Just Stop Oil—and other climate protest groups across Europe—have taken museums by storm. Their actions have included spray-painting messages beneath art, gluing their hands to gallery walls, and splattering pea soup, mashed potatoes, and other foods onto artworks. So far, all the targeted works have been behind protective glass and none have been damaged.
Some climate advocacy groups say these actions are necessary to get people’s attention. “We tried sitting in the roads, we tried blocking oil terminals, and we got virtually zero press coverage,” says Mel Carrington, a Just Stop Oil spokesperson. “Yet, the thing that gets the most press is chucking some tomato soup on a piece of glass covering a masterpiece.”
Museum officials and other critics fear that protesters could ruin artworks if these actions continue to escalate. More than 90 museum leaders signed a letter criticizing these methods. After the soup-slinging incident went viral, even more people expressed outrage at Just Stop Oil. Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, believes that instead of helping the cause, these acts could lead people to “draw negative associations with climate advocacy and activism.”