Life Berating Art
The theme for this year’s Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy is “Climate”, a subject close to our hearts. So we decided to throw our hat in the ring & submit a piece of art. Not only did it make the shortlist it is now hanging on the gallery wall.
Not content with getting selected, we decided to use tech to get people to turn the gallery into a protest for climate change.
Through our reimagining of Edvard Munch’s “Scream”, we Airdropped people and asked them to shout I DEMAND BETA in the gallery, rising up & having their voices heard for Climate Change. For every scream we donated £10 to The Climate Emergency Fund (an organisation which helps to finance large-scale Climate protests for groups including the Extinction Rebellion).
The stunt turned the gallery into a mini-protest for Climate Action whilst directly funding future activism, PLUS our piece of artwork sold for £2,707 (which we will be adding to our donation to the CEF).
Nick Radley, Chief Strategy Officer said: “Advertising from its inception has borrowed cues, design, memes, etc from the world of art in order to persuade consumers to act. Typically, those actions involve a consumer parting with money to buy a product. We decided to subvert that cycle in aid of the climate emergency by once again borrowing from the world of art to highlight the situation we are in, but more specifically, how people feel about it. By going against the stereotypically subdued and civilised behavioural norms of viewing in an art gallery, we want to cause disruption that leads to the point of reflection.”
Paulo Areas, Chief Creative Officer said: “When the piece was given the number 666, we thought, why not use technology creatively to be a bit evil and turn the gallery into a protest to help elevate the voices of Climate Change activists?”
Robin Gadsby, CEO for Forever Beta said: “Great art deserves a great response and climate change deserves more than lip service. Our aim is to encourage people to demand better for the environment. Hopefully, changing the way we behave in an art gallery will remind us to change the way we behave for the planet.”
