companies like BP and Shell are doing to the planet, and the role art can play in counteracting that damage. Contact info@artnotoil.org.uk.
 

Ansuman Biswas was born in Calcutta and trained in the UK. He has an international practice encompassing music, film, live art, installation, writing and theatre. He is interested in hybridity and interdisciplinarity – often working between science, art and industry, for instance, or between music, dance and visual art. Ansuman has worked with the Royal Opera House and the National Theatre as well the Guangddong Museum of Modern Dance and the India International Centre. He has shown work at Tate Modern, The South London Gallery, The Whitechapel Gallery, the ICA, the Edinburgh Festival, and also in Johannesburg,  San Francisco, New York, Delhi, Rangoon, The Amazon, and even in zero gravity!

 www.ansuman.com

 Environmental and current affairs journalist Phil England writes for The Independent, New Internationalist, The Ecologist and Variant. Between 2003 and 2009 he produced over 70 hours of radio about climate change for Resonance FM and numerous other radio stations around the globe (archived at www.climateradio.org).  Throughout the 1990s he worked for London Musicians Collective where, in 1998, he co-founded the UK's first arts radio station Resonance FM as part of John Peel's Meltdown Festival at the South Bank Centre.
Sound and radio artist Jim Welton has been commissioned by Austrian and Dutch national broadcasters and was selected as artist-in-residence for the Deep Wireless Festival in Toronto in 2007. He has been engaged as a sound designer by The Burns Museum and the Science Museum. He produced a weekly half hour show for Resonance FM entitled The Harmon E Phraisyar Show that ran for five years. Welton is the subject of a documentary by Luke Fowler entitled, “The Way Out”. His musical work - under aliases such as Amos, L Voag and Xentos "Fray" Bentos - includes work with The Homosexuals, Amos & Sarah, Milk From Cheltenham and Die Trip Computer Die.
 
Isa Suarez is a composer, songwriter, performer and sound-artist. Her work addresses socio-political issues and suggests feelings and atmospheres. Her recent film soundtracks include: Carpe Diem/Canada; Paths Through Utopias/France/UK; Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World/U.K. She has exhibited at The Whitechapel Art Gallery, Tate Britain, South London Gallery, Barbican Arts Centre and shown public and site-specific works in U.K and worldwide: Taxi Voices/Cape 09 Art Biennale/South Africa; Río Platense/Europe, USA, Argentina; And While London Burns, The Human Rights Jukebox, The De-normalize Cell/U.K. She has collaborated with Amnesty International, Etoy, Creative Routes, Transglobal Underground, The Revolutionary Dub Warriors.

www.isasuarez.com
 
Mae Martin is an award-winning Canadian stand-up comedian. Her work is a unique blend of songs and stand up comedy that mines her neurotic visions of the impending apocalypse, her extremely strong feelings about certain celebrities, and her adventures in androgyny. NOW Magazine recently praised her “smart, deadpan observations”, and Xtra Magazine called her “witty and wickedly funny.”

www.maemartin.com
 

Mark McGowan aka The Artist Taxi Driver, is a British artist working in the expanding field of art and is an associate lecturer at Chelsea College of Art and Design

"McGowan’s work takes the ghost of performance art and uses it to haunt the mass media, and the art world, with their own bad faith." JJ Charlesworth

"Mark McGowan is the pre-eminent performance artist working in Britain today." Will Self.

http://markmcgowan.org/

Spotted out and about in London town this week:

Spotted on the London Underground recently...

Spotted in a caff somewhere in London recently...

All photos by Peter Marshall: http://mylondondiary.co.uk

This from the UK Tar Sands Network:

'Dearest brethren,Monday saw extraordinary scenes as we joined Reverend Billy and the Church of Earthalujah to exorcise the beast that is BP from the Tate Modern Turbine Hall. Filling the huge space inside the former power station with singing, clapping and chanting, crowds of people joined the Rev in a piece of protest performance art that was at times sombre, at times raucous, at times oily – and ultimately incredibly powerful. Watch the film (above) to find out what the hell we’re talking about.'

www.no-tar-sands.org

************

This from Rev central:

'At the Tate Modern in London, British Petroleum seeks to capture our imagination by hitching its BP sunflower logo to the Miro exhibit. The artistic experience is then reduced to a dangerously passive consumerism. Only the Earth itself, a kind of freak storm inside, can free us from such a damaging lie.

We tried to let all the victimized life of BP come through us on Monday. We prayed, screamed, circle-danced, rubbed out the logo as the police mused.... Amen! May the fossil fuel companies find our interruptions are weekly, daily, hourly -- as constant as fabulous bad weather!'

www.revbilly.com

(NB. It's true that BP doesn't directly sponsor the Miro exhibition, but it supports the Tate brand, so therein lies the connection...)

And in more caffeinous detail:

http://www.revbilly.com/chatter/blog/2011/26/the-exorcism-of-tate-modern-caffeinated-at-40000-ft

Some media...

Evening Standard:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jul/19/arts-diary-bp-tate-malick

See also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/jul/19/reverend-billy-tate-modern-bp

Reverend Billy and The Church of Earthalujah invite you to a service at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall on Monday 18 July, 5.30.

