HUMAN COST AT TATE BRITAIN BY LIBERATETATE

BBC LONDON'S ANDREW TOBAR DISCUSSES BP SPONSORSHIP

LETTER FROM ARTISTS TO END BP SPONSORSHIP

Letter
Tate should end its relationship with BP


The Guardian, Wednesday 20 April 2011


In the year since its catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has massively ramped up its investment in controversial tar sands extraction in Canada, has been shown to have been a key backer of the Mubarak regime in Egypt, and has attempted to commence drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean. While BP continues to jeopardise ecosystems communities and the climate by the reckless pursuit of "frontier" oil, cultural institutions like Tate damage their reputation by continuing to be associated with such a destructive corporation.

The massive cuts to public arts funding in the UK have left hundreds of culturally important arts organisations in a position of great financial vulnerability, which means that the debate about the appropriateness of particular potential corporate sponsors like BP and Shell is more relevant than ever. As people working in the arts, we believe that corporate sponsorship does not exist in an ethical vacuum. In light of the negative social and ecological impacts of BP around the world, we urge Tate to demonstrate its commitment to a sustainable future by ending its sponsorship relationship with BP.

Naomi Klein writer

John Keane artist

Lucy R Lippard writer

Matthew Herbert sound artist/composer

Charles Thomson artist and co-founder, The Stuckists

Billy Childish artist

Leila Galloway artist, senior lecturer, DMU

Professor Brian Holmes cultural critic

Beverly Naidus artist, educator activist

Lorena Rivero de Beer performance artist, Free University of Liverpool

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith artist, cultural art worker

Lisa Wesley artist

Dr Wallace Heim academic writer

Fabio Sassi artist

Milena Placentile curator

Beka Economopoulos, Jason Jones and Ange Tran Not An Alternative arts collective

Emma Byron artist

Gary Anderson artist and educator, Free University of Liverpool

Lena Simic artist, Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home

Lucy Neal producer, artist, educator

Rebecca Solnit writer activist

CJ Mitchell deputy director, Live Art Development Agency

the vacuum cleaner artist

Michelle Waters artist

Kooj Chuhan artist, creative produce

Salette Gressett International Arts Manager

Matthias von Hartz director, Hamburg International Festival

Dr. Loraine Leeson artist, Fulbright Scholar in Residence University of Washington Tacoma US

Amy Balkin artist and lecturer, California College of the Arts San Francisco, US

Mark McGowan artist, associate lecturer, Chelsea College of ArtJohn Jordan Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination

