Activists from London Rising Tide staged a 'die-in' in the BP sponsored Tate Britain on 4 January. Bob Jones from LRT said, "We're here to demand that the Tate cut its ties with BP; an art gallery is no place for an environmental hazard such as an oil company".
"BP are here to greenwash their image and distract from the ecological devastation they're causing around the world". The protesters handed out lots of leaflets and urged patrons to demand the end of oil company sponsorship of art galleries. (CLICK 'read more' TO SEE VIDEO)
The 'corpses' were dressed in T-shirts dispalying the logos such as 'Art Not Oil', 'BP - Fossil Fools' and 'BP out of the Tate'. Their epitaphs was fitting for the location. Once dead the staff on site took the precaution of shouting to everybody to leave which only attracted more people, and over 200 flyers were given out inside the building.
Several members of the public were very supportive and even told the staff to stop trying to move us; "these people are making more of a statement than most of the art in this room" was something I heard being said.
We asked the Tate for a representative to discuss the policy of accepting money from social criminals, but they refused as all directors were 'still on holiday'. A shame....and I bet they flew too!
All in all, a good day with excellent public response.
We will be back.
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