An exorcism of the evil spirit of BP, brought to you by Liberate Tate, UK Tar Sands Network, Rising Tide, Art Not Oil and Climate Rush...

Brothers and sisters, a dark beast lurks within the bosom of one of our most cherished arts institutions. While good-hearted, god-fearing, gallery goers glory in the miracle of art, the beast below is encircling the planet with its oily tentacles, destroying righteous communities, poisoning God’s beauteous creations, and bringing us all ever closer to the climate apocalypse.

And the name of that beast is BP. For 20 long years, BP has embedded its foulness deep within the Tate, using the fair face of the arts to mask the stench of its true nature.

On Monday 18 July, join Reverend Billy and & The Church of Earthalujah, as we lay hands on the Tate Modern, and cast out the evil demon of BP’s oil sponsorship.

The Reverend Billy & The Church of Earthalujah will also be performing in London on the Sunday evening at Conway Hall

Info here: http://revbilly.com/events/earthalujah-tour/london

*Reverend Billy and The Church of Earthalujah *

THE CHURCH OF EARTHALUJAH featuring Reverend Billy and the 35-voice Stop Shopping Gospel Choir is part theater piece, part church service, part performance art and wholly inspirational. Family friendly but big bank deadly, The Church of Earthalujah condemns the corporate exploiters and polluters of the world to the Lake of Hellfire - especially the ones that spew CO2 through mountaintop removal, hydro-fracking, super malls and shipping sweatshop products long distances with with fossil fuel-burning engines. We believe that the fires and droughts and quakes and typhoons are not natural disasters, but shout-outs from this big living thing we’re a part of. The message is loud and clear when we learn to put our ears to the dirt:

www.revbilly.com

Rev. Billy Tate Modern London 18th July 2011

Reverend Billy leads mass exorcism in Tate Modern Turbine Hall over 'taint' of BP sponsorship

Three ballet dancers interrupted BP’s third and final Summer Screen in Trafalgar Square[1], 30 minutes before the scheduled broadcast of the opera Cinderella began. The disturbance took the form of a short piece of dance based on Swan Lake [2], with the classic tale used as analogy for BP’s controversial investment in the Canadian tar sands [3],[4]. The performance featured the White Swan being smeared by an oily substance and suffocated with a cloth. The crowd of opera-lovers were very receptive, greeting the grand finale with applause and cheers. 

Charlie Byers, who played the prince, explained: “The tar sands are one of the biggest threats to the future of our climate [5]; they are also destroying local communities and wildlife, trampling indigenous rights, and running Canada out of water and natural gas. It is a key time to pressure BP to withdraw, as the corporation has already substantially invested in the tar sands but will not start profiting for years to come.”

Emily Coats, a campaigner with the UK Tar Sands Network, who played the White Swan Odette, said: “Most people have never heard of tar sands, and BP would be happy to keep it that way. We used classical dance – an unusual campaigning medium – to introduce the issue to a new audience. The performance was meant to be enjoyed, but also to shock, with a visible struggle between a vulnerable creature and a powerful oil giant.” 

Will McCallum, of campaign group Art of Activism, who played the ‘BP’ villain Rothbart, said: “By sponsoring the Summer Screens, BP is bringing art to thousands of people, but it is also creating a false image which hides its dirty investments. Public pressure has in the past caused institutions to stop accepting sponsorship from destructive companies. Without being able to put its name by our beloved cultural institutions, BP would suffer a real blow to its public legitimacy.”

[1] BP sponsors the Royal Opera House’s “Summer Screens” where ballets and operas are broadcast live in public spaces around the UK, including Trafalgar Square, for audiences to watch for free. The scheduled performance on 13th July was the opera Cendrillon (Cinderella).

[2] For a full synopsis of the piece, see bpwhiteswan.org (video below)

[3] BP announced in December 2010 its investment in the Sunrise Project, shared with Canadian company Husky Energy. Extraction is due to begin in 2014. http://www.no-tar-sands.org/campaigns/british-petroleum-bp/

[4] Canadian tar sands are the world’s largest and dirtiest industrial project: exacerbating global warming through deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, causing rare forms of cancer amongst First Nations communities, destroying vast tracts of forest habitat and threatening wildlife to extinction. For more information see no-tar-sands.org and oilsandstruth.org

[5] NASA Scientist James Hansen has said that irreversible climate change is inevitable if all the oil in Canada’s tar sands is burned. See   http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/17/barack-o…

No Tar Sands

http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2011/07/‘guerilla-ballet’-disrupts-bp-sponsored-opera-event-in-trafalgar-square/

See also: Hunt's Glass Slipper is Filling With Toxic Toes:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mark-donne/hunts-glass-slipper-is-fi_b_…

BP White Swan film

BP White Swan from You and I Films on Vimeo.

From the Evening Standard of the following day:

'On 14 June, guests and judges arriving for the BP Portrait Award ceremony came face to face with portraits of people affected by BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The blowout of the Deepwater Horizon caused the deaths of 11 oil workers and untold, ongoing damage to the people and the environment of the Gulf Coast.

