Protest against BP polluters’ ‘artwash’

This video about the USA says about itself:

Profit, Pollution, and Deception: BP and the Oil Spill. BBC documentary

1 November 2013

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the BP oil disaster, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Macondo blowout) began on 20 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. It claimed eleven lives and is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, an estimated 8% to 31% larger in volume than the previously largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill.

Following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, until it was capped on 15 July 2010. The total discharge has been estimated at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3).

This video from England says about itself:

Reverend Billy Talen Exorcising BP out of Tate Liverpool

Exorcising BP out of Tate Liverpool 28 April 2015.

With the Stop Shopping Choir.

Tate has revealed oil giant BP donated £3.8m to its galleries as part of its sponsorship deal over a 17-year period.

The figures have been released after Tate lost a three-year Freedom of Information battle, brought by environmental campaigners.

Activist group Platform said Tate should cut its ties with the oil industry for ethical reasons, as the money was “easily replaceable” .Tate said BP’s sponsorship “fits in” with its “ethical policy”.

By Will Stone in Britain:

Activists perform musical protest over BP pollution

Wednesday 29th April 2015

SIXTY grassroots activists stormed the foyer of Tate Liverpool yesterday and formed an impromptu choir to sing protest songs about oil giant BP to the melodies of Beatles songs.

The campaigners joined New York musician collective Reverend Billy and The Stop Shopping choir inside the prestigious art museum, which takes sponsorship funding from BP.

This video from England says about itself:

28 April 2015

Reverend Billy & the Stop Shopping Choir join a crowd of Liverpudlians at Tate Liverpool in opposition to BP‘s continued funding at Tate institutions around the UK. In collaboration with Mel Evans and the Institute For The Practice Of Art And Dissent In The Home. More info at revbilly.com.

The Will Stone article continues:

They wept in remembrance of the fifth anniversary of the oil giant’s Deepwater Horizon spill, the damage of which is still being felt by communities living along the Gulf coast today.

Singing “the Gulf of Mexico coast is dying, BP keeps on lying” to Beatles tunes including Eight Days a Week, You Really Got a Hold on Me and You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, the performance protest involved a projected image of the spill on the seabed.

“These oil companies are clinging on to every aspect of our lives — we have to rip them out,” exclaimed Reverend Billy.

The group was made up of artists, students, local activists on a lunch break from work and several children. Author Mel Evans, whose book Artwash was launched in Liverpool at the News From Nowhere bookshop yesterday evening, said the Tate “desperately” needs to “artwash” BP from its public image.

“Tate refuses tobacco and arms funding and it should end oil sponsorship too,” she added.

Campaigners are calling on all major public institutions to disentangle themselves from the oil industry.

The performance lasted around half an hour inside the gallery but the choir continued singing on the Albert Dock.

A Tate spokeswoman said the gallery remained open to the public throughout the protest.

A CLIMATE-CONSCIOUS art collective closed off the Tate Modern at the weekend with a 25-hour live installation in protest against the art museum’s links to oil company BP: here.