BP or not BP?

Our performance action on Sunday has already raised a storm worthy of Ragnarok itself.

First and foremost, of course, there is our own film of the action:

Then there’s the small matter of our appearance on Channel 4 News. Last night, our protest served as a lead-in to a long segment all about the problem of oil sponsorship of the arts. This included an interview with top playwright Mark Ravenhill about how actors felt unable to speak out about oil sponsorship of the theatre, for fear of losing their livelihoods. It also included a live studio debate with our very own Sheila Menon, also known as Spakona the seeress:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

We’re aware that this appearance on the national TV news has been the product of years of dedicated work by all the members of the Art Not Oil coalition, not just us. Every artistic intervention by Liberate Tate, every hard-hitting publication from Platform, every piece of harmonic disobedience by Shell Out Sounds, every fact-packed article by Science Unstained, every piece of creative action by London Rising Tide – all of these have helped to push the issue of oil sponsorship up the media agenda to the point where our grassroots collective can make prime-time TV news. Now we need to build on this exposure and kick oil sponsorship out of arts, culture and science once and for all.

Sunday’s protest has also been covered in three other excellent articles (so far):

The Ecologist: Vikings Looting and Pillaging? No, it’s BP

Artinfo: Ragnarok is Coming: Anti-Oil Vikings Storm British Museum

Museums Association: British Museum invaded by “BP Vikings”

If more coverage appears we will add it here. In the meantime, we shall polish our shields in readiness for the next time we need to face down the oily plunderer BP…