Greenpeace activists install Anish Kapoor artwork on Shell rig

Environmental activists from Greenpeace scaled a Shell gas platform in the North Sea on Wednesday to install a massive artwork by renowned British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor, creating what is believed to be the first fine artwork displayed on an active offshore gas extraction site.greenpeace+1

Seven Greenpeace climbers boarded Shell's Skiff platform, 45 nautical miles off the Norfolk coast, to mount the 12-by-8-meter canvas titled "BUTCHERED". The activists then used a high-pressure hose to pump 1,000 liters of blood-red liquid – a mixture of seawater, beetroot powder and non-toxic, food-based dye – onto the canvas, creating a dramatic crimson stain that dripped into the North Sea.lissongallery+1

A "Visual Scream" Against Climate Destruction

Kapoor created the work specifically for this protest action, describing it as "a visual scream that gives voice to the calamitous cost of the climate crisis, often on the most marginalized communities across the globe".greenpeace+1

"The carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels is invisible, but we are witnessing the devastation that its extraction wreaks on our world," Kapoor said in a statement. "What still remains largely hidden is the responsibility oil giants like Shell bear for causing this destruction and profiting from worldwide suffering."greenpeace

The installation comes as the UK experiences its fourth heatwave of the summer, with health alerts triggered across parts of the country while drought conditions damage farmers' crops. Record-breaking wildfires have burned an area twice the size of Glasgow, while extreme heat continues breaking temperature records across Europe.greenpeace

Targeting "Ruthless Profiteers"

Philip Evans, Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace UK, called the artwork "a visual gut-punch that makes visible the suffering and damage caused by the oil and gas industry right at the place where the harm begins".greenpeace

Shell made £54 billion in profits in the two years following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but paid just £1.2 billion in UK taxes over the same period – about 2% of its global earnings. The carbon pollution from Shell operations over three decades has caused an estimated $1.42 trillion worth of climate damage worldwide, according to research published in Nature.greenpeace

Shell UK condemned the action as "extremely dangerous" and involving "illegally trespassing," stating it "put their own and others' lives at risk". The energy giant said the activists entered a restricted safety zone without permission.theartnewspaper+1

Kapoor joins Greenpeace's Polluters Pay Pact campaign, which demands governments impose taxes on oil companies to fund climate damage repair. The 71-year-old artist previously joined other artists in 2019 calling for London's National Portrait Gallery to sever ties with BP.hypebeast+1