The National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC) has issued a call for an end to protests at UK museums, stating that such demonstrations have caused significant distress among staff and visitors. The letter highlights the need to remove protests from these cultural spaces to restore a sense of safety and serenity.
The NMDC, which represents leaders from the UK’s national collections, including the National Gallery and the British Museum, expressed their concerns following a series of high-profile protests. Notably, the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square has been a target for the environmental group Just Stop Oil, which has staged protests against artworks such as John Constable’s The Hay Wain, Diego Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus, and Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers since July 2022.
Most recently, two activists from the group Youth Demand were arrested after they covered Pablo Picasso’s Motherhood (La Maternité) (1901) with a photo of a Gazan mother and child. The NMDC letter emphasizes that the ongoing protests create “enormous stress for colleagues at every level” and contribute to an unsafe atmosphere for visitors.
The letter concludes with a plea for demonstrations to be relocated away from museums and galleries, allowing these institutions to continue offering comfort and inspiration to the public.
In response, a spokesperson for Just Stop Oil remarked, “If the NMDC believes the biggest threat they face is nonviolent protest, they should speak to the staff that are now sleeping in Florida’s Salvador Dali museum after their houses were destroyed by a supercharged hurricane.”
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