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Share price of BP falling – will Shell take over BP?
Blog post -
Jan 12, 2015
As the London Stock Exchange opened at 09.00 on Tuesday, 16th December, BP’s shareprice was down to 365 pence. It was the bottom of a long slide from 448 pence on the 21st November and investors in the company looked concerned that BP was failing badly. Shares in BP have lost 25% of their value...
2014: ten moments of a culture beyond oil
Blog post -
Dec 18, 2014
What will we remember about the oil industry in 2014? Aside from falling oil prices and ongoing debates about fracking (did you know New York state just banned it?), there are more and more signs this year that ‘social licence’ is becoming the industry’s largest challenge (like this Canadian industry expert points out). Where would oil companies be without...
Tate director’s puzzling response to the call to #DropBP
Blog post -
Dec 15, 2014
This is a guest post by Tate Member Oliver Grant. Oliver came to Tate Members’ AGM last week and asked Tate Director Nick Serota to respond to Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s call for “people of conscience to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change.” Oliver reflects on Serota’s response. The AGM was a...
What we discovered at Tate Members’ AGM last week
Blog post -
Dec 10, 2014
Tate Trustees will be reviewing the BP sponsorship agreement in 2016. – said Tate director Nicholas Serota in response to members’ questioning of the BP relationship. This means we have approximately a year to persuade Tate (as well as three other institutions – British Museum, Royal Opera House, and National Portrait Gallery) to take the challenge of climate change...
Tate, Big Oil, and the savage inequality of capital
Blog post -
Dec 1, 2014
Just over a week ago Tate Modern and its new landmark extension got a bit of a mauling from writer Will Self, who argued in the print version of The Guardian that it “symbolises the savage inequality of the capital”. It’s an interesting piece about art, privilege and the hyper-rich, and has got people arguing...
A manifesto for Energy beyond Neoliberalism
Publication -
Nov 17, 2014
We’ve written a manifesto titled Energy beyond Neoliberalism: “This is a call for energy democracy. Not energy security or energy separation. A survivable and just energy future means breaking the grip of elite interests on our energy systems, ending dependency, increasing autonomy, building diverse power structures through which we can hold one another to account,...
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...
Tate and oil: does the art world need to come clean about sponsorship?
Media coverage -
Oct 8, 2014
Susanna Rustin, The Guardian
When Art Meets Activism. As Tate faces the Information Tribunal over BP sponsorship, is there a line between art and ethics?
Media coverage -
Sep 26, 2014
Interview with Kevin Smith (Platform) and Hannah Davey (Liberate Tate)
Le sponsoring culturel des géants du pétrole crée la polémique
Media coverage -
Sep 19, 2014
Cultural sponsorship by oil company giants is creating debate Tristan de Bourbon, London; in Tribune de Genéve, page 11
“Protests might intensify” over BP sponsorship
Media coverage -
Sep 19, 2014
Tate has faced an Information Tribunal to defend its right to keep details of its financial relationship with the oil company a secret. Frances Richens, Arts Professional
