Scrubbing down the art industry
With sponges and soap against fossil fuel funding
Certainly, many things are happening in the world of climate activism, ranging from huge national campaigns against big institutions or governmental decisions, to smaller protests fighting local climate culprits. To explore the strategies behind the actions and unravel the secrets of (un)successful activism, we asked activists about their theories for achieving success. In the Dutch province of Drenthe, one of the Netherland’s smaller provinces with around half a million inhabitants, the 55-years-old activist Conny Darwinkel, who, together with Extinction Rebellion Drenthe, is fighting an ongoing mission against the fossil sponsor of the Drents Museum. Their strategy? “Chafing” and nagging until this oily sponsorship stops.
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A long-term plan for the dirtiest kid in class
‘The dirtiest kid in class’: that is what the activists of XR Drenthe think of the famous museum in Assen. The group has tormented the museum since August last year with playful protests, including a ‘clean-up’ (with brushes and biodegradable soap), an art performance and the well-known ‘die-ins’: “a peaceful, nonviolent form protest whereby participants lay on the ground”
Drents Museum: The Drents Museum, established in 1854, is a museum in the Dutch province of Drenthe. Even though located in a smaller province of the Netherlands, the museum exhibits important work and hosts big exhibitions, among which the Terracottaleger (more than 300.000 visitors) and Viva la Frida! – Life and art of Frida Kahlo (almost 140.000 visitors, among which more than 70% came from outside Drenthe6). The permanent collection focuses on Dutch art from 1885 to 1935 and the archaeological and historical context of the area.
On the 20th of August 2022, the rebels made their first way to the square in front of the main entrance of the museum. The group staged, in collaboration with a befriended artist, the work Self Portrait of a Human by Barend Blankert, to seek attention for their fight against the main sponsor of the museum: the infamous NAM. The NAM is a joint venture of Shell and ExxonMobil, and the company is responsible for the gas mining in the neighbouring province of Groningen – where this mining led, and continues to lead, to many local earthquakes and financial and emotional damage. During the performance, the rebels handed out flyers to curious spectators, criticising the museum for embracing a fossil fuel company and confronted the city and its surroundings with the impact of climate change (emphasising rising sea levels and the fact that the majority of the Drents Museum is below surface level). Local media arrived to report on the happening and public reactions were mostly sympathetic. A local newspaper managed to squeeze a halfhearted statement about the sponsorship from the museum, and that seemed to be it: all neat and tidy. But that was not quite it yet. Darwinkel and the other rebels of XR Drenthe are on a mission, and this mission continues until “the museum states: we stop”.
© Extinction Rebellion
© Extinction Rebellion
So 4 months later the rebels returned to the square, this time armed with brushes and soap - because the museum is “smudged” with oil money and therefore should be “cleaned”. Whilst polishing, the rebels repeated their convictions, and this time also the national media paid attention to the battle against the sponsor of the Drents Museum. Again no will to change the financial backing of the Drents Museum, but yes again for media attention, sympathetic reactions and new influence on public opinion.
© Extinction Rebellion
Compared to other climate protests, the protests of XR Drenthe might seem more obedient or maybe even decent, since they do not glue themselves, throw no soup, don’t block a local highway or chain themselves to something, the group does make the NAM and the museum the conversation of the day, again. Direct disruption is therefore not the group's goal (yet) – they have enhanced some kind of long-term plan. “We really did not have any expectations to achieve our goal within one or two years. We are prepared to campaign for a long time. Our goal is to be ‘chafing’ until the museum stops facilitating this form of artwashing.”
Fossil aesthetes in the Dutch art scene
“Chafing”, Darwinkel states, until the financial friendship between the museum and the NAM comes to an end. “It seems like it has become ordinary practice to accept this kind of greenwashing as acceptable. But it is not and it has to stop.” And this “new normal” is not only seen in Drenthe: fossil relationships in art are not an exception in the Dutch art scene. A recent study of newspaper NRC shows that 8 out of the 10 researched museums accept at least some type of financial support from “polluting companies or financial institutions that invest in fossil industries”. The latter mainly refers to banks, but also to companies like Tata Steel, KLM and AkzoNobel act to be fervent art lovers. In the same research business manager Esther Moesker of the Groninger Museum states the museum has “warm ties” with the GasUnie and GasTerra (companies that work closely together with NAM for the commerce and trade of gas), according to the article already “for years to complete satisfaction”. Manager Harry Tupan of the Drents Museum, however, seems a bit less enthusiastic about his main sponsor, because “also we are worried about the future”. Unfortunately, finding a better sponsor seems quite difficult to him; “we don’t have other big industries or companies (in Drenthe, red.)”.
Therefore the Drentse rebels are not the only ones expressing themselves against the intervention of the fossil industry in the (art)world. A wave of protests and demonstrations continues to rumble over Europe. Paintings of Van Gogh, Monet, Vermeer and DaVinci already got in touch with climate activists protesting against fossil practices. Many other museums went down a similar road, among them the Groninger Museum during the opening of the exhibition Megalith, an installation visualising the “post-apocalyptic landscape” after the climate crisis. The Groninger artist Marit Westerhuis was not aware of the polluting sponsor until she noticed the logo of the gas giants on her exhibition folder. In response, she took the time to criticise the sponsorship during her opening speech and staged, together with Fossil Free Culture Groningen, a disobedient art performance. Like these there are many more examples worth to be named in the Dutch and European art scene. However, the problems and protagonists are known and the opponents are willing to fight. So the only question remains, how do the activists plan on winning?
© Viola Karsten
No art on a dead planet
For Darwinkel and XR Drenthe the end goal is clear, that is “for the museum to stop accepting NAM-money.” Because “it might sound like a cliché, but there really is no art on a dead planet.” Since the very first beginning, the group never had the expectation that the museum would give in straight with their demands. “In February 2022 we started by sending a letter to the museum to ask them to stop this collaboration. In response, we got invited to a talk with both directors. During this talk they told us they would “take into account” our criticism, and we would hear from them. We never heard anything.” Soon after the group decided to start their first protest: the art performance on the square. But, besides inducing a revolution in the museum, we also wanted to create some kind of ‘noise’ to attract the awareness of people that could join our protests and movement. Additionally, we sent a press release to local media to generate attention, and that worked.” Basically, the actions of XR Drenthe should be seen as a whole: a mission that ‘chafes’ (or nags) until the museum gives in. Darwinkel tells me that there are many other protests in the proverbial pipeline, each one more “creative” than the last; to “influence public opinion”, create awareness and maintain media attention. “Our strategy is to build the disruptive.”
© Viola Karsten
It takes one to lead
Extinction Rebellion Drenthe will thus only stop when the museum cuts its financial ties with its fossil sponsor. Until then they will "chafe", "poke" and "frapper toujours". They will continue to improve their protests, reinforce their strategies and expand their group of supporters; because the public opinion is shifting and social acceptance of fossil energy begins to falter. Since the national protests of XR Netherlands on the A12-highway in The Hague, XR Drenthe alone has been receiving dozens more applications per week. Besides, several other climate protests seem to deliver results. “It takes one person, or a few people, to say ‘we could make do without their money, right?.”
A12 protests: The XR protests on the A12 cannot be unnamed in an article about climate activism in the Netherlands. On Saturday the 28th of January 2023, rebels of XR made, for the fifth time, their way to block the A12, an important road in the political and financial heart of The Hague. XR demanded that the country ends the yearly billion euros of fossil subsidies. During the most recent blockade, on the 11th of March, at least 3000 activists joined the mission. 700 got arrested. Many more bystanders joined the movement from a distance. Police used water cannons to break up the group. Before the blockade, police arrested six rebels because they would call out for the action of “a dangerous and disruptive blockade”.
That museums are able to make do without the help of fossil fuel funding, has been shown by multiple converted museums. Amongst them Rijksmuseum Boerhave, NEMO and Naturalis, the latter which, as a biodiversity centre, used to execute scientific research for Shell. The museum told newspaper Trouw that the protests of the climate activists against the collaboration of the museum and Shell “definitely played a role” in their choice to cut ties with them.
So it may be clear that climate activism is able to contribute to a more sustainable art industry. Who knows it might only be a matter of time until the Drents Museum starts caring for the future they are worried about.
© Extinction Rebellion
