Tate Members Challenge Secret Sponsorship Deal with BP

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During the Tateโ€™s Annual General Meeting on Friday evening multiple members of the Tate Gallery openly challenged the art institutions committed secrecy surrounding its partnership with oil giant BP during the run up to an Information Tribunal Judgement that may force the Tate to expose itsย dealings.

The sponsorship was initially exposed by art activist group Platform with documents detailing the partnership between Tate and BP provided by Freedom of Information requests made by Request Initiative.

Tate member Lena Cohen this said at the event: โ€œTate refuses to disclose exactly how much BP gives, as well as how exactly the decision was taken to accept thisย sponsorship.

Noย justification

โ€œTateโ€™s Head of Legal Richard Aydon argued in court that โ€œprotests might intensifyโ€ if information was to be revealed. This is like saying, โ€œthis information will make people so angry that they will getย dangerous.โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s no justification for secrecy. We as members contribute to Tate ten times more than BP.โ€

Member Tony Williams also challenged the committee by quoting archbishop Desmond Tutu: ย โ€œJust as we argued in the 1980s that those who conducted business with apartheid South Africa were aiding and abetting an immoral system, we can say that nobody should profit from the rising temperatures, seas and human suffering caused by the burning of fossilย fuels.โ€

Channel 4 news reader and Tate Member, Jon Snow, and the Members’ Council were also presented with โ€˜The Oil Shipโ€˜, a printed artwork by Conrad Atkinson. The piece is defined by its creator โ€œas a reminder of artโ€™s role in creating the future we need โ€“ a future withoutย oil.โ€

The Information Tribunal Judgement is expected to be announced in the next two months as part of an ongoing campaign that has lasted three years and has repeatedly been opposed by both Tate and BP.

@richardheasman4

Photo: Magnus Manske via Creativeย Commons

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Richard Heasman joined DeSmog UK as a contributing journalist in October 2014. Originally from Stamford, he graduated with an undergraduate history degree (2:1) in 2013 from the University of Lincoln. His dissertation focused on the British mediaโ€™s role in shaping public opinion during the second Gulf War ofย 2003.

After graduating, Richard started his own online publication specialising in political-socio critiques, and now specialises in environmental topics including fracking andย industry.

Richard has been published in the Ecologist as has reported for Blue and Green Tomorrow on a varied range of environmentalย issues.

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