Cross Posted from Brisbane Times
Call Julia: ‘zombies’ make their way toward GOMA to protest coal seam gas mining. Photo: Harrison Saragossi
In what an activist group promises is just the beginning of a slew of “zombie afracts”, police were forced to escort members of the undead from the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane yesterday.
About 20 activists from Generation Alpha, a Brisbane based group, dressed as “zombie farmers”, targeted the GOMA opening of the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art exhibition (APT7) to protest the sponsorship deal between the gallery and mining company Santos.
The group chanted “Santos” and the names of chemicals as they staggered around the front of the gallery, garnering the attention of four police officers and GOMA security guards.
“Farmers are affected by fracking, farm communities are affected by fracking, we’ve got water tables and eco-marine systems [at risk] as well and we don’t think an event like APT7 should be accepting money from fracking,” he said.
“We think it is poison money and dirty money.
“GOMA is a public institution, it’s got government money, it shouldn’t be getting money from companies that are mining, companies that are causing destruction and are harming the planet and people.”
Fracking is a controversial mining method used to harness coal seam gas deposits from within the earth.
The process has been criticised for the damage protesters claim it causes to the wider environment, however mining companies have maintained that the method is safe.
At one stage of the protest, which many passersby thought was part of a GOMA exhibit, the “zombies” entered the gallery but were quickly escorted back outside by police.
No one was arrested during the protest, which Mr Pennings said was a deliberate ploy.
“It’s a public event…there are children around,” he said, adding that the group did not think, in this instance, it was necessary to be arrested to make their point.
Mr Pennings said Generation Alpha had about 25,000 activists at their disposal, globally, and the next “zombie afract” event was planned for Chicago, followed by New York, before bringing the protest back to Australia, with more protests planned for Brisbane and the Northern Rivers.
A spokesman for Santos did not comment other than to say the company was “proud” to sponsor APT7 as part of its “large portfolio of arts and community partnerships”.
In a statement released prior to the protest, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art acting director Suhanya Raffel said the gallery had been partnering with Santos since 1995 “and their support represents the gallery’s single largest corporate investment to date”.
A gallery spokesperson was unavailable for comment on Saturday.