Cameron Davis artist, professor, University of Vermont

John Volynchook photographer

Roxane Permar artist

Noel Douglas artist, designer

Fran Crowe artist

Ritu Sood painter, writer

Monika Vykoukal curator 40

Cecilia Wee curator, writer

Hayley Newman artist

Jane Trowell artist, educator, Platform

Stephen Duncombe professor, New York University

Jonathan Baxter artist, arts organiser

Alejandro Meitin Ala Plastica

Carrie Reichardt co-founder, Treatment Rooms

Mike Russell photographer

Sean Scullion author and owner, Paganarchy Press

Aidan Jolly musician, digital artist, community artist

Jeffrey Blackler photographer

Brett Bloom artist

Mark Vallen painter, printmaker, writer

Carolyn M Stubbs fine artist, writer

Gloria Dawson writer

Ryan Van Winkle writer

Caroline Halliday artist

Doug Minkler artist

Tim Jeeves artist

Margareta Kern artist

Pamela Gilmore performer

Dr. Julia Lee Barclay writer, director

Ellie Harrison artist

Greg Patch artist

Calum F. Kerr artist

John Ledger artist

Phil Maxwell artist

Hazuan Hashim artist

Camilla Cancantata musician

Britt Jurgensen independent performance maker

Tom Besley assistant manager, Resonance FM

Christa Drennan consultant, mental health and the arts

Raoul Martinez artist

Carys Bryan artist

Jody Joanna Boehnert designer

Bridget McKenzie cultural consultant

Edgeworth Johnstone artist

Victoria Lucas artist

Mary Paterson artist

Nick Viney artist40

Peter Harrison artist

Alana Jelinek artist

Karen Grant artist

Mikk Murray artist

Robby Herbst artist, teacher, Llano Del Rio Collective

Maria Bartolo fine art lecturer

Peter Cusack sound artist, field recordist

Marcia Farquhar sculptor and story-teller

Jordan Baseman artist

Jem Finer artist

Marsha Bradfield artist

John Cussans artist

Tim O'Riley artist

Josephine Berry Slater editor, Mute magazine

Jennet Thomas artist, senior lecturer at Wimbledon College of Art

Cat Phillipps artist

Anna Best artist

Paul Noble artist

Andy Best media artist

John Hartley artist, co-director, Difference Exchange

Jonathan Allen artist

Alex Brew artist, curator, writer

Ben Eastop arts consultant

Gareth Evans writer, curator

Angela Kingston curator

Jo Joelson artist, co-director, London Fieldworks

Phil England co-founder, Resonance FM

Max Pugh film-maker

Neil Callaghan artist

Jamie Perera sound artist

Alaina Simone independent curator, artist agent and creative consultant

Marianne Soisalo artist, eko noiz

Felix Gonzales film-maker

Hemant Anant Jain writer, illustrator

Kerry Burton artist

Peter Offord artist

Sai Murai (Simon Murray) poet, artist, Liquorice Fish

Immo Klink artist, photographer

Amber Hickey artist

Kate Rich artist 40

Sue Palmer artist

Siobhan Mckeown video editor

Maya Ramsay artist

Lisa Nowlain artist

Stuart Bracewell artist

Jon Sack artist, writer

Professor Stephen Bottoms University of Leeds

Helen Sloane curator

Ed McKeon contemporary music specialist, curator, lecturer and broadcaster

Ian Mack painter

Heather McRobie novelist, journalist

Amy Scaife photographer

Dr Isabelle Fremeaux Birkbeck College

Guppi Bola art activist

Silvia Sellitto artist

Dr Anja Kanngieser radio-maker, Birkbeck College

Muriel Louveau performer, composer

Ruppe Koselleck artist

Ryan Frank designer

Simon Scardanelli composer

Yolanda de los Bueis artist

Space Hijackers artists, performers

Darren Sutton art-interventionist, Liberate Tate

Isabeau Doucet painter

Federico Zukerfeld artist, member of the International Errorist movement

Mark Godber producer

Sam Trotman producer

Dr Hilary Ramsden artivist, researcher

Gill Lloyd and Judith Knight directors, arts admin

Tom Pengelly artist

Rick Burgess artist

Lawrence Sullivan artist, researcher Chelsea College of Art and Design

Shelley Sacks social sculpture practitioner

Isa Suarez composer, sound artist

Justin Randolph Thompson artist

Dathini Mzayiya artist

Liliana Dmitrovic artist

Rob Van Beek artist

PG Lyons artist, editor40

Kristian Buus photographer

Jaime Gili visual artist

Marc James Léger cultural worker

Hugh Lewis film-maker, artist

Andrew Boyd author, producer

Katherine Ball artist

Luke Munn artist, curator

Clare Patey artist, curator

Kenny Young Artists Project Earth

VIDEO OF BP SLEEP-IN AT TATE MODERN

SEE WHY TRACEY DIDN'T FILL IN HER CENSUS

BP TIME FOR BED AT TATE MODERN

BP SLEEP-IN AT TATE BRITAIN

<- Back to BP Week of Action
THE GREAT BP-SPONSORED SLEEP-IN

Sunday 17 April 2011, 2pm at Tate Modern, Bankside, London (map)

UPDATED: LAST MINUTES TIPS - READ BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE!

* Leave plenty of time to get there and check TfL for disruptions so you don't miss your 4 minutes of sleep-in fun! (It's the London Marathon so travel is going to get messy and Blackfriars station is closed).
* Synchronise your watch with this website
* Print out your BP-branded sleep mask

To mark the one year anniversary of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, join us for ‘The Great BP-sponsored sleep-in’, a 4-minute flash mob art installation inside Tate Modern. Imagine the turbine hall of this former power station filled with BP-branded sleeping figures, who will soon wake from their BP-sponsored coma to sound the climate alarm.

BP’s greenwash is sleepwalking us into the climate crisis. BP sponsors galleries like Tate to try and clean up its tarnished image, and distract us from its devastating activities around the world. Every pound of dirty oil money accepted by Tate helps legitimise a long legacy of environmental destruction and human rights abuses. It’s time to take off the blindfold, rub the sponsorship sleep from our eyes, and give Tate and BP a wake-up call.

