Perspectives on Institutional Capture and the Artification of Climate Activism

Abstract

The wave of staged art vandalism by climate activist groups in 2022 confronted museums with a dilemma: in their role as guardians of objects, they must prevent such actions, but in their function as forums for social discourse, they must be receptive to climate activism entering their spaces. To navigate this challenge, some museums have adopted a strategy of “institutional capture”, incorporating activism through “artification”. This article analyzes four examples from museums in the German-speaking realm that sought to legitimize activist interventions by recasting them as art-like – an on-demand aesthetic experience of protest or performative reenactment of direct action. However, the aim of this accommodation is twofold: to pacify activism and discourage similar incidents, while primarily reasserting the museum’s institutional legitimacy at a time of increasing erosion.