Climate protesters took again an ecological activisim action, and attacked the works of art. This time, it is Degas’s Sculpture “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen”. The climate action occurred on Thursday, 11 a.m. They are once again pointing on the growing climate crisis, and speaking directly to president Joe Biden to acknowledge it. The sculpture is on an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Climate Protesters Spoke Directly to Joe Biden
As previously said, the protest speaks directly to Biden. The goal is the need to acknowledge the global climate crisis, and stop providing fossil fuels with additional drilling licenses and incentives. Two activists protested, and both of them the police arrested (Tim Martin and Joanna Smith). The group’s name behind these actions is the Declare Emergency organization.
“For our children, we are worried like most of Americans, about climate and about biodiversity crisis”. Martin said, according to the Washington Post. “And we need our leaders to step up, put their differences aside and simply be responsible”. The museum’s director, Kaywin Feldman released a response video to the protest.
“The work has been taken off display so that our expert conservation team can assess the potential damage. We unequivocally denounce this behavior and will continue to share information as it becomes available”, she said. The Declare Emergency also spoke their mind. A spokesperson said the organization values art, and that’s why everybody needs to deal with climate crisis. If not, there won’t be any artworks to discuss.
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“We need to engage with climate emergency emotionally” – The Declare Emergency
The organization says that the protest and climate actions come as a result of fear that children will not have the same protection as art. “We have to convey how dire this situation is, in whatever nonviolent way that we can. We need to engage with the climate emergency emotionally, and actions such as this one draw that out in us. They bring us to the emotional state that we need to be in, to realize how bad things really are. Only after getting to that place will we find the motivation and the resolve to truly save ourselves”, the spokesperson said.
The National Gallery of Art demonstration comes after numerous other anti-climate rallies by a range of groups at museums in Europe, Australia, and Canada. High-profile artworks by artists including Vermeer, Goya, Monet, van Gogh, and Rubens are routinely targeted by protesters.
Politicians in Italy advocated for fines in connection with recent demonstrations that featured public monuments. Also, two activists in Belgium received two-month prison terms in November for vandalizing Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring in the Hague.
