6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Greenpeace activists target North Sea oil platform with art protest
Kapoor's work, titled 'Butchered' was conceived for this protest, and Greenpace said had bee unveiled 'at the same moment as devastating heatwaves, wildfires and floods fuelled by the fossil fuel industry have hit communities in the UK and around the world.'
After securing a giant 12m x 8m canvas to one side of the structure, the activists hoisted a high-pressure hose to a height of 16 metres above the sea.
They then pumped 1,000 litres of blood-red liquid that gushed into the fabric, creating a vast crimson stain.
The blood-like solution, designed specifically for this artwork, is a mix of seawater, beetroot powder and non-toxic, food-based pond dye.
Greenpeace climbers install the artwork (Image: Andrew McConnell) The artwork is 'a stark visualisation of the wound inflicted on both humanity and the Earth by the fossil fuel industry, evocative of our collective grief and pain at what has been lost, but also a cry for reparation,' Greenpeace said.
It comes as the fourth heatwave of the summer has triggered health alerts in parts of the UK, while a worsening drought has hit farmers' crops and record-breaking wildfires have burnt an area twice the size of Glasgow.
Extreme heat is also breaking temperature records across Europe and fuelling massive wildfires in Spain, where thousands of people have been evacuated. Earlier this month, deadly flash floods hit communities in China to northern India.
Anish Kapoor said: 'The carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels is invisible, but we are witnessing the devastation that its extraction wreaks on our world.
'What still remains largely hidden is the responsibility oil giants like Shell bear for causing this destruction and profiting from worldwide suffering.
'I wanted to make something visual, physical, visceral to reflect the butchery they are inflicting on our planet: a visual scream that gives voice to the calamitous cost of the climate crisis, often on the most marginalised communities across the globe.'
He added: 'Butchered is an action that happens at the place where this violation starts – a gas platform in the middle of the sea.[ The artwork] attempts to bring home the horror, giving voice to the moral and physical destruction caused by ruthless profiteers.
'My work is also a tribute to the heroic work done in opposition to this destruction, and to the tireless activists who choose to disrupt, disagree and disobey.'
Anish Kapoor (Image: © Kristian Buus / Greenpeace) Greenpeace claimed Shell made £54 billion in profits in the two years after the invasion of Ukraine, but it paid just £1.2 billion in taxes in the UK over the same period - about 2% of its global earnings.
The carbon pollution unleashed by Shell over three decades is estimated to have already caused at least $1.42 trillion worth of climate damage around the world, the activists group said.
READ MORE: Forth Road Bridge shut by protestors with police on scene What happened on President Trump's previous Scotland visits? Unions and climate groups call for emergency funds for North Sea workers
Greenpeace also said that 'despite clear warnings from scientists and energy experts', the oil giant is still planning a major expansion of its operations, with 700 new oil and gas projects in the pipeline.
Philip Evans, Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: 'Extreme weather is hitting close to home, but the extraction of fossil fuels driving the climate crisis is often out of sight.
'This artwork is a visual gut-punch that makes visible the suffering and damage caused by the oil and gas industry right at the place where the harm begins.
'While the fossil fuel sector makes billions from climate destruction, ordinary people are left to pick up the rising costs of flood damage, droughts and wildfires. Governments need to start holding oil giants like Shell to account and make them pay for the enormous damage they are causing.'
The canvas after it was completed (Image: Andrew McConnell) A Shell UK spokesperson said: 'Safety at sea is our priority. Greenpeace entered a restricted safety zone around the platform without permission, which is established under UK law to protect people and prevent collisions.
'Their actions were extremely dangerous, involved illegally trespassing and put their own and others' lives at risk.
