Art Not Oil June 11, 2006

Art Not Oil is an annual event aimed at encouraging artists to create work that explores the damage that companies like BP are doing to the planet, and the role art can play in counteracting that damage.

It is designed in part to paint a truer portrait of an oil company than the caring image manufactured by the BP Portrait Award, a search for the year's 'best' portrait, which also happens to divert public attention away from BP's actual activities. Climate chaos is set to have a catastrophic effect on all of us, while hitting the poorest hardest. The companies most responsible are profiting handsomely, yet they're still welcome it seems in many of our most prestigious public galleries and museums.

Art Not Oil 2006 will include paintings, photos, sculpture and other creations that address issues like climate chaos, corporate sponsorship & greenwash, and the suicidal madness that proclaims 'profit is king' and 'money can solve any problem'. We also warmly welcome work dealing with the cancerous impact of the oil industry on the planet, and of course work that dares to imagine what solutions to these serious but not insoluble problems might look like.

Official Website: http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/