* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Downtown Frederick Partnership announces Alive@Five season lineup – The Frederick News-Post

    Get Ready for Fun: Downtown Frederick’s Exciting Alive@Five Season Lineup Revealed!

    ‘American Idol’ Top 3 revealed as 2 contestants eliminated: Who advanced to the Season 23 finale? – Yahoo

    ‘American Idol’ Top 3 revealed as 2 contestants eliminated: Who advanced to the Season 23 finale? – Yahoo

    60,000 Fans Caused a Small Earthquake Because of One Famous Rock Song – Yahoo

    How 60,000 Fans Rocked the Ground with One Iconic Song!

    Dan Spilo Out at Industry Entertainment After Incident on Set of Alan Ritchson Movie (Exclusive) – The Hollywood Reporter

    Dan Spilo Exits Industry Entertainment Following Controversial Incident on Set of Alan Ritchson Film

    John Legend Says He’s Shocked by Ye’s ‘Descent’ Into ‘Antisemitism’ and ‘Anti-Blackness’ – Yahoo

    John Legend Expresses Shock Over Ye’s Troubling Descent into Antisemitism and Anti-Blackness

    Free Flowin’ Fest brings entertainment to Pascagoula’s Beach Park – WLOX

    Experience the Excitement: Free Flowin’ Fest Lights Up Pascagoula’s Beach Park!

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Michigan Public Policy Survey suggests uncertainty among local officials on AI police surveillance technology – The Michigan Daily

    Local Officials Grapple with Uncertainty Over AI Surveillance Technology in Policing

    Trump Media & Technology Group: When Politics Gets A Ticker Symbol (NASDAQ:DJT) – Seeking Alpha

    Trump Media & Technology Group: When Politics Gets A Ticker Symbol (NASDAQ:DJT) – Seeking Alpha

    GenTech offers coding, AI lessons for elementary students – KTAR.com

    GenTech offers coding, AI lessons for elementary students – KTAR.com

    Arkansas Tech Univeristy-Ozark collision repair technology program re-accredited – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

    Arkansas Tech University-Ozark’s Collision Repair Technology Program Earns Re-Accreditation!

    Top Chief Technology Officers to Watch in 2025: SMX’s Anthony Vultaggio – WashingtonExec

    Top Chief Technology Officers to Watch in 2025: SMX’s Anthony Vultaggio – WashingtonExec

    Well completions per location more than double in Lower 48 states as technology advances – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (.gov)

    Revolutionizing Oil Production: Lower 48 States See Doubling of Well Completions Thanks to Technological Breakthroughs!

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Downtown Frederick Partnership announces Alive@Five season lineup – The Frederick News-Post

    Get Ready for Fun: Downtown Frederick’s Exciting Alive@Five Season Lineup Revealed!

    ‘American Idol’ Top 3 revealed as 2 contestants eliminated: Who advanced to the Season 23 finale? – Yahoo

    ‘American Idol’ Top 3 revealed as 2 contestants eliminated: Who advanced to the Season 23 finale? – Yahoo

    60,000 Fans Caused a Small Earthquake Because of One Famous Rock Song – Yahoo

    How 60,000 Fans Rocked the Ground with One Iconic Song!

    Dan Spilo Out at Industry Entertainment After Incident on Set of Alan Ritchson Movie (Exclusive) – The Hollywood Reporter

    Dan Spilo Exits Industry Entertainment Following Controversial Incident on Set of Alan Ritchson Film

    John Legend Says He’s Shocked by Ye’s ‘Descent’ Into ‘Antisemitism’ and ‘Anti-Blackness’ – Yahoo

    John Legend Expresses Shock Over Ye’s Troubling Descent into Antisemitism and Anti-Blackness

    Free Flowin’ Fest brings entertainment to Pascagoula’s Beach Park – WLOX

    Experience the Excitement: Free Flowin’ Fest Lights Up Pascagoula’s Beach Park!

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Michigan Public Policy Survey suggests uncertainty among local officials on AI police surveillance technology – The Michigan Daily

    Local Officials Grapple with Uncertainty Over AI Surveillance Technology in Policing

    Trump Media & Technology Group: When Politics Gets A Ticker Symbol (NASDAQ:DJT) – Seeking Alpha

    Trump Media & Technology Group: When Politics Gets A Ticker Symbol (NASDAQ:DJT) – Seeking Alpha

    GenTech offers coding, AI lessons for elementary students – KTAR.com

    GenTech offers coding, AI lessons for elementary students – KTAR.com

    Arkansas Tech Univeristy-Ozark collision repair technology program re-accredited – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

    Arkansas Tech University-Ozark’s Collision Repair Technology Program Earns Re-Accreditation!