 Lining the entrance to the National Portrait Gallery, London Rising Tiders were joined by folk from Climate Rush and Platform to mount our Living Exhibition of portraits from the Facing the Gulf project. As they entered the greenwash event, BP's guests all had to all had to see the portraits and hear the stories of the ordinary Gulf Coast residents who painted them, and whose lives have been damaged by the devastating oil spill. The portraits were created in workshops held on the Gulf Coast and led by UK artist Nick Viney. All of the paintings were submitted to the Portrait Award - unsurprisingly, they weren't included on the short-list. Tonight, we brought them 'home' to the award ceremony, where they were able to tell a powerful and important story. See Art Not Oil for a gallery of the project portraits.

American folk/eco-duo Sassafras performed 'Art Not Oil', which was written for the occasion, and other songs urging the NPG to free itself from BP's oily grasp. We handed out a thousand flyers which were well received by passersby and many guests, including one of the artists who had been short-listed for the prize, who said that he felt tainted by BP's sponsorship.

We invited Sandy Nairne, the NPG director, to take some time out from the evening's festivities to attend the Living Exhibition outside - also unsurpringly, he never showed. Clearly, he's not ready to face the fact that under his leadership the NPG is providing cover for BP's appalling safety record and continuing assault on the environment and people all over the world.

Next up: A new play, 'We Will Make You Whole', which dramatises the plight of Gulf Coast residents and which will feature the Facing the Gulf project portraits as part of the production, is on at Acquire Arts, Battersea from August 6th, 2011. We're preparing Sandy's invitation now - will he show up next time?'

Check out the great press coverage of the action:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/15/activists-bp-portrait-award

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23960733-activists-target-bp-at-gallery.do

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13770208

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=158235283

ARTISTS PROTEST AT BP PORTRAIT AWARD CEREMONY

13 June 2011 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Artists and climate activists will target the prestigious BP Portrait Award ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery today (14 June) in protest at BP’s continuing sponsorship of the award.

The artist collective Facing the Gulf submitted eight portraits to the award earlier this year, by artists from the US Gulf Coast who were directly affected by BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010. Tomorrow they will mount a ‘living exhibit’ outside the National Portrait Gallery, presenting the paintings to the judges and guests as they arrive at the event.

Facing the Gulf will be joined by climate activists from London Rising Tide. Together they aim to ensure that the faces and voices of communities destroyed by BP cannot be ignored by the company or the gallery.

The groups are angry that the National Portrait Gallery continues to allow BP to ‘greenwash’ its image by associating itself with culturally valued institutions. They argue that BP uses sponsorship to divert attention from the damaging effects of its practises internationally, including the Deepwater Horizon spill, the worst maritime oil spill in history. The protest is part of a larger campaign to force the National Portrait Gallery to end its sponsorship deal with BP.

Nancy Boulicault of Facing the Gulf said: ‘Concerned art lovers and climate justice activists will be displaying the Facing the Gulf portraits so that everyone coming into the National Portrait Gallery will be able to see the faces of the people who have been affected by BP's oil.’

The groups have invited Sandy Nairne, the gallery’s Director, to the alternative exhibition outside.

‘Sandy Nairne and the Portrait Award judges, including BP’s Des Violaris, should accept our invitation to the Living Exhibit," said Robin Jerilea, Facing the Gulf project artist. She continued: ‘In dealing with BP’s sponsorship the National Portrait Gallery is faced with hard questions. We, on the Gulf Coast, know how complicated the issues around oil exploitation are. It’s time to face them head on. We hope Mr Nairne take up this golden opportunity to learn about what BP does to people, communities and the environment when it takes off its ‘patron of the arts’ mask.’

Tony Cottee of London Rising Tide said: ‘It is a national shame that our public cultural institutions continue to play their part in covering up BP’s environmental and social crimes around the world. We are here to remind Britain’s cultural elite of what truly lies beneath BP’s carefully cultivated green image, and to warn the National Portrait Gallery that their own reputation is at risk through their association with a company as tainted as BP.’

The Living Exhibit will take place at 5.45 PM outside the National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin’s Place, London. Media are welcome to attend.

ENDS

For more information, interviews and high res photos of the portraits to be displayed:

• Tony Cottee, London Rising Tide, london@risingtide.org.uk / 07708 794 665
• Nancy Boulicault, Facing the Gulf, facingthegulf@gmail.com / 0208 455 6894

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The BP Portrait Award is an annual prize for contemporary international portraiture. The award ceremony takes place on 14 June, and the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery opens to the public on 16 June. The award has been sponsored by BP for the past 21 years. In 1989 the oil giant took over sponsorship from the tobacco company John Player & Sons after tobacco was seen as too socially unacceptable to be a sponsor.
2. Facing the Gulf - Portraits of Oil is a community arts project documenting the experience of empowering Gulf Coast residents to paint portraits of the Gulf Coast to enter into the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
   www.facingthegulfportraitsofoil.blogspot.com
3. London Rising Tide takes creative direct action to confront the root causes of climate change, and promotes equitable, community-run solutions.
   www.risingtide.org.uk
4. The campaigners’ key concerns about BP’s practices include:
    
   • Deep water oil drilling. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill took place on 20th April 2010, and was caused by the explosion of BP’s DeepwateR Horizon oil rig, which killed 11 workers and triggered the largest marine oil spill in history. BP has recently restarted its drilling projects in the Gulf (http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/press/2011/press0408a.htm).
   • High-polluting tar sands extraction in Canada. In December 2010, BP announced it was releasing $2.5 billion to move forward with the Sunrise Project in northern Canada. (http://www.no-tar-sands.org/campaigns/british-petroleum-bp/http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2011/04/campaigns/british-petroleum-bp/)
   • Arctic drilling. Despite continuing disputes between the US and Russia over ownership of Arctic resources, BP recently announced a $7.8B deal with Russian state oil producer Rosneft to push ahead with oil exploration above the Arctic circle. (http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7066710)
   • Human rights breaches. In February 2011 the UK government ruled that BP has been breaking OECD guidelines in Turkey where it has failed to investigate reports of torture and intimidation of local people who object to BP’s controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. (http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/r/11-766-revised-final-statement-ncp-btc.pdf)

On the first anniversary of BP's oil disaster, Climate Rush held a party and art show to protest outside Tate Britain. As they point out, disasters such as this oil spill are only a part of the enormous damage BP causes to the planet.

For immediate release: Thursday 21st April 2011

For more information contact Simon Bradley, 07984 541 490 

STUDENTS PROTEST BP'S SPONSORSHIP OF MANCHESTER MUSEUM 

​Activists from the University of Manchester erect an alternative BP logo to mark the first anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill 

Manchester (20th April 2011) - To mark the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, students from the University ofManchester have protested against BP's sponsorship of the ManchesterMuseum by erecting an alternative BP logo inside the museum. BP iscurrently sponsoring the museum's China: Journey to the Eastexhibition. Students from environmental campaign group People & Planetentered the museum and erected artwork depicting the BP logo drippingin oil. The protesters proceeded to hand out leaflets containinginformation explaining the harm BP that does to the environment, andwhy they feel that it is inappropriate for the Manchester Museum toaccept sponsorship money from BP. 

BP sponsors the Museum's current nine-month exhibition, China: Journeyto the East, which brings together objects from over 3,000 years ofChinese history. The exhibition opened last September and runs until June [1]. 

Wednesday 20th April is the one-year anniversary of the DeepwaterHorizon disaster, which caused the largest off-shore oil spill inAmerican history [2]. On 20th April 2010 a large explosion rippedthrough the BP-run Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The resultant spill sawmore than two million gallons of oil leak in to the Gulf of Mexico [3]. 

The People & Planet group at the University of Manchester is anautonomous part of the nationwide People & Planet network, whichbrings students together to campaign on issues of human rights and the environment. 

Said Annette Guilding, of People & Planet: “Although we have chosentoday, the first anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, for ouraction, that incident is just one small example from BP's litany ofcrimes against the environment. While we understand that theManchester Museum needs to find funding somehow, by accepting BP's oilmoney they are legitimising the company's other, harmful activities.By sponsoring cultural institutions and the arts, BP are trying tomake it seem like we need them – but we do not. As the Museum is partof our University, we feel it is up to us – the students – to take a stand against BP.” 

Philosophy student Simon Bradley said “BP have tried to rebrand themselves as a green company. However, they continue to invest in theworld’s most environmentally damaging projects. They are a hugecontributor to climate change. By subverting BP’s logo we aim tohighlight the fact that this is simply greenwash and that oil stilllies at the heart of BP’s business. We need to move beyond oil.” 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact Simon Bradley of University of Manchester People and Planeton 07984 541 490
or simonmarkbradley@gmail.com 

Photographs provided upon request. 

REFERENCES 

[1] http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/chinajourneytotheeast/

[2] http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-05-27-oil-spill-news_N.htm?csp=34news

[3]http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/08/new-estimate-puts-oil-leak-at-49-million-barrels.html  

This letter was pulled together by PLATFORM/Licence to Spill...

The Guardian, Wednesday 20 April 2011: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/20/tate-end-relationship-with-bp?INTCMP=SRCH

In the year since its catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has massively ramped up its investment in controversial tar sands extraction in Canada, has been shown to have been a key backer of the Mubarak regime in Egypt, and has attempted to commence drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean. While BP continues to jeopardise ecosystems communities and the climate by the reckless pursuit of "frontier" oil, cultural institutions like Tate damage their reputation by continuing to be associated with such a destructive corporation.

The massive cuts to public arts funding in the UK have left hundreds of culturally important arts organisations in a position of great financial vulnerability, which means that the debate about the appropriateness of particular potential corporate sponsors like BP and Shell is more relevant than ever. As people working in the arts, we believe that corporate sponsorship does not exist in an ethical vacuum. In light of the negative social and ecological impacts of BP around the world, we urge Tate to demonstrate its commitment to a sustainable future by ending its sponsorship relationship with BP. 

Naomi Klein writer

John Keane artist

Lucy R Lippard writer

Matthew Herbert sound artist/composer

Charles Thomson artist and co-founder, The Stuckists

Billy Childish artist

Leila Galloway artist, senior lecturer, DMU

Professor Brian Holmes cultural critic

Beverly Naidus artist, educator activist

Lorena Rivero de Beer performance artist, Free University of Liverpool

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith artist, cultural art worker

Lisa Wesley artist

Dr Wallace Heim academic writer

Fabio Sassi artist

Milena Placentile curator

Beka Economopoulos, Jason Jones and Ange Tran Not An Alternative arts collective

Emma Byron artist

Gary Anderson artist and educator, Free University of Liverpool

Lena Simic artist, Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home

Lucy Neal producer, artist, educator

Rebecca Solnit writer activist

CJ Mitchell deputy director, Live Art Development Agency

the vacuum cleaner artist

Michelle Waters artist

Kooj Chuhan artist, creative produce

Salette Gressett International Arts Manager

Matthias von Hartz director, Hamburg International Festival

Dr. Loraine Leeson artist, Fulbright Scholar in Residence University of Washington Tacoma US

Amy Balkin artist and lecturer, California College of the Arts San Francisco, US

Mark McGowan artist, associate lecturer, Chelsea College of ArtJohn Jordan Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination

Cameron Davis artist, professor, University of Vermont

John Volynchook photographer

Roxane Permar artist

Noel Douglas artist, designer

Fran Crowe artist

Ritu Sood painter, writer

Monika Vykoukal curator 40

Cecilia Wee curator, writer

Hayley Newman artist

Jane Trowell artist, educator, Platform

Stephen Duncombe professor, New York University

Jonathan Baxter artist, arts organiser

Alejandro Meitin Ala Plastica

Carrie Reichardt co-founder, Treatment Rooms

Mike Russell photographer

Sean Scullion author and owner, Paganarchy Press

Aidan Jolly musician, digital artist, community artist

Jeffrey Blackler photographer

Brett Bloom artist

Mark Vallen painter, printmaker, writer

Carolyn M Stubbs fine artist, writer

Gloria Dawson writer

Ryan Van Winkle writer

Caroline Halliday artist

Doug Minkler artist

Tim Jeeves artist

Margareta Kern artist

Pamela Gilmore performer

Dr. Julia Lee Barclay writer, director

Ellie Harrison artist

Greg Patch artist

Calum F. Kerr artist

John Ledger artist

Phil Maxwell artist

Hazuan Hashim artist

Camilla Cancantata musician

Britt Jurgensen independent performance maker

Tom Besley assistant manager, Resonance FM

Christa Drennan consultant, mental health and the arts

Raoul Martinez artist

Carys Bryan artist

Jody Joanna Boehnert designer

Bridget McKenzie cultural consultant

Edgeworth Johnstone artist

Victoria Lucas artist

Mary Paterson artist

Nick Viney artist40

Peter Harrison artist

Alana Jelinek artist

Karen Grant artist

Mikk Murray artist

Robby Herbst artist, teacher, Llano Del Rio Collective

Maria Bartolo fine art lecturer

Peter Cusack sound artist, field recordist

Marcia Farquhar sculptor and story-teller

Jordan Baseman artist

Jem Finer artist

Marsha Bradfield artist

John Cussans artist

Tim O'Riley artist

Josephine Berry Slater editor, Mute magazine

Jennet Thomas artist, senior lecturer at Wimbledon College of Art

Cat Phillipps artist

Anna Best artist

Paul Noble artist

Andy Best media artist

John Hartley artist, co-director, Difference Exchange

Jonathan Allen artist

Alex Brew artist, curator, writer

Ben Eastop arts consultant

Gareth Evans writer, curator

Angela Kingston curator

Jo Joelson artist, co-director, London Fieldworks

Phil England co-founder, Resonance FM

Max Pugh film-maker

Neil Callaghan artist

Jamie Perera sound artist

Alaina Simone independent curator, artist agent and creative consultant

Marianne Soisalo artist, eko noiz

Felix Gonzales film-maker

Hemant Anant Jain writer, illustrator

Kerry Burton artist

Peter Offord artist

Sai Murai (Simon Murray) poet, artist, Liquorice Fish

Immo Klink artist, photographer

Amber Hickey artist

Kate Rich artist 40

Sue Palmer artist

Siobhan Mckeown video editor

Maya Ramsay artist

Lisa Nowlain artist

Stuart Bracewell artist

Jon Sack artist, writer

Professor Stephen Bottoms University of Leeds

Helen Sloane curator

Ed McKeon contemporary music specialist, curator, lecturer and broadcaster

Ian Mack painter

Heather McRobie novelist, journalist

Amy Scaife photographer

Dr Isabelle Fremeaux Birkbeck College

Guppi Bola art activist

Silvia Sellitto artist

Dr Anja Kanngieser radio-maker, Birkbeck College

Muriel Louveau performer, composer

Ruppe Koselleck artist

Ryan Frank designer

Simon Scardanelli composer

Yolanda de los Bueis artist

Space Hijackers artists, performers

Darren Sutton art-interventionist, Liberate Tate

Isabeau Doucet painter

Federico Zukerfeld artist, member of the International Errorist movement

Mark Godber producer

Sam Trotman producer

Dr Hilary Ramsden artivist, researcher

Gill Lloyd and Judith Knight directors, arts admin

Tom Pengelly artist

Rick Burgess artist

Lawrence Sullivan artist, researcher Chelsea College of Art and Design

Shelley Sacks social sculpture practitioner

Isa Suarez composer, sound artist

Justin Randolph Thompson artist

Dathini Mzayiya artist

Liliana Dmitrovic artist

Rob Van Beek artist

PG Lyons artist, editor40

Kristian Buus photographer

Jaime Gili visual artist

Marc James Léger cultural worker

Hugh Lewis film-maker, artist

Andrew Boyd author, producer

Katherine Ball artist

Luke Munn artist, curator

Clare Patey artist, curator

Kenny Young Artists Project Earth

(Photo by Amy Scaife: http://www.amyscaife.co.uk)

20.4.11: Art activists stage performance against gallery links with BP

Art & Business: An Unhappy Marriage?

Full article on the Channel 4 News site

liberatetate@gmail.com

07974 994188

Wednesday (20 April) artists from art activist group Liberate Tate are staging a performance in the Tate Britain on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days.

A naked member of the group has had an oil-like substance poured over him by silent figures dressed in black and wearing veils, and is now lying in a foetal position on the floor in the middle of the exhibition Single Form. Dedicated to the human body, Single Form is one of a series of ‘BP British Art Displays’ staged throughout the galleries of Tate Britain.

Sandra Paige, a participant in the performance, said: “It’s astonishing that Nick Serota and other Tate executives can be so blind to the horrific social and environmental impacts that BP is responsible for around the world. From the destruction of fisherfolks’ livelihoods in the Gulf of Mexico, to the indigenous communities in Canada fearing for their very survival – the human cost of BP’s oil extraction is staggering.”

The intervention comes as pressure grows for the art institution to sever its links with the increasing controversial oil company. Earlier in the week, a public demonstration took place in the Tate Modern over its links with BP and in the Guardian today, 166 people who work in the arts including Naomi Klein, John Keane and Matthew Herbert published a letter urging the Tate “to demonstrate its commitment to a sustainable future by ending its sponsorship relationship with BP”.

Terry Taylor, one of the members of Liberate Tate said: “Many important cultural institutions have been the victim of the government’s cuts in arts funding recently. The fact that many organisations will be actively looking for new funding means that the debate around the ethics of corporate sponsorship is more important than ever. Oil companies like BP are responsible for environmental and social controversy all over the world, and we can’t let their sponsorship of institutions like Tate detract from that fact.”

In the last year BP has increased investment in dangerous tar sands extraction in Canada, it has been shown to be a key backer of Mubarak’s repressive regime in Egypt and to have broken international rules governing its human rights responsibilities, and it has attempted to commence drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean. Whilst BP destroys ecosystems, communities and the climate, it has also sought to silence the voices of its critics.

Despite numerous freedom of information requests, Tate refuses to disclose details of its arrangement with BP.

Terry Taylor of Liberate Tate said: “By refusing to disclose the extent of BP sponsorship, Tate is preventing the necessary public debate from taking place. It’s time it came clean about just how much dirty oil money is propping up public arts institutions.”

*** ENDS ***

(Photo by Amy Scaife: http://www.amyscaife.co.uk)

Notes to editors:

For more information, interviews and photo and video footage, contact: liberatetate@gmail.com or call 0797 4994188 liberatetate.org twitter.com/liberatetate

Photos will be made available through www.rexfeatures.com

The letter signed in the Guardian today by 166 artists can be seen at http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/20/tate-end-relationship-with-bp

Liberate Tate is a network dedicated to taking creative disobedience against the Tate until it drops its oil company funding. The 20 April art activist performance follows earlier self-curated performances at Tate such as:

• ‘Dead in the water’: a contribution to Tate Modern’s 10th Birthday celebrations (May 2010) by hanging dead fish and birds from dozens of giant black helium balloons in the Turbine Hall

• ‘License to spill’: an oil spill at the Tate Summer Party celebrating 20 years of BP support (June 2010) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPpWPbEPspY&feature=related

• ‘Crude/Sunflower’: an installation art work which saw over 30 members of the collective draw a giant sunflower in the Turbine Hall with black oil paint bursting from BP-branded tubes of paint (September 2010) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW1HOndS2xk

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, although none had been planned, participants decided to continue their work together beyond the workshop and set up Liberate Tate.

Liberate Tate believes Tate is propping up the image of BP whilst it is engaged in socially and ecologically destructive activities incompatible with Tate’s ethical guidelines and the gallery’s vision of with regard to sustainability and climate change. The BP relationship not only damages Tate’s reputation, its mission is undermined as a growing number of visitors to the Tate cannot enjoy great art without the art museum making them complicit in the human cost of creating climate chaos.

In 2010 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 ahead of Tate Modern’s expansion into its cleaned out underground oil tanks.

(Photo by Amy Scaife: http://www.amyscaife.co.uk)

Check out Marketing Week on damage to BP's brand:

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/3025900.article?cmpid=MWE01&cmptype=newsletter&email=true

