Environmental activists splashed the glass cage of a mummy replica at the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona on Sunday to denounce the inaction of governments gathered for COP27 in Egypt in the face of climate change.
Two young activists, a man and a woman belonging to the “Futuro Vegetal” collective, sprayed the glass cage with fake oil, then the walls with fake blood, using plastic bottles of Coca-Cola.
They then unveiled a large banner calling for “Climate Justice”, denouncing a “COPCA COLA” in reference to the COP27 climate summit meeting in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, and Coca-Cola, one official conference sponsors.
Coke and outrage
The soft drink giant is denounced by many environmental NGOs for activities they consider polluting around the world, in particular because of the massive production of plastic bottles.
Once the police arrived, the young activists were cooperative and were not arrested. The Egyptian Museum has, however, indicated that it intends to file a complaint because of the damage caused.
Activists from the same collective, affiliated with the collective Extinction rebellion, had stuck their hands on November 5 on the frames of paintings by Francisco Goya at the Prado Museum in Madrid to draw attention to global warming, an action deemed “unjustifiable” by the Spanish Minister of Culture.
Monet and van Gogh also targeted
Nearly a hundred international museums said they were “deeply shocked” Thursday by actions targeting works of art organized by environmental activists, and recalled their role in conservation.
Several other such actions have been carried out in recent weeks by climate activists, who have targeted iconic buildings, but also famous works of art in several cities across Europe. Environmental activists tried unsuccessfully in Oslo on Friday to stick their hands on “The Scream”, the emblematic masterpiece of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, to denounce the oil industry in Norway.
Earlier this month, two “Last Generation” activists spilled mashed potatoes on the glass protecting Claude Monet’s painting “The Haystacks” at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany. Activists also stuck to the glass protecting Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ at a museum in the Netherlands. Others threw soup on the one protecting Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London.