FOSSIL FREE CULTURE NL ANNUAL REPORT Portfolio 2018 1 We established the Fossil Free Culture pleased to observe that the news was We are very excited about our next art FOREWORD NL Foundation in December 2017. covered not only by the general press campaign #FossilFreeMuseumplein, Becoming a legal entity provided but by the specialised art press as well, calling for a fossil-free Museum Square accountability for our undertakings mobilising the arts and art communi- by 2020 in the heart of the city of and allowed us to secure the funds that ties. The media attention contributed Amsterdam, the Dutch capital city. We enabled us to scale up our activities in to firmly cementing the term ‘artwash- delivered a pre-announcement perfor- 2018. That makes the report that is ing’ in the public consciousness while mance at the beginning of this year to now before you our very first annual invigorating the debate on the unethical let them know that we are coming. report. nature of fossil fuel sponsorship of the cultural sector. The number of cultural The successes of 2018 have given rise And what a year it has been… institutions accepting the ill-gained to a vigorous, vibrant, and resilient profits from the ecocidal fossil fuel Fossil Free Culture community in the In the summer of 2018, following our industry is increasingly declining. Netherlands, with many artists and cul- two-year art campaign #DropShell, the tural institutions joining in the fight for Van Gogh Museum ended its sponsor- We can safely say that the cultural pillar climate justice. We cherish and nurture ship deal with Royal Dutch Shell. But it of support for fossil fuel companies is these connections, and together we will didn’t stop there. Shortly after, in what wavering. win. appeared to be a coordinated event, Het Mauritshuis and Museon in The When the media storm subsided again, Hague followed suit and likewise cut we took some time to collectively “With the whole world at stake, the their ties with the Dutch oil giant. reflect, capture the lessons learned fossil fuel age must be brought to an from the past art campaign and immediate screeching halt”. #DropShell consisted of a relentless recalibrate strategy accordingly. We series of performances, interventions, carefully explored new opportunities publications, parties and public and selected our new target: Het presentations. It culminated in the Concertgebouw (Royal Concert Hall). 2018 ‘Art Storm’ performance series, We also examined our organisational which finally convinced the Van Gogh structure, since it had become evident Museum to choose to be on the right that we were operating under capacity. side of history. We are now designing and trying out a new organisational model based on the In the wake of this campaign victory, ‘snowflake-model’. We are also engag- our work and its results received mas- ing more and more in collaborations sive media attention, both nationally with other grassroots climate initiatives and internationally. We were extremely and progressive cultural organisations. 2 We are a collective working at the Vision Background intersection of art and activism. We envision a fossil free future based Fossil Free Culture NL was founded FOSSIL Through the creation of disobedient art on the intersectional equality of all in 2016 by a group of artists, activists, performances in cultural institutions species and beings. We believe art has researchers and cultural workers that accept fossil fuel funding, we aim an essential role to play in realising this committed to cutting the ties between FREE to erode the public image of fossil fuel possible future, by sculpting its image fossil fuel companies and public cultural corporations. into people’s minds. institutions. CULTURE Our goal is to establish oil and gas Mission In the two years to date, we created six sponsorship as morally unacceptable Our mission is to terminally erode the disobedient art performances inside for cultural institutions; parallel to fossil fuel industry’s social license to the Van Gogh Museum and three NL tobacco but far exceeding its toxicity operate. We believe that eradicating interventions in the public domain; all –undermining not only individual fossil fuel sponsorship from the cultural of which challenging the museum’s human health but degrading the sector is a necessary step towards acceptance of Shell sponsorship. At collective future of all life on Earth. making space for, and concretely start the same time, we worked to invigorate building a fossil free future. discussion in the Netherlands and beyond on the subject of unethical We embrace a vocal, vigorous, sponsorship, specifically on the concept public, boundary-pushing role and of ‘artwashing’. responsibility as artists in the face of the climate crisis and consider it our duty to liberate the arts from the influence of profoundly unethical corporations. 