    Top Chief Technology Officers to Watch in 2025: SMX’s Anthony Vultaggio – WashingtonExec

    Top Chief Technology Officers to Watch in 2025: SMX’s Anthony Vultaggio – WashingtonExec

    Well completions per location more than double in Lower 48 states as technology advances – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (.gov)

    Revolutionizing Oil Production: Lower 48 States See Doubling of Well Completions Thanks to Technological Breakthroughs!

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Throwing soup at a Van Gogh? Why climate activists are targeting art

July 20, 2023
in Science
Throwing soup at a Van Gogh? Why climate activists are targeting art
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Environment

By tossing paint and food on the glass exterior protecting famous paintings, activists say they’re conveying a powerful message—art cannot exist on a destroyed planet.

ByYessenia Funes

Published July 19, 2023

• 7 min read

When Georgia B. Smith recently walked into the Metropolitan Museum of Art on June 24, she felt nervous. The 34-year-old wasn’t there to admire 18th-century paintings alongside New York City’s summer tourists; with red marker on her hands and black tape on her mouth, she was there to disrupt. 

Smith is part of a growing climate activist movement whose protests center art and museums. Since at least May 2022, environmentalists with groups like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have been using cake, soup, paint, and glue to capture the attention of museum visitors—by marking the glass protecting art pieces and attaching themselves to the frame or wall surrounding them. Each time, their message is simple: there is no art on a dead planet. 

But these climate activists say they have no interest in damaging art. Instead, they want to raise awareness about the climate emergency and attract new members. By at least one measure, their approach is working: Smith became involved with the New York City chapter of Extinction Rebellion only after protesters began focusing on museums. She had marched peacefully in defense of Black lives and women’s rights, but she had never put her body on the line—not until Extinction Rebellion. 

“I saw this action at an art museum… and it was a controversial action, but I know why they’re doing this. I feel the same desperation these people are feeling,” Smith said.

Calling attention to climate change

Everyone is affected by the planet’s rising temperature. July kicked off with the Earth’s hottest week on record. Meanwhile, marine heat waves are driving mass death of ocean creatures. Wildfire seasons are intensifying, leading to unprecedented air quality warnings. Farmers are struggling to grow food as soils either dry out from too little rain or wash out from too much. The result? Famine.

While the protests’ provocative nature has drawn mixed public reactions, organizers don’t plan to change gears anytime soon—especially after the federal government criminally charged two of their peers for smearing red paint on the glass and frame of a sculpture at the National Gallery of Art in May. 

Smith and about 19 others gathered in the Met that June morning to stand in solidarity with Joanna Smith and Tim Martin, the activists charged.

“Bringing the climate emergency to people’s attention should be something society rewards, not tries to punish to such an extreme degree,” said Shayok Mukhopadhyay, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion NYC who helped organize the protest.

The group stood before “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen”—a statue similar to the same bronze sculpture for which Joanna Smith and Martin now face up to 10 years in prison—with their hands colored in red marker and their lips covered with black tape. White words were stamped on the tape: “HEAT,” “WILDLIFE,” “FIRES,” “DEATH.” Georgia Smith’s lips read, “FAMINE.” 

What’s the purpose of art in a global crisis?

Climate protestors say they are taking to major museums, in part, because these cultural institutions aren’t telling these stories. In fact, museums like the American Museum of Natural History and Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum have been pressured in recent years to cut the funding they receive from fossil fuel companies, the greatest contributors to global carbon pollution. 

“The function of art is for people to be able to understand the world that they live in and reflect on the human condition, but big art isn’t fulfilling that function,” Mukhopadhyay said. “That’s the reason for us to be in museums: to tell people that we are in the middle of an emergency, and it is the time now for you to face that emergency.”

Climate change is also itself a threat to art: Leading cultural institutions, the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, outlined in a June report the need for “immediate action” to address climate change given how it threatens cultural heritage sites, art collections, and institutions. 

Museums, however, say these protests are attacks on priceless artworks. “We unequivocally denounce this physical attack on one of our works of art,” said National Gallery of Art Director Kaywin Feldman in a statement after Joanna and Martin threw paint at the “Little Dancer” exhibit.

However, Favianna Rodriguez, an artist and climate justice activist, supports these organizers. As the president of The Center for Cultural Power, which uses art to inspire action on societal issues, Rodriguez views the protests themselves as a form of art. “Protest is like theater,” she said. “It’s the creation of a counter-narrative.”

