what’s the story behind anish kapoor and greenpeace’s gushing red liquid on shell’s platform?

anish kapoor and greenpeace flood liquid on shell’s platform

Anish Kapoor and Greenpeace activists install the BUTCHERED on the active gas platform of Shell located 45 nautical miles off the Norfolk coast. A debut of an artwork on an active offshore fossil fuel platform, the installation represents and visualizes the climate damage caused by fossil fuel extraction, with the blood-like liquid symbolizing the environmental impact of oil and gas operations like Shell’s. Anish Kapoor and Greenpeace’s installation takes place during the fourth heatwave of summer 2025 in the UK, coinciding with the temperature records breaking across Europe, wildfires burning areas twice the size of Glasgow, and flash floods hitting communities in China and northern India. For the installation, seven Greenpeace climbers boarded the platform and scaled the structure to install a 12-meter by 8-meter canvas on one side. 

The activists positioned a high-pressure hose 16 meters above sea level at the top of the canvas. The installation process involved pumping 1,000 liters of red liquid through the hose onto the canvas, and the liquid created a red stain across the fabric surface. It consists of seawater, beetroot powder, and non-toxic food-based pond dye, while the canvas uses standard fabric materials suitable for outdoor installation. The mounting system secures the canvas to the platform structure using industrial fastening hardware, and the hose system connects to pumping equipment that delivers the liquid at controlled pressure. Greenpeace says that Anish Kapoor specifically designed BUTCHERED for the installation on Shell’s gas platform off the Norfolk coast.

all images courtesy of Greenpeace | photos by Andrew McConnell

Construction of oil and gas fields generates carbon emissions

Shell and other oil companies have caused over half of the world’s climate damage, coming up with a total cost of 28 trillion dollars. A study from Dartmouth College found this information, which Greenpeace quoted in relation to artist Anish Kapoor’s BUTCHERED on Shell’s oil platform. The campaigning organization also says that Shell reported 54 billion GBP in profits over two years following the Ukraine invasion and that it paid 1.2 billion GBP in UK taxes during the same period, representing 2 percent of global earnings. 

The analysis estimates Shell’s carbon pollution over 30 years caused 1.42 trillion USD in climate damage worldwide. In a report by Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands), a key player in the Dutch climate justice movement, the team writes that Shell owns or part-owns 1,196 oil and gas fields total, with 700 oil and gas fields that remain undeveloped or may still be underway. In case the gas company goes ahead with the construction, the movement states that this would generate 10.8 billion tonnes of carbon emissions, which represents one-quarter of global carbon emissions. 

Greenpeace climbers install Anish Kapoor’s BUTCHERED onto a Shell platform in the North Sea

campaign calling for governments to tax oil and gas companies

As a way of visually and visibly translating the gathered studies, Greenpeace teams up with Anish Kapoor and selects Shell as the platform of the urgent advocacy. The artist previously challenged the fossil fuel industry connections in 2019 when he called for London’s National Portrait Gallery to end partnerships with BP. 

He’s now a figure of Greenpeace’s Polluters Pay Pact initiative, a campaign that calls for governments to tax oil and gas companies for environmental damages. Greenpeace says it accepts the responsibility for the installation activities and material choices and that the artwork connects climate activism with contemporary art practice through direct intervention at fossil fuel extraction sites.

it is dubbed the world’s first artwork to be installed at an active offshore gas site

the activists hoisted a high-pressure hose on top of the canvas at a height of 16 metres above the sea

the activists pump 1,000 litres of blood-red liquid that gushed into the fabric

the liquid consists of seawater, beetroot powder, and non-toxic food-based pond dye

the mounting system secures the canvas to the platform structure using industrial fastening hardware

for the installation, seven Greenpeace climbers boarded the platform

project info:

name: BUTCHERED

artist: Anish Kapoor | @dirty_corner

organization: Greenpeace | @greenpeaceuk

photography: Andrew McConnell | @andrewmcconnellphoto

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