Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts

225 Pages·2015·7.482 MB·English

by  Mel Evans

Artwash
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Artwash
Big Oil and the Arts
Mel Evans
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First published 2015 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Mel Evans 2015
The right of Mel Evans to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3589 6 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3588 9 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7837 1332 5 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7837 1334 9 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7837 1333 2 EPUB eBook

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from
fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and
manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental
standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Text design by Melanie Patrick
Simultaneously printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK
and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
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For Rachel Singer, my mum, who taught me change is a process,
not an event; and for her mother and grandmother, Mickey and
Beth, who, in their purchasing, kept an arm’s-length relationship
with any company that invested heavily in advertising.
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Contents
List of Illustrations and Tables ix
List of Acronyms xi
List of Characters xii
Acknowledgements xiii
1. Introduction 1
2. Big Oil’s Artwash Epidemic 18
Tobacco and arms manufacturers: ethics and
sponsorship 19
Oil sponsorship of the arts around the world 26
The international oil economy and the BP Ensemble
in London 34
3. Capital and Culture 41
Art at arm’s-length from the state, but ethics under
its thumb 41
Where the money really comes from 49
Ethics and accountability 63
4. Discrete Logos, Big Spills 69
Disaster is fundamental to business 70
A social licence to operate 76
Arts sponsorship to secure social licence 86
Fake it ’til you make it: simulating authenticity 93
5. The Impact of BP on Tate: An Unhappy Context
for Art 103
Curating with BP in the picture 104
Art in social context 114
BP, Tate and the post-colonial 122
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artwash
6. Opposition to Oil Sponsorship and Interventions
in Gallery Spaces 140
Performing protest in gallery spaces – a growing
global movement 141
Institutional critique and the sponsor 155
Making space for change: the ‘deviant art institution’
and interstitial distance 160
7. Conclusion 166
Merely artwash 168
Signs of change 171
Notes 176
Index 190
viii
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List of Illustrations
and Tables
Figures
1.1 Toni & Bobbi, Liberate Tate, June 2010, Tate Britain.
Film stills. Video credit: Gavin Grindon, 2010 3
1.2 Licence to Spill, Liberate Tate, June 2010, Tate Britain.
Photo credit: Immo Klink, 2010 5
1.3 Carbon Dioxide Concentration ©Simon Lewis, 2014 16
2.1 ‘BP Walk through British Art’ – BP sponsorship in
Tate Britain. Photo credit: Martin LeSanto-Smith, 2013 38
3.1 Tate operating income year-on-year 1990–2014
(millions) 54
4.1 BP flag at Tate Britain. Photo credit: Richard Houguez, 2012 93
5.1 BP flag at Tate Britain. Photo credit: Mel Evans, 2014 106
5.2 Carbon Sink: What Goes Around Comes Around,
Chris Drury, University of Wyoming Art Museum.
Photo credit: Chris Drury, 2011 116
6.1 Human Cost, Liberate Tate, April 2011, Tate Britain.
Photo credit: Amy Scaife, 2011 145
6.2 The Gift, Liberate Tate, July 2012, Tate Modern.
Photo credit: Martin LeSanto-Smith, 2012 146
6.3 Hidden Figures, Liberate Tate, September 2014,
Tate Britain. Photo credit: Martin LeSanto-Smith, 2014 148–9
6.4 All Rise, Liberate Tate, April 2013, Tate Modern.
Photo credit: Mel Evans, 2013 150
6.5 Parts Per Million, Liberate Tate, December 2013,
Tate Britain. Photo credit: Martin LeSanto-Smith, 2013 151
ix
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