Why Have Climate Activists Occupied Tate Modern's Turbine Hall?

London’s iconic Tate Modern gallery was taken over by a new kind of crazy this month as climate change activists occupied the towering Turbine Hall. The protestors were voicing their disapproval over BP’s sponsorship of the gallery and spent over 25 hours in the complex. Overnight they covered the hall’s 152-metre sloping floor with a sprawl of charcoal words warning the world about the looming dangers of climate change.

Eva Blackwell, a passionate member of arts activism group Liberate Tate referred to the protest as “a textual intervention” designed to inspire and raise awareness. “We’re filling the Turbine Hall with a tide of ideas and narratives of art, activism, climate change and oil,” she explains.

BP can keep its cash

Every year BP donates an average of £224,000 to the gallery and protestors are calling on the London institution to put an end to the ‘dirty money’ funding. Hayley Newman of Liberate Tate says the group wanted to stage a performance that “confronted them more fully” and inspire The Tate to “make their decision [about whether to renew their contract with BP] earlier, preferably by the Paris climate talks in December.”

From eco-offender to environmental gallery

The Turbine Hall was a profound location to stage the protest, given the fact that its floors once played host to the oil-fired turbines that fuelled the Bankside power station. The artistic campaigners drew inspiration from a variety of different books, texts and reports from throughout history. The latest UN climate science report, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel ‘Oryx and Crake’ and Naomi Klein’s non-fiction shocker ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate’ were just three sources used to create the imaginative work of art. 

Liberate Tate gets one up over BP

In the past Tate Modern has graciously accommodated demonstrations from the Liberate Tate group, including a controversial performance that saw a naked man drenched in oil.  Cuttings from BP’s high profile Gulf of Mexico oil spill case are also on display throughout the gallery. While officials did issue protestors with a 10pm eviction notice followed by a warning of police involvement, Tate Modern eventually backed down. 

Dennis Ahern, head of safety at Tate Modern addressed the group and reminded them that “We’ve got a duty of care to make sure members of the public leave the licensed premises at the time of closing.” But the protesters endured and eventually The Tate relented.

Protestors get serious

In the past protests have been held during opening hours however the group claims that it’s been forced to adopt a more aggressive attitude in the lead up to December’s climate talks in Paris. And Liberate Tate isn't the only group taking a stand against BP. In Washington the Seattle Raging Grannies staged a protest that saw them block off access to BP's Polar Pioneer expedition vehicle while a flotilla of 'kayaktivists' took to the seas to swarm the Arctic drilling rig.