2011 On the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, another letter signed by over 170 artists was published in the Guardian. Guests attending the BP National Portrait Award were forced to file past an open air 'Salon des Refuses'. An exhibition of portraits rejected by the National Portrait Gallery's Award was exhibited on the pavement outside. These are paintings from Facing the Gulf, made up of portraits by residents of the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. These portraits show the realities of life after the spill and call into question the legitimacy of BP as a responsible company and as an appropriate sponsor of culture. Organiser Nancy Boulicault said, "We think the National Portrait Gallery needs to start asking themselves some questions about this relationship, in the same way as the people of the Gulf have had to ask themselves very serious questions." On 1 July BP launched their first TV advert since the Gulf of Mexico disaster a year earlier.
30 CULTURE BEYOND OIL
The 30-second ad promoted their investment in the 2012 London Olympics, which they are sponsoring to the tune of ÂŁ50 million. The campaign was backed up by a slew of billboard ads around the UK showing paralympic runners on pristine beaches, that soon provoked some ironic comparisons to Gulf Coast beaches in the mainstream media. This PR campaign also promoted BP's use of biofuels as clean renewable energy. Scores of campaign groups and non governmental organisations argue that biofuels are unsustainable, being yet another highly destructive fuel source, necessitating large scale planting of monoculture crops that wipe out biodiversity, deplete soil and create world hunger. After much speculation about who would get the contract to develop "the brand recovery process" for the "embattled energy firm", Ogilvy and Mather had been awarded the challenge to "establish consumer trust" through a "low-key marketing strategy." Duncan Blake, BP's Director of Brand insisted, "we are trying to be humble." The re-seduction of public opinion begins as our televisions, high streets and
roadsides are being filled with the BP brand as never before, in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. The cleanup of BP has to take place in two dimensions: the seabed, fragile coastal ecology, habitats and livelihood of the Gulf; and that of its shamed image, justly sullied by a catastrophe caused by its own negligent, cost-cutting behaviour. The opportunity to be seen as a good corporate citizen through its sponsorship of the Olympics is magnificent timing from BP's perspective. London's cultural scene is still awash with oil company sponsorship, as if an international discourse and alarm on climate change simply has not taken place. Yet the contradictions are showing and the myriad strategies for creative resistance by artists, activists and concerned citizens are beginning to mesh together. In the current context of an ideological siege on state funding of the arts, and Arts Council England's new 'strategic philanthropy fund', dedicated to encourage corporate and individual giving, now more than ever before it is critical to put ethics, aesthetics and corporate sponsorship under the spotlight.