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A journey to ‘communities of the ideal’
Blog post -
Oct 22, 2014
A while back James Marriott made a journey to two communities – each of which tries to approach an ideal. This is his reflection on the experience. The first, La R.o.n.c.e in the Morbihan region of Brittany, is being established on an abandoned farm by six activists and artist-activists, two of whom, John Jordan and...
Exciting week for ending the licence to spill
Blog post -
Oct 10, 2014
Why do BP and Shell need cultural institutions (Tate, British Museum, National Portrait Gallery), consumer brands (Lego, Waitrose) and universities? The simple answer is so that the rest of us think we need them. As the Tate’s lawyer explained BP’s sponsorship, if they didn’t think they were getting something out of it, they wouldn’t do...
Offshore: Iran, BP, Algeria & Boris Island
Blog post -
Oct 9, 2014
“No you can’t get through down there. They’ve got a full set of anti-terrorist police. Machine guns and all. They’ll jump out at you if you go beyond that fence. Mind you, it helps keep the crime down in the village”. The tall man with white hair straggling out from under his black hat and...
BP and #IndyRef – the need to constrain corporate influence in our democracy
Blog post -
Sep 26, 2014
Around about 3.00 am on the morning of Friday 19th September, whilst anxiously watching the results come in on the Scottish Independence Referendum, we heard one of the commentators on STV ‘Scotland Decides’ explain his view that after months of the politicians being unable to help the voters make their decision, ‘business leaders’ had stepped...
Possess the Bay! Taking control of the Oil Road in Falmouth
Blog post -
Aug 29, 2014
Platform was invited to present to the Geohack workshops that are part of the Fascinatecon conference in Falmouth this week. A version of the following was given via skype by James Marriott to an audience of ‘artists, gamers, historians, performance-makers, seafarers, landlubbers, the flooded and the landlocked’ in the Performance Centre, Penryn Campus, University of...
‘Picture This’ report extract – BP’s ongoing Gulf Coast disaster & ‘artful dodging’
Blog post -
Jul 1, 2014
Last week we published a critical new report ‘Picture This – A Portrait of 25 years of BP Sponsorship‘, timed with the opening of the National Portrait Gallery London’s new ‘BP Portrait Award’ exhibition. In a series of blogs, we are featuring extracts from the report. Today’s blog shares devastating testimony and analysis from two...
Art Not Oil’s week of action on NPG’s ‘BP Portrait Award’
Blog post -
Jun 30, 2014
Have a look at the ‘Storify’ to see some of the actions, reactions and impacts that happened around the National Portrait Gallery’s opening of this year’s BP Portrait Award. The main events were… On Saturday – ‘Portraits in Oil‘ performance-intervention at the NPG by Art Not Oil Coalition On Wednesday (day of the exhibition’s press...
New report ‘Picture This’ on the BP Portrait Award – extract on National Portrait Gallery
Blog post -
Jun 25, 2014
Our new report Picture This – A Portrait of 25 years of BP sponsorship is in 5 parts. Each part addresses a different aspect of the issue, and should cause deep concern in any institution’s corporate sponsorship department that wants to operate ethically. Even though its publication is triggered by the 2014 BP Portrait Award...
Shell AGM – Securing the comforts of the present generation at the expense of the next
Blog post -
May 27, 2014
Last week I headed home from the Netherlands, crossing the North Sea from the delta of the Rhine to the delta of the Thames, after having attended the Shell AGM in Den Haag with friends and allies from Greenpeace, ShareAction, Observatorio Petrolero Sur, Milieudefensie and Global Witness. This year’s Shell AGM was a quieter affair...
Not cool
Media coverage -
May 1, 2014
(on Tate’s reaction to Platform’s Freedom of Information request to see the minutes of the ethics committee for the meeting where the decision on renewing BP’s sponsorship was taken) Art Monthly news piece
Infographic: Culture Clash – Arts & Oil Money
Publication -
Apr 26, 2014
Download as a pdf At the end of 2011, BP announced a £10 million sponsorship deal for four of London’s flagship cultural institutions over a five year period. The Culture Clash infographic shows pie charts of the four institutions – Tate, British Museum, Royal Opera House and the National Portrait gallery and breaks down their...
Gas grabs and 5 questions to power at the Caspian Corridor Conference
Blog post -
Mar 18, 2014
The Euro Caspian Mega Pipeline is a massive infrastructure system designed to suck gas out of the Caspian into Western Europe. Construction of the pipeline involves politics and finance as much as it does concrete building materials, and the conference I’m about to go to is one in a series of events attempting to make...