3 In August 2018, the Van Gogh Disobedient art is at the core of our We have developed a holistic meth- Museum dropped Shell as a sponsor work. However, we also engage in other odology consisting of interconnected RESULTS after an 18-year partnership. In the activities that aim at: activities that include performances, weeks immediately following, and in interventions, leaflets, videos, photo- apparent coordination, two further Creating a vibrant community of graphs, objects, texts, etc. 2018 major cultural institutions in The Hague, artists, cultural workers and activists Mauritshuis and Museon, severed their willing to participate in the disobedient In the following pages, we will outline ties with Shell as well. performances and all other events. the work we made in 2018. In the sum period that Fossil Free Building a support network in the arts Culture NL ha been active, several and cultural sector in the Netherlands other cultural institutions also chose and abroad. We collaborate with to quietly cut ties with fossil fuel progressive cultural institutions to companies: The Tropenmuseum and generate public debate on the subject Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra of unethical fossil fuel sponsorship. both dropped Shell, while Rijksmuseum dropped Saudi Aramco. Shifting the public opinion about oil-sponsorship in the arts by generat- ing media attention. In 2018, The New York Times, The Art Newspaper, El Pais, Volkskrant and Het Parool pub- lished articles about us. Art magazines, including Hyperallergic and Artforum, widely covered the news about the end of Shell sponsorship by the Van Gogh Museum further igniting the public debate around unethical oil and gas sponsorship within the international cultural sector. 4 SHELL’S DIRTY HANDS May 3, 2018 The Van Gogh Museum Performance A mournful line of black-clad performers walked towards the entrance of The Van Gogh Museum. One by one, they placed their oil-black handprints on the glass facade to make Shell’s dirty grip on our culture visible. The museum easily removed these marks from its façade, while Shell’s enduring stains on the planet still remain present. This performance marked the start of the ‘Art Storm’ series of three performances . 5 6 SHELLS EVERYWHERE May 15, 2018 The Van Gogh Museum Intervention Fossil Free Culture NL installed four hundred eleven scallop shells in the Van Gogh Museum. Each one marked with a hand-painted ‘carbon-black’ stain. Four hundred eleven shells symbolised the average concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere that day, which in April 2018 topped 411 parts per million; 61 more than our planet and our life support systems can sustain. A dark stain is spreading on our future. By hiding these stained shells inside the museum, Fossil Free Culture NL denounced Shell’s responsibility in causing climate change, and the complicit role of the Van Gogh Museum for sanitising Shell’s public image. 7 8 END THE FOSSIL FUEL AGE NOW June 9, 2018 The Van Gogh Museum Typographic installation, performance A female performer positioned herself on the monumental staircase of the Van Gogh Museum’s main building, ready to declaim the collective’s newly penned manifesto. As her words rang out, others hung long paper banners from the balustrades one by one. Only after the declamation was complete, was the full text legible: END THE FOSSIL FUEL AGE NOW. The typographic work of artists such as Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer inspired the presentation of the manifesto. At the same time, a ‘banner drop’ technique was applied to reveal the work. This performance marked the closure of the “Art Storm’ series, which led to the termination of Shell sponsorhip by the Van Gogh Museum. 9 10 We, Fossil Free Culture NL, call upon 1. We believe in the transformative 6. We commit to jamming closed the MANIFESTO every cultural institution that accepts power of art. Artists have the capacity revolving door that fossil fuel lobbyists fossil fuel sponsorship to immediately to envision other worlds and to devise use to move between business, political cut their ties with this catastrophic the tactics that can make those worlds and cultural sectors, pedalling their industry. a reality. poisonous influence. The climate crisis is the biggest existen- 2. We believe artists, cultural workers 7. We call upon our cultural institutions tial challenge humanity has ever con- and institutions must respond with to choose for the right side of history; sciously had to face. Its likelihood has courage to the situation at hand. Our to cut all ties now with fossil fuel corpo- been cemented by decades of climate role is core to exposing and countering rations, or be branded accomplices and denial; paid for and promoted by fossil the very real possibility of climate share their lasting guilt. fuel companies. Artists, critics and collapse. cultural institutions must recognise and Cultural institutions that fail to liberate act upon the fact that the planet and 3. We must resist the appropriation themselves from the influence of its life support systems are collapsing all of cultural heritage by oil and gas this ecocidal industry shall receive a around us in the hands of unrestrained corporations to decorate the name relentless series of reputation corroding fossil capital.