Two young activists from the “Futuro Vegetal” collective used plastic Coca-Cola bottles in the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona to spray the glass cage with fake oil and then the walls with fake blood.
Environmental activists sprayed the glass cage of a mummy replica at the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona on Sunday to denounce the inaction on climate change by governments gathered at COP27 in Egypt. Two young activists, a man and a woman from the Futuro Vegetal collective, sprayed the glass cage with fake oil and then the walls with fake blood, using plastic bottles of Coca-Cola.
They then unveiled a large banner calling for “climate justice” and denouncing a “COPCA COLA” in relation to the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and Coca-Cola, one of the official sponsors of the conference. The soft drinks giant has been slammed by many environmental NGOs for activities they deem polluting around the world, particularly the massive production of plastic bottles.
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When the police arrived, the young activists were cooperative and were not arrested. However, the Egyptian Museum has indicated that it intends to report the damage caused. Activists from the same collective, which is part of the Extinction rebellion collective, laid their hands on the frames of paintings by Francisco Goya in the Prado Museum in Madrid on November 5 to draw attention to global warming, an action declared by the Spanish as Minister of Culture was considered “unjustified”.
“Deep Shocked”
Nearly a hundred international museums said they were “deeply shocked” by the actions organized by environmental activists against works of art on Thursday, recalling their role in conservation. Several other such actions have been carried out by climate activists in recent weeks, targeting iconic buildings but also famous works of art in several cities across Europe.
Environmental activists unsuccessfully tried to get their hands on The Scream, Norwegian painter Edvard Munch’s iconic masterpiece in Oslo on Friday to denounce the oil industry in Norway. Earlier this month, two “Last Generation” activists spilled mashed potatoes on the glass protecting Claude Monet’s painting “The Haystacks” at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany.
Activists also taped the glass protecting Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring at a museum in the Netherlands. Others threw soup at whoever was protecting Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London.