London Rising Tide visit Tate Britain to draw attention to the way BP (and other corporate sponsors) use such deals to greenwash their way out of troublesome questions about their actual record. This is also part of LRT's ongoing actions against the planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.
London Rising Tide and friends met at Tate Britain on Tuesday 30th September, heavily fortified as it is by BP 'helios' logos. Climbers hung the 'No Public Money for Baku-Ceyhan pipeline' banner across the road while a few of us wandered in, distributing 'How much do you know about BP, sponsor of Tate Britain?' leaflets to staff and public alike. Many staff muttered their agreement with the anti-BP sentiments but were nervous to be seen associating with us. The public were pretty receptive, especially some initially bemused but soon on-side students from Chester, one of whom now has a picture of us outside holding the 'BP sponsors climate chaos' banner as part of her 'my trip to London' film.
Inside, several big 'BP destroys...' stickers found their way onto green BP logos, and many leaflets found their way into leaflet racks, notice boards and books in the shop. Eventually - after at least 20 minutes of hearty subversion - we were apprehended by security. I was escorted out through the main central gallery, which had such an invitingly resounding acoustic that I couldn't resist having a bit of a shout about BP. Every time I raised my voice, though, my captor raised his to almost the same level so as to drown me out. Frightened primary schoolchildren probably didn't take in much more than 'scary loud suited man in very quiet very big room', so I appealed to their teacher to explain to them later on, though I've no idea if that will have happened.
Back outside, we unfurled said 'BP sponsors' banner which we nestled under the BP logo'd Tate flag, as well as leafletting and chatting with intrigued visitors. (In fact, they were probably most intrigued by the arbitrary invisible line marking the end of the Tate's private property and the beginning of the public pavement, since the stroppy Community Support Officer was enforcing our exclusion from the private property with great zeal.) The Tate employees who were making sure we didn't stray onto their territory wouldn't send down any Tate corporate sponsorship apologist to debate with us, by the way.
It was a bit quiet, unfortunately, so we cleared off fairly soon after that. In a way I'm most interested in the reverberations amongst the workforce, which may pay off in unexpected ways. I also overheard them saying they'd informed BP, which is good news.
Inside, several big 'BP destroys...' stickers found their way onto green BP logos, and many leaflets found their way into leaflet racks, notice boards and books in the shop. Eventually - after at least 20 minutes of hearty subversion - we were apprehended by security. I was escorted out through the main central gallery, which had such an invitingly resounding acoustic that I couldn't resist having a bit of a shout about BP. Every time I raised my voice, though, my captor raised his to almost the same level so as to drown me out. Frightened primary schoolchildren probably didn't take in much more than 'scary loud suited man in very quiet very big room', so I appealed to their teacher to explain to them later on, though I've no idea if that will have happened.
Back outside, we unfurled said 'BP sponsors' banner which we nestled under the BP logo'd Tate flag, as well as leafletting and chatting with intrigued visitors. (In fact, they were probably most intrigued by the arbitrary invisible line marking the end of the Tate's private property and the beginning of the public pavement, since the stroppy Community Support Officer was enforcing our exclusion from the private property with great zeal.) The Tate employees who were making sure we didn't stray onto their territory wouldn't send down any Tate corporate sponsorship apologist to debate with us, by the way.
It was a bit quiet, unfortunately, so we cleared off fairly soon after that. In a way I'm most interested in the reverberations amongst the workforce, which may pay off in unexpected ways. I also overheard them saying they'd informed BP, which is good news.
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