Toga-clad Activists Crashed British Museum’s Reopening to Protest Oil Sponsorship

This Saturday, on the first weekend of the British Museum’s reopening after a lengthy pandemic shutdown, protesters flooded the London institution’s Great Court in the latest demonstration against oil sponsorship in the cultural sector. Denouncing British Petroleum’s (BP’s) backing of the forthcoming exhibition Nero: the man behind the myth, activists dressed in flame-hued togas chanted while three violinists performed in Emperor Nero costumes in the colors of BP’s logo.

They held a sign that read “BP Fiddles As the World Burns,” a remix of the expression “Nero fiddled while Rome burned,” a reference to the popular legend that the emperor stood by as a blaze ravaged the city in 64 AD, claiming hundreds of lives.

The phrase is “the perfect metaphor for BP’s failure to act in the face of the climate emergency,” said BP or not BP?, the advocacy group behind the theatrical action. According to the group, performers maintained social distance from staff and visitors and tested negative for COVID-19 prior to the demonstration.

Activists holding a sign that reads “BP Fiddles As the World Burns” (photo by Joseph Edwards)

“The oil giant is continuing to extract fossil fuels as the world literally burns around it, while using its sponsorship of the British Museum to style itself as a responsible climate leader,” said Bayryam Bayryamali, a member of BP or not BP?.

“While we are delighted that museums are reopening, it’s disappointing to see two of our most prominent — the British Museum and Science Museum — immediately launching oil-sponsored exhibitions when the climate crisis has only become more urgent during the pandemic,” they added.

Members of BP or not BP? said it was disappointing to see museums “immediately launching oil-sponsored exhibitions” as soon as they reopened. (photo by Joseph Edwards)

Following the British Museum performance, members of BP or not BP? joined dozens of strikers from the UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN) at the Science Museum, where they protested Shell’s sponsorship of its exhibition Our Future Planet. Critics have described the oil giant’s support of the show, which centers on “capture and storage” technologies for carbon emission reduction, as “staggeringly out-of-step and irresponsible.”

More than 50,000 people have signed a petition calling for a boycott of the exhibition, and nearly 5,000 have pledged not to visit the show unless the museum cuts ties with Shell.

The British Museum and the Science Museum have not yet responded to Hyperallergic’s immediate requests for comment.

Dozens of protesters gathered at the Science Museum to protest Shell’s sponsorship of a climate technology exhibition. (photo by Sloane Warren)

BP or not BP? was founded to take a stand against what it deems as “artwashing” by major fossil fuel companies — using their partnerships with arts and culture institutions to paint a benevolent picture and deflect attention from their complicity in the climate crisis. The theatrical protest group came together in 2012 to protest BP’s backing of the Royal Shakespeare Festival, which has since dropped the corporation’s sponsorship. Other organizations, including the National Portrait Gallery, have taken similar steps to cut ties with big oil.

The British Museum and Science Museum “are two of the very few UK cultural institutions still sponsored by oil companies,” says BP or not BP?.

BP or not BP? was founded in 2012 to take a stand against what it deems as “artwashing” by major fossil fuel companies. (photo by Sloane Warren)

This weekend’s protest at the British Museum shined a light on BP’s fossil fuel expansion plans in areas already severely impacted by climate change-induced fires. In an audio clip played through speakers as part of the performance, the group shared a testimony by Julie Macken, a volunteer firefighter based in Sydney, Australia.

“The Australian bushfires killed 34 people, they killed over a billion animals, they destroyed over 2,000 homes, they burned millions of hectares of wild bush,” Macken’s voice resounded. “We could not breathe in Sydney because of the smoke.” 

While BP has pledged to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2050, it continues to advance and engage in mega gas initiatives, including two plants in Burrup Hub that environmental activists have called “the most polluting fossil fuel project ever to be proposed in Australia.“

Youth climate strikers and others gathered outside the Science Museum in London this Saturday. (photo by Sloane Warren)

“Companies like BP shouldn’t be spending money on new oil and gas that we can’t afford to burn — they should be paying to fund the firefighting challenge that we’re going to be confronting for the next century,” Macken said in the audio clip. “They should pay for it because they created it, by pushing the world into climate crisis.”