On Friday, environmental activists in Italy glued their hands to the glass protecting Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera which is on display at Uffizi Galleries in Florence.
The three activists represented the demands of the climate activist group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation). In a “new season of actions” focusing on museums, the group call for the “same level of treatment and protection for the planet as there is for artistic heritage”.
Two activists glued their hands with the help of a third person all whilst displaying a banner reading "Last Generation No Gas No Coal". All three of the demonstrators who bought entrance tickets to the gallery were taken away by the police according to il Giornale, an Italian news agency.
The painting was unharmed as the climate group consulted art restoration experts who advised a glue suitable for glass and frames. Botticelli’s famous Primavera dates back to sometime between 1477 to 1482 and is described as one of the most popular paintings in Western art.
Irene, an activist from Florence said: “my acute sense of desperation spurs me to take a stand and fight to alleviate the suffering that will await us if the government and the whole community do not act”.
The Ultima Generazione shared its two demands on the group’s website: an immediate end to all fossil fuel extraction and an increase in solar and wind energy by at least 20GW this year. The group highlight this will allow workers in the fossil fuel sector to find sustainable employment. They go on to add: “we will not stop until the government takes our demands into consideration”.
Laura, a representative of Ultima Generazione said: “In the coming years, art will be a luxury that we will no longer be able to afford: in the throes of hunger and thirst, we will try to escape death by migrating north in search of habitable territories. I am here today to avoid my generation being overwhelmed by this atrocity".
The demonstration comes shortly after a protest by the climate group during the opera show Madama Butterfly at the Puccini Festival. Ultima Generazione has demonstrated across locations in Italy since December, actions include roadblocks, a 13-day hunger strike and interruption of artistic and sporting demonstrations.
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