Jackie Taylor
Protesters put BP on trial for “gross deception” at British Museum
A group of fifty performers – many dressed as famous detectives – take part in flashmob protest and accuse museum of helping hide BP’s crimes.
Performers occupy the Great Court and hold a “people’s trial” of BP.
A Freedom of Information request reveals that BP sponsorship to the British Museum was just £596,000 per year from 2000- 2011 – around 0.8% of the museum’s income.
For interviews and photos, contact Chris from “BP or not BP?” on info@bp-or-not-bp.org or 07743197203.
On Sunday at 3pm, a large group of protesters descended on the British Museum in a flashmob protest against the museum’s controversial sponsorship deal with BP, watched by several hundred museumgoers. Dressed as famous police detectives, the group sang and searched for clues, before occupying the museum’s Great Court and holding a “people’s trial” of BP. The protesters accused BP of “gross deception” for attempting to cleanse its tainted brand through cheap sponsorship deals. A recent Freedom of Information request revealed that BP’s donation to the museum in 2000-2011 was just 0.8% of the museum’s income – an “embarrassingly small” amount, campaigners say. [1]
The theatrical flashmob began when two performers, dressed as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, launched into a rewritten version of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”, with lyrics highlighting BP’s corporate crimes. The oil company is officially the world’s biggest corporate criminal, having received the largest criminal fine in history ($4.5 billion) in November 2012 for its role in the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. [2] Many other detectives emerged from the afternoon crowds of museumgoers, before setting off to find the villainous BP, in the form of a human “oil spill”. Once apprehended, the performers put BP on trial in front of a judge and gave evidence by presenting images of BP’s high-risk extraction projects in the Arctic and the Canadian tar sands. They also recited the words of a Gulf Coast resident impacted by the Deepwater Horizon spill. The oily tyrant was then declared guilty and banished from the building in a musical procession.
Alice Hemming, who took part in the flashmob, said:
“On the last day of Museum Week [3], we have sent a clear message to the British Museum that we will not stand by while our much-loved cultural institutions are being used as a cheap PR tool for some of the world’s most destructive companies. Every day, the staff at the British Museum work to preserve the past, helping to shape our future. Neil MacGregor, the museum’s director should follow the museum’s own sustainability policy and end its unethical partnership with a company pushing us towards runaway climate change.”
Pressure is mounting on museums and galleries with links to oil companies. Last week, 36 leading climate scientists wrote an open letter to American museums and galleries, urging them to break their ties with the fossil fuel industry [4]. In January, the Tate was forced by an Information Tribunal to reveal details of the funding it receives from BP. Over 17 years, Tate received an annual average donation of £224,000 from the oil company – around 0.5% of its income. [5] The annual cost of buying the Tate’s support is roughly the same as a 30-second TV advert during the X-Factor final [6].
The British Museum continues to defend its controversial sponsorship relationship with BP, despite the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster [7], the company’s decision to start extracting highly polluting and destructive tar sands oil in Canada [8], its enormous contribution towards climate change [9], and its partnership with Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft in order to exploit the hazardous and vulnerable Arctic [10].
Having pleaded guilty to fourteen criminal charges over the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2012, BP is now in court facing a fine of up to $13.7 billion under the US Clean Water Act – with other claims still to come. In 2014, a senior judge in the case ruled that BP bore the majority of the responsibility for Deepwater Horizon, due to the company’s “grossly negligent” behaviour. [11
This was the ninth performance hosted by the activist theatre troupe, “BP or not BP?”, at the British Museum. Last month, the group gave a Sherlock Holmes-themed performance, setting the scene for today’s flashmob. [10] Other performances have included a series of Viking invasions in protest at last summer’s BP-branded Vikings Exhibition [12] and a Shakespearean flashmob to coincide with the 2012 BP-sponsored Shakespeare exhibition [13]
“BP or not BP?” is part of the Art Not Oil Coalition, alongside other anti-oil sponsorship campaign groups, such as Liberate Tate, Platform, UK Tar Sands Network, Rising Tide UK, Shell Out Sounds, Science Unstained, BP Out Of Opera and London Rising Tide. See www.artnotoil.org.uk