21-year-old activist Phoebe Plummer caused quite a stir last Friday when she opened a can of tomato soup at the National Gallery in London, threw its contents on Van Gogh’s sunflowers and then stuck her hand to the wall. In addition to the applause, there were also many negative reactions online for her and her fellow activist.
Just stop the oil
The Just Stop Oil activist group, of which Plummer is a part, staged yet another protest this week and explained why they decided to launch tomato soup.
Plummer first points out that the painting was not damaged. “I heard in court yesterday that the frame has only minimal damage and that it can be repaired or replaced. There is absolutely no damage to the canvas. “
Plummer admits in the video that the action looked rather ridiculous. “But the question of whether everyone should throw soup on the paintings wasn’t the reason either. We just want to ask questions that matter. ”
Drilling in the North Sea
And those questions, according to Plummer, relate to the climate and energy policy of the new British Prime Minister Liz Truss. In her campaign she promised 130 permits to drill oil in the North Sea. Plummer wants to start a conversation about this with his actions, says the activist. It often takes decades after such a license is issued before oil is actually produced. Europe wants to be climate neutral by 2050.
Plummer also resents the fact that fossil fuel subsidies are “thirty times higher than renewable energy subsidies”, while “offshore wind turbines are currently nine times cheaper”. “This is the conversation we need to have now.”
On Friday, a spokesperson for the action group said in the British newspaper The Guardian that these actions are not meant to make friends. Plummer elaborates it in the video. “The next few years will determine the future of humanity, we want people to talk about it now. That’s why we do it. Media attention is needed. “
Silver stone
Plummer and her activist colleague aren’t the first to bond in protest. This also happened in July of this year with the painting The Haywain, also in London. In the same month it also happened in a museum in Florence, Italy.
There was also action during the Formula 1 race at the Silverstone circuit in England earlier this year. Climate activists sat on the track when the race was stopped due to an accident.
