Environmental activists splashed the glass cage of a mummy replica at the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona (east) 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 collective “Futuro Vegetalsprayed 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-COLAin reference to the COP27 climate summit held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and Coca-Cola, one of the official sponsors of the conference. 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.
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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 “unjustifiableby the Spanish Minister of Culture.
‘Deeply shocked’
Nearly a hundred international museums have declared themselves “deeply shockedThursday by the actions targeting works of art organized by activists of the environmental cause, 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 the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, to denounce the oil industry in Norway. At the beginning of the month, two activists from “last generation» had spread mashed potatoes on the glass protecting the canvas of Claude Monet «Millstonesat the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany.
Activists also glued themselves to the glass protecting the “pearl girlby Johannes Vermeer in a museum in the Netherlands. Others threw soup on the one who protected the “Sunflowersby Vincent van Gogh at the National Gallery in London.