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Directors from The Met, British Museum, Louvre and National Gallery have signed an open letter published by ICOM condemning the ‘risky endangerment’ of irreplaceable artworks in climate demonstrations
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 28 Nov 2022
Climate protestors at The National Gallery covered a Constable painting with a reimagined version of the image before glueing themselves to the frame Credit: PA Media
Museum directors from institutions across the world have signed an open letter describing protests involving artworks as “risky endangerment” of irreplaceable objects.
Published by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) the letter was signed by 92 directors in total, including Tristram Hunt, director of The V&A; Gabriele Finaldi, director of The National Gallery; Laurence des Cars; president of Musée du Louvre and Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum.
Signatories also included Daniel H. Weiss, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts and ICOM president Beate Reifenscheid.
The letter comes following a spate of climate protests in the UK, which have seen activists from Just Stop Oil glue themselves to paintings at museums and galleries across the UK, including The Courtauld Institute, The National Gallery, The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, and the Manchester Art Gallery.
While the letter does not explicitly refer to the recent Just Stop Oil protests – which last month saw protestors throw tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – it does recognise the need for the letter to be published in the current climate.
“In recent weeks, there have been several attacks on works of art in international museum collections,” the letter reads.
“The activists responsible for them severely underestimate the fragility of these irreplaceable objects, which must be preserved as part of our world cultural heritage. As museum directors entrusted with the care of these works, we have been deeply shaken by their risky endangerment.
“Museums are places where people from a wide variety of backgrounds can engage in dialogue and which therefore enable social discourse. In this sense, the core tasks of the museum as an institution – collecting, researching, sharing and preserving – are now more relevant than ever.
“We will continue to advocate for direct access to our cultural heritage. And we will maintain the museum as a free space for social communication,” the letter concludes.
The letter comes after ICOM responded to the Just Stop Oil protests with a statement arguing that museums should be seen as allies in the climate movement.
“ICOM wishes to recall the role of museums as key actors in initiating and supporting climate action with their communities and commends their commitment to this mission demonstrated through educational programmes, dedicated exhibitions, community outreach and research,” the statement said.
“To reach the full transformative potential that museums have for sustainable development, ICOM wishes for museums to be seen as allies in facing the common threat of climate change.”
It should be noted, however, that a number of high-profile UK museums continue to accept controversial sponsorship from fossil fuel companies such as BP and Shell despite public backlash. In recent times this has included protests led by anti-greenwashing movement Culture Unstained at the British Museum, while teen climate activist Greta Thunberg condemned the Science Museum Group for signing a gagging order with Shell, that prohibited the museum from making ‘any statement’ in it’s sponsored Our Future Planet exhibition that could be seen as damaging to the company’s reputation.
Museums and galleries
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