Two activists arrested after Rokeby Venus artwork targeted, as dozens of others held after blocking Whitehall

Just Stop Oil protesters have been arrested after smashing the glass covering a Diego Velázquez painting at the National Gallery in London, as police detained dozens of others who blocked Whitehall.

Two activists targeted the glass on the Rokeby Venus painting with safety hammers before they were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

The artwork, which was painted by Velázquez in the 1600s, was slashed by the suffragette Mary Richardson in 1914. One of those involved on Monday said: “Women did not get the vote by voting; it is time for deeds not words.”

The Metropolitan police said at least 40 activists who were “slow marching” in Whitehall were also detained and that the road was clear after traffic was stopped for a brief period

  • nautilus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Dudes be like nooo stop trying to hurt the nice paper and go protest somewhere else so we can more easily ignore you

    Putting the protection of art above what these people are protesting is both hilarious and also extremely depressing

    • Deceptichum@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      But this is very easy to ignore, a bougie art gallery?

      Go slash a ceos neck or something if you’re going to go to gaol anyway.

    • brewbellyblueberry@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Great job comprehending what you’re reading.

      It’s a million times more depressing that the majority of environmentalist-minded people apparently see these publicity stunts as positive.

        • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There is this specific absolutely beautiful instrument at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. It was made out of trash by people in abject poverty. The arts might change, but it’s pretty damn hard to extinguish that creative spark people have.

          • SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 year ago

            We are talking about a painting from an artist in the court of a Spanish monarch from hundreds of years ago, a type of art that museums strive to maintain via expensive means. We are not talking about more ephemeral art that doesn’t get maintained, and is eventually lost to time anyway.

            Maintaining of art like this would absolutely be one of the first things to go. There is already often talks about defunding the arts even in peaceful times. Look at “went to an art school” being often thrown around as a joke about being useless even in decent times.

            • brewbellyblueberry@sopuli.xyz
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              1 year ago

              You can talk circles around justifying this idiocy, it’s not going to make this clout chasing vandalism stunt any more clever. If justifying some kind of funding is what you want to talk about you’re free to do so, funding has never been something that stops art from existing, but that discussion is absolutely irrelevant to this thing. Besides, “the arts are one of the first things to go” isn’t talking about this one piece, it’s very general and you know it.

    • jarfil@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      These people are protesting the loss of the status quo of unchecked rampant overpopulation.

      There were 500 million people when that paper was made… 2 billion when the sufragettes slashed it… there are 8 billion now, and how exactly has that improved things?

      Do we really want to see what 32 billion people will do to the environment?

    • u/unhappy_grapefruit_2@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Said “paper” has a shit ton of historical significance. art can define our culture alter our history and change our perception on things. Art like comedy or forms of media is also subjective what you may find rubbish another person may enjoy. And in my upmost opinion this isn’t protesting this is vandalism. I think it’s important that we must not forget history so we can learn from it and not repeat the mistakes of the past. and a large part of not forgetting history is restoring and maintaining pieces of art such as this… not vandalising it for a vague and nonsensical environmental message people like this and also people like you muddy the water for true discussion and debate on the environment and other topics relating to it

      • nautilus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        The fact that you see vandalism and protest as mutually exclusive is really odd. Reminds me of the liberal types who claim they’re all for protesting and yet draw the line at anything past marching or petitioning maybe.

        Super great deflection technique by the big oil guys by the way - everyone’s arguing over art in a museum rather than holding them accountable