Two climate activists on Tuesday targeted Botticelli’s masterpiece “The Birth of Venus” hanging at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, attaching images of recent flood damage in the Tuscany region on the protective glass.
Meanwhile the rich people that are responsible for the majority of climate damage stand in their own private collections completely undisturbed.
Sure this grabs headlines, but momentarily and often preaching to the converted or the disenfranchised.
I’m not saying I have any good answers, and I’m sure we’ll all burn and starve thinking of ways to change the minds of people that have power… But there has to be some way to take the protest to them in ways that actually inconveniences them, as opposed to the people that already broadly support this cause.
And yeah, it grabs headlines, briefly, but look at how the media is complicit with the companies and individuals and governments causing the destruction. If they were really bothered about this sort of protest, the chances are you wouldn’t see it. The fact we are seeing it probably means that they’ve evaluated it to cause more contention among the voters, which works in their favour.
I realise I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy nut. Too many references to shady power and control… But sanctioned protest isn’t protest at all. It’s a sideshow that makes people think they are helpless or that work is being done when it isn’t.
And before the “acshurly this wasn’t sanctioned” reply… No, you’re right, not explicitly, but we still allow people to walk into public buildings without the sort of security you find at airports. I do wonder if that will start changing. I already know a few that won’t let you walk around with bags of any kind, and next up comes a frisk and an interview.
Also, it’s good to mention that no damage is being done here. The way some media reports it, you’d swear they were destroying valuable public art. They really aren’t, but it gets spun that way.
rich people have the entirety of the state defense apparatus to protect their property.
this is at least a start.
I mean, you can grab headlines by firing into a crowd too, but no one should do that either
Targeting museums and people trying to get to work or home is absolutely the stupidest strategy possible. These groups myst be funded by big oil, they’re just too on-the-nose wrong to be organic.
And “there’s no such thing as bad press” hasn’t been true since Tiger Wood’s sexting scandal.
If you’re mad about this, wait until you hear what will happen to all the art during the climate wars lol
I think these protesters are pretty dope. They’re highlighting the foolishness and hypocrisy of our values by provoking outrage over the threat to a picture of nature.
It reminds me of a scene in “Children of Men” 2006, where a rich dude has acquired many of the great works including M’s David and Guernica for “preservation”. And it just illustrated the arrogance and wishful thinking that the past can be preserved even at the end of the world. As though keeping rot and death away from an object gives hope we can keep it from ourselves.
There is something similar in the movie “The Midnight Sky” 2020 where another rich asshole tries to escape the apocalypse with a private jet packed with art and important objects in the seats where people could have been sitting.
Pretty sure, if that’s not a replica already (original safely tucked away), most well known works are now safely tucked away. I heard somewhere that the originals are rarely displayed for the public.
OK. The Mona Lisa is a minor DaVinci work. But Botticelli? What a bunch of (place your favorite expletive here)
