As recounted in this morning’s Daily Checklist, activists from Liberate Tate again targeted a sponsorship deal with British Petroleum (BP) in an “unsanctioned performance” at the Tate Britain and British Museum on Sunday. At Tate Britain, the protesters performed “Fifth Assessment,” a durational reading of the Fifth Assessment Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They were joined by actor Ezra Miller, who according to a release from the group “has a background in durational performance art.”
At the Tate Britain, a group of nine black-clad and veiled protesters took turns reading from the widely-cited United Nations climate change report, each lifting their veil as they stood in front of a music stand bearing the text. A folded paper sign placed before the readers acted as an explanatory text. It reads, in part:
As we bring the document to life, we are moving through significant cultural spaces, connecting them within the fabric of this key text for the UN climate negotiations in Paris later this year… In 2016 these sponsorship deals are due to expire, so our performing bodies rotate in formation like dystopic clockwork, echoing the bureaucracy of decision-making and deal breaking.
Liberate Tate later moved across the river to the British Museum, where they were joined by other arts activists from the Art Not Oil network. The group also targeted the Royal Opera House and National Portrait Gallery, both of which also receive BP sponsorship funds. Earlier this year, the Tate was legally compelled to disclose the value of its sponsorship agreement with BP after a freedom-of-information suit brought by Platform, an activist group aligned with Liberate Tate.
— Mostafa Heddaya (@mheddaya)
Video and images of the protest follow below:
(Photos: Liberate Tate/Martin LeSanto-Smith)