She hopes the protesters can bring more optimism and solutions into their actions. She also wants to see participants take an intersectional approach to climate protests and call out the museums for the ways they’ve historically exploited communities of color. She notes that the marginalized groups most likely to be impacted by climate change are often the most misrepresented in major museums. 

“A lot of these museums are holding things that were stolen during colonization—sacred, sacred objects,” Rodrigeuz said. “These places are not just contested by climate activists. There’s been a lot of contestation around their collections, how they’ve collected, and what kind of point of view they have shown.”

Will these protests make a difference?

Miranda Massie, founder and director of the Climate Museum, isn’t worried about her institution being protested next. “If museums want to protect themselves against these interventions, then they can do that very effectively by actively engaging with the climate crisis in their programming,” she said.

She supports the activists and is frustrated by the bad press surrounding their actions, and Massie this coverage may alienate the general public. 

One survey published in November of last year suggested public support of climate protests may dip after demonstrations such as pretending to deface art. A larger set of data suggest the art museum protests might be an effective call to action, though it’s too early to tell.

Dylan Bugden, an assistant professor of environmental sociology at Washington State University, researches the way people interpret social movements. Every movement is different, which creates challenges for making generalized statements, but Bugden’s findings have shown that peaceful, nonviolent protests can resonate with people who believe in climate change. He’s not sure that would be the case with something as disruptive as throwing soup in a museum, but he doesn’t believe such actions would cause harm, either.

“When we talk about climate change activism and social movement strategy, what really matters is not a one-off protest event and catching people’s attention here and there,” Bugden said. “It’s building grassroots activism and organizations that can mobilize people to vote, to protest, to take action. Building that kind of coalition is what it will take to do something about climate change.”

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : National Geographic – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/famous-art-museums-climate-change-activists

Tags: 'Throwingclimatescience
Previous Post

A beginner’s budget self-drive safari in the Kruger National Park, South Africa

Next Post

The unlikely survival of ancient monkeys, swept across the Atlantic Ocean

State lays out plan to tackle impacts of climate change in Washington – Department of Ecology – State of Washington (.gov)

Washington’s Bold Strategy to Combat Climate Change and Protect Our Future

May 13, 2025
The American brain drain has arrived. Just ask these scientists. – Business Insider

America’s Brain Drain: Insights from Leading Scientists

May 13, 2025
Class of 2025: Sophie Laman aimed straight for VCU’s forensic science program – VCU News

Class of 2025: Sophie Laman aimed straight for VCU’s forensic science program – VCU News

May 13, 2025
Lifestyle Diseases: Speed up implementation of front-of-pack labelling – Government urged – Africa Science News

Lifestyle Diseases: Speed up implementation of front-of-pack labelling – Government urged – Africa Science News

May 13, 2025
Climate crisis threatens the banana, the world’s most popular fruit, research shows – The Guardian

Climate crisis threatens the banana, the world’s most popular fruit, research shows – The Guardian

May 13, 2025
European economist says Russia’s economy is strained due to the Ukraine war and sanctions – Alton Telegraph

How the Ukraine War and Sanctions Are Straining Russia’s Economy

May 13, 2025
Downtown Frederick Partnership announces Alive@Five season lineup – The Frederick News-Post

Get Ready for Fun: Downtown Frederick’s Exciting Alive@Five Season Lineup Revealed!

May 13, 2025
Interwell Health Recognized as a Modern Healthcare 2025 Best Place to Work in Healthcare – PR Newswire

Interwell Health Recognized as a Modern Healthcare 2025 Best Place to Work in Healthcare – PR Newswire

May 13, 2025
Has America Given Up on Children’s Learning? – The New York Times

Is America Turning Its Back on Children’s Education

May 13, 2025
Michigan Public Policy Survey suggests uncertainty among local officials on AI police surveillance technology – The Michigan Daily

Local Officials Grapple with Uncertainty Over AI Surveillance Technology in Policing

May 13, 2025

Categories

Archives

May 2025
MTWTFSS
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 
« Apr    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (606)
  • Economy (617)
  • Entertainment (21,530)
  • General (15,214)
  • Health (9,660)
  • Lifestyle (623)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (620)
  • Politics (624)
  • Science (15,840)
  • Sports (21,127)
  • Technology (15,608)
  • World (608)

Recent News

State lays out plan to tackle impacts of climate change in Washington – Department of Ecology – State of Washington (.gov)

Washington’s Bold Strategy to Combat Climate Change and Protect Our Future

May 13, 2025
The American brain drain has arrived. Just ask these scientists. – Business Insider

America’s Brain Drain: Insights from Leading Scientists

May 13, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version