Today, Hartwig Fischer was announced as the new Director of the British Museum. We would like to welcome the German art historian into his new post by challenging him to end the museum’s relationship with odious sponsor BP. Here’s our response to his appointment, which we have sent out to the media:
‘Hartwig Fischer faces a big test in his first few months: the decision whether to renew the museum’s five-year sponsorship deal with its most controversial backer, BP. Will he demonstrate that the museum is forward-thinking, environmentally-responsible and ethically-driven? Or will he shackle it to another five years of promoting this corporate criminal’s sullied brand? In the run-up to the Paris climate talks, more and more institutions are severing their ties with fossil fuel companies. The British Museum will look embarrassingly out of step if it is still clinging to BP well into the next decade, And we will not stop our creative civil disobedience until the museum recognises it’s time to drop BP.’
BP or not BP? 