Historical Precedents for Art-Based Protests

Can’t they protest someplace quiet where I don’t have to think about them?!

BONUS EPISODES available on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/deniersplaybook) 

SOCIALS & MORE (https://linktr.ee/deniersplaybook) 

WANT TO ADVERTISE WITH US? Please contact sponsors@multitude.productions 

DISCLAIMER: Some media clips have been edited for length and clarity. 

CREDITS 

• Created by: Rollie Williams, Nicole Conlan & Ben Boult
• Hosts: Rollie Williams & Nicole Conlan
• Executive Producer: Ben Boult 
• Editor: Laura Conte
• Producers: Daniella Philipson, Irene Plagianos
• Archival Producer: Margaux Sax
• Additional Research and Fact Checking: Carly Rizzuto & Canute Haroldson
• Music: Tony Domenick 
• Art: Jordan Doll 
• Special Thanks: The Civil Liberties Defense Center

SOURCES

• Don Vidrine and Bob Kaluza: What Happened to the BP Executives? Aahana Swrup. (2024, April 7). The Cinemaholic.
• Stop the Church. ACT UP Oral History Project. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2025.
• In Memory of Jesse Helms, and The Condom On His House [VIDEOS] - POZ. Peter Staley. (2008, July 8). POZ. 
• Panel Discussion: Protest Art and the Art of Protest. Art For Tomorrow. (2023, May 8).
• Here Is Every Artwork Attacked by Climate Activists This Year, From the “Mona Lisa” to “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” Benzine, V. (2022, October 31). Artnet News.
• Taraji Shouts Out Keith Lee & Halle, Urges Us To Research Project 2025 & GO VOTE | BET Awards ’24. BETNetworks. (2024, July 1).
• “Deeds not words”: Suffragettes and the Summer Exhibition. Bonett, H. (2018, June 18). Royal Academy of Arts.
• A Timeline of Colin Kaepernick’s Protests against Police Brutality. Boren, C. (2020, August 26). Washington Post.
• CNN Tonight : CNNW : October 25, 2022. CNN. (2022, October 25). Internet Archive.
• Even Though He Is Revered Today, MLK Was Widely Disliked by the American Public When He Was Killed. Cobb, J. (2018, April 4). Smithsonian.
• Climate Activists Get Prison Time for Throwing Soup at Van Gogh Painting. Dobkin, R. (2024, September 27). Newsweek.
• Why Did Suffragettes Attack Works of Art?. Fowler, R. (1991). Journal of Women’s History, 2(3), 109–125.
• Outnumbered : FOXNEWSW : October 14, 2022. Fox News. (2022, October 14). Internet Archive.
• Stories - FAM. L. D. | This Is Loyal. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2025.
• Running Aground in a Sea of Complex Litigation: A Case Comment on the Exxon Valdez Litigation. Jenkins, R. E., & Kastner, J. W. (1999). UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 18(1).
• Climate activists throw mashed potatoes at Monet work in Germany. Jones, S. (2022, October 23). The Guardian.
• “Guernica” Survives a Spray‐Paint Attack by Vandal. Kaufman, M. T. (1974, March 1). The New York Times.
• When, where, and which climate activists have vandalized museums. Kinyon, L., Dolšak, N., & Prakash, A. (2023). NPJ Climate Action, 2(1), 1–4.
• 5 Times The Mona Lisa Has Been Vandalised Throughout History. Maher, D. (2022, May 31). Harper’s Bazaar Australia.
• The climate protesters who threw soup at a van Gogh painting. (And why they won’t stop.). Mathiesen, K. (2024, October 2). POLITICO.
• How AIDS Activists Used “Die-Ins” to Demand Attention to the Growing Epidemic. Montalvo, D. (2021, June 2). HISTORY.
• Two demonstrators killed amid anti-mining protests in Panama. Oppmann, P. (2023, November 9). CNN.
• “Why We Threw Soup At Van Gogh.”. Owen Jones. (2022, October 17). YouTube.
• Five legal missteps in Judge Hehir’s sentencing of Plummer and Holland – Just Stop Oil. Press, J. (2024, October 16).
• Here’s the Story Behind the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Action Depicted in “Pose.”. Rodriguez, M. (2019, June 12). TheBody.com.
• Rosa Parks & The Montgomery Bus Boycott: Catalysts of the Civil Rights Movement. (2025). SocialStudiesHelp.com.
• Radical Flanks of Social Movements Can Increase Support for Moderate Factions. Simpson, B., Willer, R., & Feinberg, M. (2022). PNAS Nexus, 1(3), 1–11.
• Deeds Not Words: Slashing the Rokeby Venus. Walker, E. (2024, May 9). History Today.
• Joe Rogan Experience #2061 - Whitney Cummings. YouTube. (2025).

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.