“The Scream” painting is targeted by climate activists
Norwegian police reported two climate activists tried to glue themselves to Edvard Munch’s 1893 “The Scream” at a museum in Norway. However, the piece was not harmed as the police had been alerted by the National Museum of Norway over the matter.
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Two of the activists tried to glue themselves while the third person filmed them. To protect the painting, the museum in Oslo emptied the room where it was under exhibition.
Related: Climate activists glued to a sculpture in Vatican Museum
According to the museum, the room will be opened back to the public soon. The incident only affected access to the targeted art. The museum remained open and guests were able to visit other areas.
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Seen in video footage of the incident, the activists heard shouting, “I scream for people dying.” Another shouted, “I scream when lawmakers ignore science” as someone shielded “The Scream.”
Activists from the “Stopp oljeletinga,” a Norwegian organization that campaigns against oil exploration have owned the incident. They say that they wanted to use the incident to put pressure on lawmakers to end oil exploration.
Norway is a leading producer of offshore oil and gas. Over the years, the country has been under increasing pressure from climate activists to change its actions.
“We are campaigning against ‘Scream’ because it is perhaps Norway’s most famous painting,” Astrid Rem, a spokesperson for the Norwegian group, told The Associated Press. “There have been lots of similar actions around Europe. They have managed something that no other action has managed: achieve an extremely large amount of coverage and press.”
Just this month, climate activists protesting in Germany threw mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting. These actions are getting increasingly regular. Other paintings that have been targeted in Europe include “Girl with a Pearl Earring” in the Netherlands and “Sunflowers” and “The Last Supper” in the U.K. Two Belgian activists were sentenced to two months for targeting “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”
The bigger question is whether climate activists are getting the attention they want or is it harming their message?
Via ABC News