Performers Criticise British Museum for BP Sponsorship of Exhibition About Threats of Rising Seas

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Oil giant BP has been criticized for its commitment to continuing exploitation of high carbon fossil fuels, keeping the world on a path to more warming and other impacts of climate change such as rising seaย levels.

So itโ€™s somewhat ironic that they are also sponsoring an exhibition about cities subsumed by risingย seas.

This weekend, 40 self-styled โ€œactor-vistsโ€ from theatrical group BP or not BP gathered in the British Museumโ€™s Great Hall to highlight theย hypocrisy.

BP is currently sponsoring anย exhibition titled โ€œSunken Cities: Egyptโ€™s Lost Worlds.โ€

BP is one of the British Museum’s lengthiest corporate partners, supporting the museum’s public programmes since 1996. However, campaigners argue a new sponsorship deal, signed in July, is โ€˜illegitimateโ€™ because the museumโ€™s trustees had not been consulted before the controversial deal wasย renewed.

Following the announcement of an extended 5-year partnership, Mark Rylance and over 200 cultural figures and campaigners signed a letter published in the Times calling for the sponsorship to beย dropped.ย 

On Saturday, campaigners placed BPโ€™s logo on the main stairway, covering the floor around it with a โ€œfloodโ€ of black and blue strips to portray the threat to seven global cities, including Alexandria, London and New York, from risingย seas.

They moved throughout the museumโ€™s iconic galleries, weaving together poetry sent from Nigeria, a film by residents of Shenzhen, China, and holding up photographs of detained activists and journalists, who had spoken out against BP inย Egypt.

โ€œThis performance today is about bringing the reality of climate change into the building, and also bringing the voices and experiences of those people directly impacted by rising sea levels in the coming decades from around the world. Weโ€™ve had poems and texts sent from people from different cities, and thatโ€™s what weโ€™re bringing to the space,โ€ said Chris Garrard from campaign coalition Art notย Oil.


Credit: Kristian Buusย ยฉ

Kiah Jones, a 21-year-old university student who was in the audience said that she thought this type of performance, rather than a protest, could make a difference in the minds ofย people.

โ€œI think the reason behind the performance is valid, I hadnโ€™t really thought about it before โ€”BP is a petrol company that is sponsoring an exhibition on โ€œSunken Cities,โ€ sheย said.

โ€œItโ€™s good to have something that is interactive, where the public can get engaged, instead of protestors just shouting to get the message across. Itโ€™s a successfulย strategy.โ€

Garrard hopes it resonated with the Museumโ€™s directors, too. โ€œBPโ€™s contribution to the museum is less than 1% of its funding, so a very small proportion. That doesnโ€™t mean that the funding doesnโ€™t matter but what it means is that if you are a museum with an international reputation that is iconic around the world, you can take an ethical stance and find other corporate sponsors if you wantedย toโ€.

Main image credit: Kristian Buusย ยฉ

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