Dipannita Sarkar
Amid the ongoing debate over the rising climate change protests targeting cultural exhibits, on the 13th of November, two Futuro Vegetal climate activists splashed viscous liquid of red and brown slime carried inside Coca-Cola bottles over a display case housing a replica mummy at Barcelona’s Egyptian Museum.
The giant American beverage company Coca-Cola is among the official sponsors of the UN COP27 climate summit in Egypt. Many Environmentalists criticized this decision of having a company responsible for much of the world’s plastic pollution as a sponsor.
The Futuro Vegetal activists called the company “the global leader in plastic pollution” and said that 99% of plastic comes from fossil fuels. Hence, they refused to believe that as a sponsor of COP27, the Coca-Cola company, which heavily depends on fossil fuels, will not use its influence and position to push its commercial agenda.
The two involved climate activists reportedly splashed the viscous, brown-colored liquid which represented blood and oil, on the glass case carrying a fake mummy, and a few framed pictures on the adjacent walls as per the footage posted on the Publico news website. In the video the activists also displayed a modified banner of Coca-Cola scribbled with the phrase “Climate Change”. Earlier this month Futuro Vegetal activists also targeted paintings by Goya.
The activist duo did not deny their action and cooperated with the police when they arrived at the spot, so they did not get arrested. But the Museum strongly condemns this act of vandalism and is said to be filing a complaint, for the damage caused by the whole incident. The increasing cases of disrupting art as a tactic to draw everyone’s attention towards the climate change issue has become a topic of debate where many believe that these acts will cause more damage than good to the climate movement.
