At the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, climate activists clung to transparent tarpaulins covering Andy Warhol’s famous “Campbell’s Soup” silkscreens on Wednesday. As the capital museum announced, the artworks were not damaged during the campaign. Members of the Stop Fossil Fuel Grants group in Australia also painted graffiti on the sails. The museum would not comment further on the action.
Video footage of two protesting women at the action circulated on social networks. “Andy Warhol portrayed consumerism gone mad in this iconic series,” the activist group’s Bonnie Cassen said in a statement. “And now we have capitalism gone mad. Families have to choose between medicines and food for their children, while fossil fuel companies are making record profits.”
Worldwide campaigns with artworks
For several weeks, climate activists have been holding similar protests in art museums around the world. Last Saturday, activists clung to paintings by Baroque master Francisco de Goya at the Prado Museum in Madrid. The day before, environmentalists from the Last Generation group spilled pea soup on a Vincent van Gogh painting in Rome. Previously, at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, mashed potatoes were thrown at a photo of Claude Monet.
Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” in the Louvre and Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” in The Hague were also the target of similar protests. A month ago, two climate activists stuck to a Picasso painting in Melbourne, Australia. Because all the affected artworks were behind glass, they remained undamaged.
With their actions, the activists want to make clear the urgency of measures against global warming. That valuable works of art are attacked in this way is criticized in many places.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
