Unusual scene in a museum in Florence. Environmental activists from the Italian movement “Ultima generazione” (Last generation in French) on Friday glued their hands to the glass that protects a painting by the famous Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, reports The Guardian. A way to denounce the climate inaction of his government.
The scene lasts a handful of minutes. Two young Italian activists glue their hands to Sandro Botticelli’s painting ‘Spring’, as gallery visitors watch with astonishment.
“There will be no more art, there will be no more future if we continue to invest billions of euros a year in the death of people,” launch the two environmentalists, while a third activist installs a large orange banner on the ground “Ultima Generazione, no gas , no carbon” (Latest Generation, without gas, without carbon).
“This museum we are in today is an institution with power. It is in a context that allows it to put pressure on the government,” they say, before being interrupted by security guards who deposit them on the ground without resistance. . A few “bravo” resound in the room.
“Protect the planet” as Italian artistic heritage
The activists explain that they wanted to carry out a “non-violent civil disobedience” action with the ambition of “pressing the government to make more courageous decisions in the face of ongoing climate and social collapse”, in a press release published on their site.
“In the same way that we defend our artistic heritage, we must dedicate ourselves to the care and protection of the planet”, they call, believing that “the current ecoclimatic and social collapse will also tragically affect the conservation of the places of conservation of cultural assets”.
The three activists were detained by the police, according to the Italian news agency Ansa. No damage is regrettable.
This mode of action is not the first. Environmental activists from the “Just Stop Oil” collective had similarly glued their hands to the frame of a Van Gogh painting exhibited at London’s Courtauld Gallery last June.
Source: BFM TV
