205Art Attacks by Climate Activists as Multimodal Argumentative Events
Abstract
The chapter examines the multimodal argumentative dimension of attacks on artworks by climate activists. Taking the 2022 ‘Just Stop Oil’ attack on Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ as a case in point, the chapter explores how the various modes in these events are mobilized and construct argumentative meaning, particularly, through the understudied aspect of bodily movement. The author combines insights from multimodal semiotics and pragma-dialectics to account for how spoken language, written text on clothing, the chosen location, and especially bodily movements contribute to the activists' argumentative message. An adjusted version of Groarke’s ‘Key Components Table’ is used to visualize the relation
Fields of Study & Subjects
Climate Change Communication and Perception
Rhetoric and Communication Studies
Risk Perception and Management
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Arguing with Multiple Semiotic Modes
- Publisher
- De Gruyter
- Pages
- 205–224
- Publication date
- 11 June 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter