In the past several weeks, the climate activists Just Stop Oil have attached themselves to the frames of famous artworks across museums and galleries in the U.K.
They glued themselves on some paintings, including a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper at the Royal Academy of Art in London, van Gogh’s Peach Trees in Blossom (1889) at London’s Courtauld Gallery, and a J. M. W. Turner’s Thomson’s Aeolian Harp (1809) at Manchester Art Gallery.
The activists also stuck themselves on the frame of a Constable’s The Hay Wain (1821) at the National Gallery in London after covering it with a reimagined version. The reimagined version depicts a dystopia scene that shows how oil will destroy a countryside area.
All of these paintings have no damage during the protests.
On the Just Stop Oil official website, one of the members said that the protest demands to “halt all new oil and gas right now”. The environment activists will continue to disrupt art institutions until the government makes a meaningful statement to stop oil exploration.
Why did the climate activists target artworks? Simon Bramwell, one of the Just Stop Oil members, told Artnews.com, “This is not about negating the beauty of art but a way of saying that our priorities are absolutely fucked right now. There are people wandering around these art galleries finding beauty inherent in art that depicts nature, and yet are unable to comprehend the beauty that is disappearing with our ancient forests, or the hundreds of species that are going extinct each day.”
Bramwell tells the idea behind attachment to paintings comes from Ai Weiwei’s smashed the Ming-era vase. Ai Weiwei’s work aims to question how and by whom cultural values are created, while the activists also attempt to challenge the core value of our culture regarding the destruction of environment.
According to Bramwell, “we can’t say that we’re civilized… if we’re intent on ignoring the destruction of this planet and the suffering of people”. The climate activist also wants to wake people up to the fact that we will be in catastrophe if the degrees keep increasing to 1.5 Celsius, and some parts of Earth will be uninhabitable if we hit 2 degrees Celsius.
The disruption of art institutions not only aims to draw public attention but is also based on the assumption that art can lead to change. As Bramwell says, “Politics will always follow culture”. Through the civil disobedience against art institutions, the activists want to tell the truth that we live in danger.