EMAIL tate

PRESS

NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM ACTIONSaturday 16 April 2011, 1pm The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, LondonOn a sunny spring weekend around 20 activists converged on Greenwich to take part in Climate Camp London's protest against BP's sponsorship of the National Maritime Museum. The event was part of a week-long series of actions and creative interventions against BP's sponsorship of art galleries and cultural institutions in London, planned to coincide with the first anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, which occurred as a consequence of BP's deepwater oil drilling operations. In an effort to repair it's tarnished reputation, and to divert attention from its reponsibility for the largest industrial oil disaster in history, BP is sponsoring major cultural institutions, including the National Maritime Museum. The NMM includes the Maritime Galleries, the Royal Obervatory and the Queens House, all of which overlook Greenwich Park. Greenwich Park is also a planned location for the London 2012 Olympics. As well as being the official oil and gas partner, BP is also one of the sustainability partners of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games (see the London 2012 site, here, for further info).Just before 1pm on saturday, activists from Climate Camp London erected a large white tent in the center of Greenwich Park. Passers-by were soon being engaged in conversation, with many being supportive of the aims of the protest. Children and parents were enticed by the oily cup cakes on offer, and the opportunity to make a paper boat to include in the flotilla petition that would be delivered to the museum at the end of the day. Many of the people spoken to were unaware of the extent of BP's sponsorship of cultural institutions, and there was strong agreement that public bodies such as the NMM should refuse to accept funding from BP.The event passed off smoothly, despite the attempts of local police to force the group to take down their tent, which they claimed needed a permit to be erected. The obvious determination of the activists to resist any attempts to move them on, and the family-friendly nature of the protest, gave the police little option than to let them have their way. Spirits were further lifted by the antics of Spongebob Squarepants and the BP Spillionaire, who kept the crowd entertained through the afternoon.Just before 5 o'clock a letter to the Director of the National Maritime Museum was delivered to museum staff, along with the flotilla petition which included around 100 paper boats. A diorama of an oil-covered Spongebob Squarepants and his oily pineapple house was also given to the museum to add to their collection. Around 800 flyers explaining the connection between BP's environmentally destructive oil extraction and its sponsorship of the arts were handed out over the course of the afternoon. And by being located directly under the viewing balcony of the Royal Observatory, the protest would have been captured in the lenses of a few thousand visitors to the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.For more photos, see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35069488@N08/sets/72157626390633207/
http://www.demotix.com/news/660562/climate-camp-activists-petition-maritime-museum-reject-bp-sponsors
http://www.demotix.com/news/660388/protesters-say-no-bp-sponsorshipCopy of letter delivered to Dr Fewster, Director of NMM:Dear Dr Fewster, The National Maritime Museum is rightly recognised as one of the the UK's greatest cultural institutions, and a wonderful display and archive of knowledge about Britain's maritime history.  But we are saddened by NMM's association with BP through the money you receive from BP Shipping. Wednesday, April 20th, marks the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 workers and caused countless damage to fragile ecosystems and to the local community. Subsequent investigations revealed that BP had overlooked numerous essential safety procedures to cut costs, and that BP has a history of safety violations across the US. BP had claimed that they had the capacity to deal with a deepwater blowout of this size, but the technologies they had prepared were clearly inadequate. Today, millions of people living along the Louisiana, Alabama and Florida  coasts have to deal with loss of their livelihoods through fishing and tourism. The Corexit used by BP to 'clean up' the oil has sent much of the oil to the sea floor, where it is severely damaging marine life. Corexit is banned in the UK as a dangerous and toxic substance and its negative ecological and human health impacts are well documented, but BP chose to spray millions of gallons - including directly onto fishermen working in their boats - of it into the Gulf so that the water would look cleaner from the surface. And it's not just fishermen who were affected by the spill. Schools throughout the three states, even in areas far from the coast, are suffering because of lost tax money usually brought in by tourism. Some are fighting back with lawsuits, while others are resorting to layoffs. BP pledged $20 billion of compensation money, but many of the claims aren't being honoured as families lose their mortgages, suffer oil and corexit-induced health problems and sink further into poverty. It is painfully ironic, then, that BP Shipping sponsors a museum that guards the history of many brave and resourceful individuals who lived by and on the seas. Here is what two mariners from Louisiana have to say to you:
'Isn't the purpose of a maritime museum to honour and support maritime endeavours? When we're gone, is that what will replace us? A museum?' (Tracy)
'We don't hate BP. I'm a fisherman and I used to work for BP. But I want them to drill responsibly, and take responsibility for their mistakes- and they can't buy their way out of this.' (Byron)  They can't buy their way out of this. BP benefits hugely from its association with the NMM, even though the museum is not publicly branded with its logo.  They use your historic buildings for corporate events and describe your relationship as an important part of their corporate social responsibility portfolio. But BP's business model is not socially responsible. At its AGM on Thursday, BP announced that they would be doubling oil exploration efforts. BP's "Energy Outlook 2030" reveals a business plan that is based around increasing levels of global fossil fuel consumption into the next few decades, committing the planet to climate chaos. If oil consumption continues in the way that BP wants, rising sea levels will go beyond the capacity of the Thames Barrier and London will be permanently flooded. If BP has their way, the Queen's House, the Maritime Museum and the Royal Naval College will all be underwater.Dr Fewster, we know that funding for institutions such as yours is facing hard times. But we appeal to your human judgement, and we ask that you publicly and comprehensively end your relationship with BP.  Now, go to: Events Resources PressTell Tate: stop taking BP's dirty money!

