Activists from the group This Is Rigged recently staged two protests in Glasgow. The first protest occurred inside the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum on March 3, while the second occurred at George Square on March 4.
At the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, one activist sprayed the word “cunt” in pink on the plinth, while another poured porridge and jam on Francis John Williamson’s 1888 marble bust of Queen Victoria. The group’s spokesperson stated, “We refuse to be dragged back to the Victorian era,” citing concerns about rising starvation diseases such as scurvy and rickets.
The protest at George Square saw two activists wielding fire extinguishers filled with soup, targeting the bronze statues and granite pedestals of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert riding horses. These statues, crafted by the Italian-French sculptor Carlo Marochetti, are among his many public monuments in Britain.
This Is Rigged confirmed to ARTnews that the incidents on March 3 and 4 were intended to draw attention to the escalating cost of food and its link to climate change, following unsuccessful attempts to garner media coverage through other means. The group is urging supermarkets to lower the price of baby food and calling on the Scottish government to support community food hubs, highlighting the alarming increase in cases of malnutrition and rickets.
“This is Rigged spokesperson Hannah Bright emphasized to ARTnews, “Any potential damage a bit of porridge could do to a marble bust is absolutely negligible compared to the damage currently being done to our communities.”
According to a press release from This Is Rigged, the two individuals involved in the museum protest were identified as Sorcha Ní Mháirtín, 30, and Hannah Taylor, 23. They were subsequently arrested and charged with breach of the peace.
Responding to the incident, a spokesperson from Glasgow Life, the charity overseeing the city’s museums, informed ARTnews that the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum temporarily closed following the defacement but reopened later the same day.
“Our conservation team has worked to clean and restore the bust and remove the profanity,” the spokesperson stated via email. “No permanent damage was caused, and Queen Victoria remains on display.”
In response to criticism suggesting that protests at art institutions primarily impact cleaning staff and security, Bright remarked, “Museum staff and security are, at the end of the day, people—people who I think, by and large, can empathize with the reasons we’re taking action. People who are feeling the effects of the cost of living crisis. Most reasonable people don’t want people to starve. Regardless of what you think about porridging the Queen, I think we can all agree that people should be able to eat.”
