In Italy, environmental activists stick to the Laocoon base

New hands were briefly added, Thursday morning, to the statuary group of the Laocoonkept at Pio Clementino Museum, Vatican. The masterpiece of ancient sculpture representing, arm in arm, the tragic death of the Trojan priest and his two sons, was targeted by two activists from the Italian environmental group Ultima Generazione who glued themselves to the base of the together to call for an end to oil and gas exploitation.

The two activists unfurled around 10:30 a.m. a red banner flocked with their demands, to the surprise of visitors to the museum located in the heart of Rome, reports the Italian press agency Ansa. The security forces of the establishment initially closed the room to the public before arresting the activists and their companions, confiscating – according to the movement – their mobile phones.

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Like the previous actions carried out in museums by the activists of Ultima Generazione, the choice to attack the group of Laocoon is nothing accidental. “The statue recalls the sad fate that the Greek priest suffered in his attempt to save himself, his children and all the citizenssaid Laura, an activist, in a statement released Thursday.

According to ancient stories, Laocoon had tried, in vain, to warn his fellow Trojans of the danger represented by the gigantic wooden horse presented in front of the impregnable gates of their city. A warning cry left unanswered. “Today, thousands of climate activists are sounding the climate alarm, but they too are being ignored and suppressed,” notice the movement, by brushing a “government class more lured by the fossil industry than by the general interest”.

For the climate, against indifference

Last month, Ultima Generazione carried out its first action in a museum with an operation before Spring by Botticellito Uffizi museum, in Florence. Two activists had stuck a hand to the glass protecting the work, before being arrested by the carabinieri. The collective claims to have consulted restoration specialists to ensure that their activists would not cause any damage to the work.

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Non-violent, the Italian movement belongs to the international militant network A22. It is represented in the UK by the group Just Stop Oil which, at the beginning of the summer, had inaugurated a new mode of militant action consisting in sticking as close as possible to the works. Several actions had been carried out, notably at the National Gallery and the Courtauld collection, between the end of June and the beginning of August.

The proliferation of this type of action has also given food for thought to Last Renovationthe French branch of the A22 network. “What picture should we stick to in France to be up to the climate chaos that is coming?”, warned the collective in July, leaving doubt between several masterpieces from the Louvre and Orsay. Questioned by Le Figaro, several French museums had confided in closely monitoring these new forms of militant action. A reaction to make people laugh. “Museums are not ready”commented a Parisian activist.