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The River Resurfaces – reflecting on politically engaged art from the 1970s to today
Blog post -
Sep 12, 2017
I’m sitting talking with Caroline Tisdall, a friend who has known Platform since 1986. We first came into contact with her via the producer and curator Richard Demarco: along with him, she was among the first to champion artist Joseph Beuys in the English-speaking world. Beuys’ art and politics were critical influences in...
Hackney Council as the climate vanguard – or is it just a laggard?
Blog post -
Jan 24, 2017
Hackney Council is voting tonight on its investment policy regarding fossil fuels and climate change. After years of campaigning by Divest Hackney and lots of media attention, this Tuesday is the big day for the Pensions Committee. But despite the hype and the repeated delays, the proposals are pretty disappointing. Hackney Council has £42 million in fossil...
Demand a Public Energy Company for London!
Blog post -
Dec 8, 2016
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has just published his four year vision for London, A City For All Londoners. During his election campaign Sadiq pledged to set up London’s very own public energy company to give us clean, affordable energy. Now we need to keep the pressure up to make sure he delivers on...
“Art is direct, it challenges the authorities, the power structure” Ken Saro-Wiwa jr, 1968 – 2016
Blog post -
Nov 29, 2016
Yesterday at All Saints Church in Fulham, London, we attended a celebration of the life of journalist, government special advisor, and digital tech innovator Ken Saro-Wiwa jr. His life was suddenly cut short at the age of 47. We are sorrowed by this profound loss to the Saro-Wiwa family, and of a talented man invested in...
Egyptian political prisoners remembered in unsanctioned performance at British Museum’s ‘Sunken Cities’
Press release -
Nov 24, 2016
24 November 2016 Unsanctioned vigil held for jailed human rights campaigners at ‘Curator’s Introduction to the BP Sponsored Exhibition Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds’ Exhibition displays objects from ancient sunken cities in the Nile Delta, where BP is now drilling for fossil fuels. Community opposition successfully halted BP’s gas plant plans – the North...
Strip away the carapace – the Ice Age, BP, and the British Museum
Blog post -
Sep 15, 2016
It pushes me quickly to tears. I’m kneeling on the cold stone floor of the Great Court, legs tucked beneath me, one foot crossed under the other. I’m listening to a rendition of A Requiem to Sinking Cities – an agit-performance in the heart of the British Museum. Silent figures hold up two banners, ‘#DropBP’...
Everything in Motion – of Swallows and resistance to the Lower Thames Crossing
Blog post -
Sep 6, 2016
Looking up through the skylight I catch only a glimpse of it soon after dawn. Less than a second. The effortless power of a confident killer. The shape of the dark sickle wings against the depth of the blue. A Hobby passing over the house, flying south down the Hoo Peninsula. It is only at...
Reinvesting pensions: from fossil fuel divestment to reinvestment in the new economy
Publication -
Aug 24, 2016
What if £14 billion of local government pension funds, currently in fossil fuels, was re-invested to create environmental, social and economic benefits – as well as a sound financial return? Platform and Community Reinvest advocate for pensions and other funds to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in the new economy – in economic activities...
The changing wind – shedding the carbon skin
Blog post -
Aug 11, 2016
I am cramming chocolate into your mouth. I feel the dampness of your lips against my fingertips and see the brown squares tumble into the darkness. It takes seconds to complete the task, but the time draws out, slows down. All around is mayhem. The wind makes the shrouds howl. The sound thrusts a...
Open letter: BP can’t buy our silence
Blog post -
Aug 2, 2016
Today’s Times has published an open letter from Mark Rylance, Naomi Klein, Nnimmo Bassey, Matthew Herbert, and 215 artists, actors, arts managers, musicians, frontline activists, campaigners, and scientists, arguing: We cannot afford another five years of BP-branded culture. Last Thursday BP announced the renewal of its flagship sponsorship programme. Its partners, this time: British Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Royal...
Sadiq’s ‘Energy Revolution’ must go beyond Boris’s dodgy deal with Big Energy
Blog post -
Jul 28, 2016
This week, Sadiq Khan announced that the first stage of Energy for Londoners would be continuing Boris’s controversial License Lite scheme. Platform is part of the Switched on London campaign, so we’re cross-posting 3 reasons why this is not the ‘Energy Revolution London’ needs. With London lagging behind other major European cities on clean energy,...
