Banksy protest at Bristol Museum - Exit through the departure lounge?

New work left on wall challenges recent exhibition

A painting of Bristol airport sunk beneath a kitsch seascape appeared on the walls of Bristol City’s Museum today. Plane Stupid received a report at 12.30pm that a painting, which appears to be a Banksy, had been spotted next to the recently closed exhibition on aviation.

The graffiti artist has previously enjoyed a close relationship with the institution, his exhibition there in 2009 featured several modified landscapes and drew round-the-block queues. But Banksy’s reputation is built on his talent for the subversive, and it seems that he’s returned to pass comment on ‘Flight’, the recent aviation industry exhibition.

Anna Key from Plane Stupid commented.
“ We're not surprised that Banksy would want to throw a cheeky word in on this one. Expanding Bristol airport at a time of climate crisis is a seriously dark joke. 98% of climate scientists agree- man made climate chaos is already with us. The unprecedented flooding in Pakistan and Australia have painted a pretty bleak picture of what all our futures could look like.”

Jo Stevens from Plane Stupid added
“ We just can’t afford to keep heating the skies. Especially when so many of us can’t even afford to heat our homes. It’s crazy to put taxpayers' money into new roads for Bristol airport at a time when public services are suffering massive cuts.”

Minister Eric Pickles recently decided to approve the tarmacking of greenbelt to expand Bristol airport, which is expected to add 30,0000 more tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year Recent studies have shown that far from boosting growth, airports export money and jobs from the tourism industry (2).


Ends…………


Notes to editors.

1) The projected increase in greenhouse gas emissions based on BIA’s calculations of CO2, which estimated emissions in 2005 to be 430000 tonnes, and the projected output to be 7300000 tonnes. If plans go ahead, and the governments own calculator for radiative forcing and other gases from plane exhausts are included, this would make the airports sum annual output of greenhouse gasses more than those of Bristol and North East Somerset combined. Source www.nobristolairportexpansion.uk

2) Airportwatch place the UK’s annual ‘tourism deficit’ from aviation at around £17 billion every year. This figure doesn’t take into account the loss of revenue created by the lack of VAT on aviation fuel, which effectively subsidises the industry by about £9 billion a year. Source www.airportwatch.org.uk

3) In a 2009 report by the UN estimates that 300,000 people die every year as a result of climate change.

4) The expansion of aviation is still the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gases.

5) We fly more in the UK than any other country in the world. Flying is by far and away the largest contributor to most people's carbon footprint.

6) A new third runway at Heathrow was eventually stopped by public resistance earlier this year.