Hasta La Ideas

The trouble continues in London among museums who have received support from the oil company BP. Following last month’s protestors out in front of the National Portrait Gallery during the awarding of the BP Portrait Prize and the activists spilling an oil-like substance both inside and out at the Tate Britian, among other incidents at other cultural institutions across the city, the British Museum is the latest to come under fire for their involvement with the company. The CBC reports that five members of the group Culture Beyond Oil poured (another) “oil-like substance” around the base of Hoa Hakananai’a, a 3,000 year old statue from Easter Island. The group issued a statement saying they’d selected the statue because it “”represents the way in which civilizations once considered invincible can collapse in a short period of time.” A like the incident before at the Tate, there’s footage:

What is that “oil-like substance” you see them pouring there? The the Art Diary’s John Crace called the museum to ask, and learned that it was in fact molasses:

How could they be so certain, the Diary asked? “This was confirmed by our conservation team,” came the reply.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.