Anti-opioid protesters target New York's Guggenheim over Sackler family link
Source: The Guardian
Anti-opioid protesters target New York's Guggenheim over Sackler family link
Demonstrators call on museum to refuse donations from the owners of OxyContin
Joanna Walters in New York
Sun 10 Feb 2019 05.49 GMT
US art photographer and activist Nan Goldin brought the Guggenheim Museum in New York to a standstill on Saturday night as thousands of fake prescriptions were dropped into the atrium to protest against the institutions acceptance of donations from the family who owns the maker of OxyContin the prescription painkiller at the root of Americas opioids crisis.
Tourists and locals gawped in confusion as Goldin and fellow demonstrators began chanting criticism of the Sackler family, who owns Purdue Pharma. The activists handed out fake pill bottles as sheets of paper fluttered down inside the landmark building.
Other protesters unfurled banners from the higher floors, one reading: Take down their name, referring to the Sacklers links with the institution.
Goldin, who narrowly avoided dying of an opioid overdose after being prescribed OxyContin pills, is campaigning for art and academic institutions in the US and Britain to refuse philanthropy from the multi-billionaire Sacklers.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/10/anti-opioid-protesters-target-new-yorks-guggenheim-over-sackler-family-link