The daylong demonstration culminated in a mass action and occupation of the museum after hours.
BP or not BP?
Posted inOpinion
The Backlash Against Oil Sponsorship Can Push for Broader Change in Museums
The British Museum’s complicity in BP’s artwashing ranks alongside the museum’s continual refusal to engage with its own colonial history.
Posted inNews
Toga-clad Activists Crashed British Museum’s Reopening to Protest Oil Sponsorship
BP or Not BP? activists staged a protest against Big Oil sponsorship at the British Museum and Science Museum this weekend.
Posted inNews
Climate Activists Crash Arctic Exhibition at British Museum to Protest Oil Funding
BP or not BP? staged the demonstration as part of a day of action convened by the Alaskan Indigenous organizations Defend the Sacred AK and Native Movement.
Posted inOpinion
Addressing the British Museum’s Colonial History and Hollow Solidarity With Black Lives
“I am disappointed that it took the death of an unarmed Black man for you to join the conversation about the colonial past and present of the British Museum,” says Bayryam Mustafa Bayryamali in a letter addressed to director Hartwig Fischer.
Posted inNews
Anti-Oil Activists Stage Largest Protest Yet at British Museum, With Trojan Horse in Tow
Hundreds of activists occupied the British Museum for a protest lasting over two days straight, coinciding with the BP-sponsored exhibition Troy: Myth and Reality.
Posted inNews
Activists Dressed as Trojan Figures Crash Opening of BP-Funded Exhibition
Activist group BP or not BP? interrupted the opening of Troy: Myth and Reality at the British Museum, dressed as “living statues,” including a character of their own invention, “Petroleus.”
Posted inNews
Invoking “Climate Emergency,” National Galleries of Scotland Will End Ties With British Petroleum
The gallery follows in the footsteps of Tate, the National Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Posted inNews
Anti-Oil Protesters Will Storm the British Museum with a Trojan Horse
BP or not BP? launched a crowdfunding campaign to build a giant Trojan Horse for its largest protest yet, which will coincide with the museum’s Troy: Myth and Reality exhibition.
Posted inIn Brief
Protesting BP Sponsorship, Mark Rylance Resigns as Royal Shakespeare Company’s Associate Artist
“We are all together in this crisis and we all must change,” Rylance said in an opinion article published in the Guardian. “I am resigning to lend strength to the voices within the RSC who want to be progressive, and to encourage my fellow associates to express themselves, too.”
Posted inNews
Anti-Oil Activists Block Entrance of National Portrait Gallery to Protest BP Sponsorship
Dozens of protesters blocked entry to the gallery for guests of the ceremony, linking arms and chaining themselves to the gallery gates. Guests were forced to climb over the wall with the assistance of security in order to enter the gallery.
Posted inNews
Activists Return to the British Museum to Lead Another “Stolen Goods” Tour
During the event, speakers called for the repatriation of objects acquired through colonialism and an end to sponsorship from the oil company BP.