The great BP-sponsored sleep-in: REPORT

THE GREAT BP-SPONSORED SLEEP-IN

Sunday 17 April 2011, 2pm at Tate Modern, Bankside, London (map)

To mark the one year anniversary of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, join us for ‘The Great BP-sponsored sleep-in’, a 4-minute flash mob art installation inside Tate Modern. Imagine the turbine hall of this former power station filled with BP-branded sleeping figures, who will soon wake from their BP-sponsored coma to sound the climate alarm.BP’s greenwash is sleepwalking us into the climate crisis. BP sponsors galleries like Tate to try and clean up its tarnished image, and distract us from its devastating activities around the world. Every pound of dirty oil money accepted by Tate helps legitimise a long legacy of environmental destruction and human rights abuses.  It’s time to take off the blindfold, rub the sponsorship sleep from our eyes, and give Tate and BP a wake-up call.

This family friendly event will highlight BP’s sponsorship to the public, and show that we are not prepared to stand by as the Tate helps BP greenwash its image… and allow us all a few minutes to dream of a future free from oil spills and oil sponsorship of the arts. 

SIX STEPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL SPONSORED SLEEP-IN

1. Synchronise your watch using this website
2. Enter the building before 2PM
3. Choose your sleep-in spot – café, corridor, lift, gift shop, and of course exhibits are all fair game, but please pick somewhere on Levels 1 (turbine hall level), 2 or 3 (this is where our camera crews will be to film the fun).
4. At exactly 2.15PM, unpack your BP branded sheet, pillow, pyjamas, night cap, sleep mask, teddy bear, alarm clock, hot water bottle or any other sleep related props (see here for ideas and downloadable props) and start the sleep-in!
5. Exactly 4 minutes later, the flash mob will be over as alarm clocks sound the wake-up call throughout the gallery. Take off your sponsored blindfolds and bedding, leave them behind if you wish, and head outside to…
6. Post-slumber party on the South Bank. Listen to speakers from BP-affected communities from the Gulf of Mexico and the Canadian Tar Sands, help engage gallery-goers with leaflets and vox pop video messages, and enjoy live music and a pedal-powered sound system.

So join us on April 17th, and show the Tate that we won’t take oil sponsorship of the arts lying down!

Join the Facebook event (don't forget to invite all your friends!)

BP Week of Action

BP and culture:  time to break it off

A week of action to kick BP out of our cultural spaces

14 – 20 April 2011

In April last year, BP’s risky business in the Gulf of Mexico caused the deaths of 11 workers, triggered America’s largest ever environmental disaster, and sparked controversy about the role of one of the UK’s most iconic companies in our society. Plunged into a PR nightmare, BP has made a huge effort to reclaim its image, and reassure us all that it has learned its lessons and moved on. Nothing could be further from the truth. Last December, BP made the hugely controversial decision to start extracting high-polluting oil from the Canadian Tar Sands. It is pressing ahead with drilling in the fragile Arctic and deep-sea drilling in Russia. And, like every other year, BP is destroying the lives and livelihoods of frontline communities around the world.

BP Week of Action

BP and culture: time to break it off!

A week of action to kick BP out of our cultural spaces

14 – 20 April 2011

​Find out all about it at our dedicated BP Week of Action micro-site

http://liberatetate.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/alternative-tate-audio-tour-extended-deadline/

PRESS RELEASE from' Facing the Gulf - Portraits of Oil', 7.3.11:

Tel: (0)1 504 460 5845; facingthegulf@gmail.com

http://facingthegulfportraitsofoil.blogspot.com

New gallery of portraits: http://gallery.artnotoil.org.uk/v/Facing+the+Gulf/NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY BOSS INVITED TO EXHIBITION OF PORTRAITS BY THOSE HIT BY BP GULF OIL SPILL'To RSVBP or not to RSVBP?'
One of many questions for Sandy Nairne, Director of The National Portrait Gallery. 

There are exciting plans hatching in London to commemorate the first anniversary of BP (and friends') Deepwater oil spill. Watch this space for more info.

Where: Tate Britain, Millbank SW1

http://www.theecologist.org/reviews/events/763162/greenland_at_the_national_theatre.html

Hi there,I just wanted to give you a little update on where we are at with the Licence to Spill exhibition that you very kindly supported. Let me apologise in advance for the London-centric nature of this email.So, first of all, on Saturday the 5th of March, there is an event taking place in London called 6 Billion Ways, "a free day of debates, music, art, film and workshops to make another world possible." It's a great event, with a host of international speakers and different talks, taking place at Rich Mix on Bethnal Green Road. It's free, but you need to register beforehand.So, we are having a mini exhibition of the Liberate Tate performance/interventions at this event, that we wanted to invite you to come along and check out. At 5.00 on the day, we are also going to have a little workshop about the history of the interventions and where we are going next. All the info is here:http://6billionways.org.uk/2011/02/liberate-tate-exhibition/

Artist Nick Viney has created a poignant artistic memorial to the 11 lives lost in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster by representing them as oiled seabird sculptures.

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-ove…

For immediate release.

Oil Painting Protest over BP sponsorship in Tate Modern Turbine HallLiberate 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.

Should the art world dump BP?

Greenpeace boss Sauven on BP and the Tate:

http://www.artmonthly.co.uk/current.htm 

HIGH TIDE - MERSEY BASIN - LJMU ART & DESIGN ACADEMY

EXHIBITION EVENTS PROGRAMME - MARCH 2010

Lectures:
8 March, 6.00 – 7.30pm

15 March, 4.00 – 5.30pm

16 March, 4.00 – 5.30pm
Workshops:
Tours/Walks: