It is the third time this week that supporters of the group, which is calling for a government-imposed moratorium on new oil and gas extraction projects, have stuck to major projects in UK galleries. On Thursday they taped themselves to the frame of a Vincent Van Gogh painting at the Courtauld Gallery in London. On Wednesday they did the same at an artwork by Horatio McCulloch in Glasgow. “The young people of the world have literally nothing to lose anymore, we’re a generation that sacrifices,” said Paul Bell, a 21-year-old physics graduate from Birmingham, one of two who strapped themselves to the frame of Thomson’s Wind Harp. , an 1809 landscape showing a view of the Thames from Richmond, London. “There are millions in fuel and food poverty, our wildlife and landscapes have been destroyed and we face hunger and war. Our government is accelerating chaos by allowing new fossil fuel infrastructure. We will not stand by and let this creeping evil continue. “No one gets a free pass. By refusing to use its power and influence to help end this madness, the art establishment is complicit in genocide. Art institution directors should call on the government to immediately halt all new oil and gas projects.” Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST The latest actions by Just Stop Oil follow a shutdown campaign at oil terminals in the Midlands and southern England this spring. Hundreds of activists took part in disruptions, blockades and demonstrations in tunnels in an attempt to paralyze the distribution of oil in south-east England and London. This campaign was preceded by a series of pitch invasions at high-profile football matches, where activists taped or zip-tied themselves to goal posts in an attempt to disrupt the game. A Just Stop Oil source hinted that the art gallery actions were intended to keep attention on the group’s cause ahead of more action in the coming weeks and months. On July 27 the group is planning a mass protest in London in partnership with Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice project, under the banner: “We all want to just stop oil”. “It’s not a switch [in strategy]; it’s mobilizing actions for young people, doing something high-profile, a bit like the sports actions we’ve been doing,” the source said. “We’re just changing it up a bit with small-scale, high-impact actions. But then we aim to mobilize for mass action later in the year.”