This family friendly event will highlight BP’s sponsorship to the public, and show that we are not prepared to stand by as the Tate helps BP greenwash its image… and allow us all a few minutes to dream of a future free from oil spills and oil sponsorship of the arts.
SIX STEPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL SPONSORED SLEEP-IN

1. Synchronise your watch using this website
2. Enter the building before 2PM
3. Choose your sleep-in spot – café, corridor, lift, gift shop, and of course exhibits are all fair game, but please pick somewhere on Levels 1 (turbine hall level), 2 or 3 (this is where our camera crews will be to film the fun).
4. At exactly 2.15PM, unpack your BP branded sheet, pillow, pyjamas, night cap, sleep mask, teddy bear, alarm clock, hot water bottle or any other sleep related props (see here for ideas and downloadable props) and start the sleep-in!
5. Exactly 4 minutes later, the flash mob will be over as alarm clocks sound the wake-up call throughout the gallery. Take off your sponsored blindfolds and bedding, leave them behind if you wish, and head outside to…
6. Post-slumber party on the South Bank. Listen to speakers from BP-affected communities from the Gulf of Mexico and the Canadian Tar Sands, help engage gallery-goers with leaflets and vox pop video messages, and enjoy live music and a pedal-powered sound system.

So join us on April 17th, and show the Tate that we won’t take oil sponsorship of the arts lying down!

Join the Facebook event (don't forget to invite all your friends!)

DEAR NICK SEROTA...STOP TAKING SPONSORSHIP FROM BP

Dear Mr Serota,

I am writing to add my voice to calls from across the UK for respected institutions such as yours to take a stand against the unethical practices of BP, by ending your sponsorship agreements with the company.

This week marks the one year anniversary of BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which caused the deaths of 11 workers, triggered America’s largest ever environmental disaster and sparked controversy about the role of one of the UK’s most iconic companies.

Since April 2010, BP has been on a PR offensive to reclaim its image - not least through its relationship with galleries such as Tate - and to reassure us all that it has learned its lesson and moved on.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Last December, BP made the hugely controversial decision to start extracting high-polluting oil from the Canadian tar sands. It is pressing ahead with drilling in the fragile Arctic, and deep-sea drilling in Russia. And, like every other year, BP is destroying the lives and livelihoods of frontline communities around the world.

By forging and maintaining links with a corporation such as BP, Tate is dirtying its own name with its implicit consent to such actions. Every pound of dirty oil money accepted by Tate helps legitimise a long legacy of environmental destruction and human rights abuses. You are helping BP to buy public acceptance at a time when we need to have our eyes wide open to climate change and other problems the company is causing.

Out of respect for your excellent work in offering access to the arts, and bearing in mind your support for critical and challenging approaches, I am asking you keep dirty oil out of our cultural heritage.

Yours sincerely Violet Maze

AI WEI WEI - FREEDOM NOW

AI WEI WEI IS MISSING

CENSUS- CUT THE CRAP

Tracey Dunn

Today at FACT in Gallery 2 at 1pm I will be cutting my CENSUS up and turning it into paper flowers. They will be added to my 'Stop The War' photo exhibition's 'Peace Garden' which has been made by children in the Gallery all week. By law the CENSUS requires a response...this is mine.

DEEP HORIZON OIL SPILL

Ruppe Koselleck, born 1967, picks up tar and crude oil mud at beaches in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deep Horizon Oil Spill to paint crude oil paintings in the museum. With the trade of his art he bankrolls the stock acquisition of an oil company. http://dermeisterschueler.blogspot.com/search/label/1%20Takeover%20BP

LehmbruckMuseum - Exhibitions - Ruppe Koselleck

www.duisburg.de

RELEASE AI WEIWEI-SIGN THE PETITION

Tate

Join with Tate, @MuseumModernArt, @guggenheim and others in signing a petition for the release of Ai Weiwei - http://bit.ly/weiweipetition

BP sponsored flashmob at TATE modern

Will you be at The Great BP-sponsored Sleep-in Flashmob? Sunday 17 April 2011, 2pm, Tate Modern http://bit.ly/fq1G1Y #tarsands #climate #BP

TATE modern the Great BP sponsored Sleep-In flashmob

BP’s greenwash is sleepwalking us into the climate crisis. BP sponsors
galleries like Tate to try and clean up its tarnished image, and distract
us from its devastating activities around the world. Every pound of dirty
oil money accepted by Tate helps legitimise a long legacy of environmental
destruction and human rights abuses. It’s time to take off the blindfold,
rub the sponsorship sleep from our eyes, and give Tate and BP a wake-up
call.
More info: http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/bpweekofaction/flashmob
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137704989634221