20/09/2019 for Immediate Release: Oriel Môn has put an artwork by Charles Tunnicliffe, titled Greenland Falcon’ ‘on strike’ today in support of the young people taking part in climate strikes around the world since Greta Thunberg started the movement in 2018.
The museum has selected a popular artwork by Charles Tunnicliffe which is a key part of the exhibition ‘Charles Tunnicliffe and the Royal Academy of Arts’ and removed it from public view, replacing it with the the #ArtStrike message “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”. Art Strike is encouraging people to join the thousands that are expected to take to the streets on Friday 20th September to demand more action from the government on the climate crisis.
This is the first time the museum has removed an artwork in support of action on climate change, and organisers hope it will lead to a spate of similar ‘art strikes’ in museums up and down the UK.
Esther Roberts, Senior Manager at Oriel Môn stated “Oriel Môn wanted to do something to support #ClimateStrike. We wanted to communicate that we can’t take things for granted anymore - the planet needs individuals, organisations and governments to make drastic changes.”
Jake Woodier, from the UK Student Climate Network, explains, “Tackling the climate crisis has never been as urgent as it is today which is why we’re calling for unprecedented numbers of people to take to the streets. It’s essential that our arts and cultural institutions respond to the crisis and utilise their place in society to call for change. Art Strike is an innovative idea created by supporters to help spread the message and galvanize the art world.”
One of the organisers of the Art Strike campaign, Ben Templeton, said: “This is meant as a playful way for the art world to remind everyone the climate crisis isn’t going away but the planet might, if we don’t act now.”
Art organisations interested in staging their own strike can download a strike kit from bit.ly/artstriketoolkit. Members of the public are also being invited to stage their own art strikes around the country by printing an Art Strike poster and taking a selfie of themselves obscuring a piece of art.