BP sponsorship provokes Tate Member resignations at AGM

This was originally published on the Platform blog.

As Christmas approaches, there's a lot of Tate social media suggesting that you give the gift of Tate membership to your loved ones this year. But there are a number of Tate members who feel that membership means “just pay your fees and don’t ask questions.” The annual Tate Members AGM looks set to be dominated again by the controversial Tate-BP relationship as a number of members are planning on publicly resigning. The resignations come after a larger group of Tate members attempted to raise the issue at the AGM last year, and sent letters to the Member’s Council, but were rebuffed by the council who took five months to respond to say that they were unable to engage with the members’ concerns.

Although the International Energy Agency says we must leave two thirds of known reserves in the ground in order to stay within the limits of climate safety, BP continues to spend billions of pounds searching for new sources of oil and gas, which we cannot possibly burn. Climate scientists are in broad agreement of the need to stay below the level of 350 parts per million of atmospheric carbon to stabilise the climate. But in the very week that the BP Walk Through British Art was opened in May, we passed 400 parts per million... There is nothing controversial or radical about what we are saying. These are the words of scientists and economists. What is controversial is Tate’s refusal to acknowledge the reality of this situation. What is radical is Tate being complicit with companies whose fundamental business model is based on the destruction of a safe and stable climate on this planet.