Last week, we posted a video on our TikTok discussing the recent – and controversial – efforts of climate activists which, gaining over 18k views and almost 2000 comments, really got people talking. Nobody can disagree that the merit behind climate change activism is something we can all get behind, but the methods by which many activist groups have been promoting the cause have kind of polarised people. CULTED’s community really got stuck into the debate; here’s what they had to say.
Over the last few weeks, climate activists have been targeting various pieces of priceless art from around the world in an attempt to draw attention to their cause. With the British group ‘Just Stop Oil’ defacing Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” with soup in the UK and German activists ‘Last Generation’ throwing mashed potatoes at Claude Monet’s “Grainstacks” in Potsdam and more recently targeting artist Gustav Klimt’s painting “Death and Life” in Vienna, we’ve seen a lot of food thrown at famous art lately.
It would appear that the activists’ trend of targeting artworks is what’s got some people so riled. Whilst CULTED’s community seemed to be quite evenly split, there were a number of comments questioning “what did the art do?” (@gracie____5) and “bro what did the paintings do to them? they did not cause climate change 😅” (@shootingxtar), and we do see their point. Van Gogh likely lived a more sustainable life than any of us could dream of so why’s he taking the brunt of the activists’ anger? Like @theelusivesmeglore suggested, “Maybe they could attack oil CEOs instead of art”.
Whilst it’s now safe to say that no art was harmed in the process of the food throwing, as the paintings involved in the attacks are now known to have been held behind protective glass cases, some people have speculated that this invasion of museums and galleries will cause them to install tighter restrictions or even limit entry. But despite this, there’s still plenty of people backing their methods.
User @briauuu admits the attack on art is controversial but argues “the fact people have to stoop to this level to get people’s attention shows how bad it truly is”, and she’s right. As @userlie30zeo57 corroborates, “This is literally “Don’t Look Up” Were just watching as the world burns and governments are doing NOTHING.” If this isn’t the time to take drastic measures, when is?
Whilst the art climate activists are attacking don’t really deserve it, @thatqueershit makes the fair point that “art doesn’t have value on a dead earth. we’re literally rotting so who cares”. There’ll be no art museums when we’re all several feet underwater.
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