Why a T-Rex went on strike and what it means for arts, culture and the climate
Millions of people around the world took to the streets on September 20th demanding tougher action to protect our planet. What did a model bridge in Wales, an 18th-century industrial pioneer and a T-Rex have to do with it?
It’s August 2019 and some creative folk are bouncing ideas around while outside, London’s ‘silicon roundabout’ melts in the heat. The irony of tackling climate change in a heavily air-conditioned room is lost on no-one.
NASA data shows average global temperatures are rising. The European Academies Science Advisory Council shows that floods, droughts and extreme weather are becoming increasingly common. An expert United Nations panel warned sea levels are rising 3.66mm and 720 billion tons of ice melts each year.
Eight weeks later, a range of bonkers and brilliant ideas have taken shape, from meme kits, viral videos and printable placards to a nationally coordinated fire drill sounding the alarm on the climate crisis.
Change won’t happen without everyday people making themselves heard and young people are currently making the most noise. The UK Student Climate Network partnered with Glimpse, behind the hugely successful CHOOSE LOVE campaign for refugees, and Good For Nothing, a worldwide community of change-makers, to focus the creative industry on mobilising a million people of all ages to take to the streets on September 20th.
Art Strike was one such campaign, inviting cultural organisations to put an object on strike and remind the world we don’t know what we’ve got ’til it’s gone. A single obscured artwork shows visitors the climate crisis isn’t going away and if we don’t act now, the planet as we know it may be gone forever.
As part of a team including Jake from UKSCN, Katie from Framestore, freelance graphic artist Leona and Jo Murphy I helped take the Art Strike concept from the freewheeling whiteboards of dreamland into reality. We created the Art Strike Toolkit, brought cultural organisations to the table and soon the campaign took on a life of its own.
By Friday 20th September, eight organisations had staged strikes, from North Wales, via Manchester and Derby, all the way down to Woking. No doubt emboldened by Bristol Museum’s pioneering move to shroud objects in early August, the #ArtStrike response was both courageous and creative; paintings were obscured, objects shrouded, temporary interpretation materials printed and timelapse videos posted on social media.
Manchester Museum showed incredible bravery in nominating their star attraction Stan the T-Rex.
The movement gained momentum and the reaction was mostly positive, applauding the bold steps taken by large organisations who might traditionally be seen as risk-averse and lower-case conservative.
People were also pissed off, taking particular exception to Manchester’s decision to put Stan on strike. Families hoping to see the famous T-Rex may well have been disappointed on the day, but what a fantastic opportunity for parents to engage their children with these essential issues!
No, dinosaurs did not become extinct through man-made climate change. For those disputing the relevance of a striking T-Rex, it was an asteroid that kicked dust into their atmosphere and spelt disaster, just as fossil-fuel burning today is estimated (by the United States Environmental Protection Agency) to pump out 40 billion tons of CO2 a year.
#ArtStrike is a symbolic act to raise awareness and create discussion. Biodiversity academics suggest almost 200 species go extinct every day. The seed bank in Svalbard that stores the world’s seeds is melting. There is plenty more science highlighting the crisis on 350.org and in the IPCC’s special report.
If governments continue to avoid discussing the issue, continue to avoid properly tackling global crises like the Amazon rainforest fires and continue to prioritise profit over the planet, there will be no planet left. Which means no galleries and museums to visit.
For individuals who want to make a difference, it can be overwhelming knowing where to start. There are plenty of lists feature practical suggestions, from mundane changes like repairing and recycling clothes to life-altering decisions like selling your car and stopping long-distance travel. The Global Climate Strike site is packed with resources, along with 350.org.
For organisations, it is creative interventions like #ArtStrike, coordinating activity at a country-wide or even global scale, that amplify our collective call for action to levels those in charge might actually heed.
And so #ArtStrike cannot simply be a one-off campaign.
Join #ArtStrike every Friday!
This is a movement that can cross countries and cultures to highlight the crisis. Every Friday, cultural organisations around the world are invited to put an object on strike.
Register a forthcoming art strike, or your interest in helping make one happen, by emailing artstrike@thoughtden.co.uk.
Download a toolkit to stage your own strike here bit.ly/artstriketoolkit.
Share your strike on social media, amplify the fantastic efforts by other cultural organisations and challenge your colleagues to join!
#ArtStrike activity so far
- Crystal Palace Dinosaurs — a 2 metre Irish Elk (a Twitter thread, their blog post providing scientific context and an excellent video of the event)
- Derby Museums — Joseph Wright’s portrait of Richard Arkwright (Launch tweet)
- Manchester Museum — Stan the T-Rex (Launch tweet and GIF, shrouding video)
- STORIEL Bangor — a model of the Menai Bridge (Strike tweet)
- Oriel Môn — Greenland Falcon by Charles Tunnicliffe (Strike tweet)
- People’s History Museum — the entire Peterloo & Protest exhibition! (Strike tweet)
- The Lightbox — Sean Henry sculpture (Lovely timelapse)
- The Holburne Museum — Brueghel’s Robbing the Bird’s Nest (Strike tweet, blog post)
