Hyperallergic
BREAKING
Artists and Drug Policy Activists Protest FDA’s Role in Opioid Crisis
April 8th, 2019
Nan Goldin was among the artist-activists who gathered in Washington, DC to demand the FDA address the “public health impact of the opioid crisis.”
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Providence Journal
Artful protest: Sculptor delivers 800-pound spoon to R.I. opioid maker
February 7th, 2019
COVENTRY — Rhodes Pharmaceuticals is a sinister drugmaker that most Rhode Islanders have never heard of, contends Domenic Esposito. On Thursday, the sculptor from Westwood, Massachusetts, set off to change that with a spoonful offering of public shaming.
But it was no ordinary spoon.
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WBUR 90.9
Artists including Nan Goldin Seek Justice For Opioid Victims, Want To Strip Sackler Name From Museums
January 18th, 2019
At a major conference in Boston today, organized by artist Domenic Esposito, representatives from 32 organisations nationwide discuss the involvement of Purdue Pharma owners and ‘philanthropists’, The Sackler Family’s, impact on National Opioid Epidemic.
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The New York Times
Large-Scale Art Protest Outside OxyContin Maker Ends in Arrest
June 22, 2018
The sculpture, about 10 feet long and weighing some 700 pounds, is a huge depiction of the sort of spoon addicts use to cook Heroin before injecting it.
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The New York Times
Heroin Spoon Sculpture Put In Front Of Purdue Pharma To Go Back To Artist
August 27, 2018
The artist who created an 800-pound steel sculpture of a bent, burnt heroin spoon that was placed in front of the Purdue Pharma headquarters in Stamford can get his sculpture back, a judge has ruled.
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The Art Newspaper
Will museums stop accepting Sackler money in wake of Massachusetts lawsuit?
July 5, 2018
Theresa Sackler, one of the most generous arts philanthropists in the UK, is being sued by the state of Massachusetts, along with seven other family members and Purdue Pharma, the company they own and direct.
The Sacklers and their pharmaceutical firm, which produces and sells the highly addictive opioid OxyContin, stand accused of helping fuel the opioid epidemic which is devastating the US and has killed 11,000 people in Massachusetts in the past decade alone, according to the complaint filed by the state’s attorney general, Maura Healey, on 12 June.
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Stat News
BREAKING
Protesters’ goodbye for Scott Gottlieb: a supersized heroin spoon and claims FDA did too little on opioids
April 5th, 2019
WASHINGTON — Activists on Friday delivered a parting gift to Scott Gottlieb, the outgoing Food and Drug Administration commissioner, at the entrance of a federal building here: an 800-pound, supersized heroin spoon stamped with the FDA’s logo.
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WBUR 90.9
‘It’s Corporate Greed’: Activists Turn To Art To Protest Big Pharma And Opioid Epidemic
February 5th, 2019
Big Pharma is under pressure from hundreds of lawsuits attempting to bring those allegedly responsible for the nationwide opioid crisis to justice. Every day in the U.S., more than 130 people die from an opioid overdose.
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The Harvard Crimson
Activists Call on Harvard to Strip Art Museum of Sackler Name
January 21, 2019
Local activists and at least one public official are calling on Harvard to remove the Sackler family’s name from its buildings after a memorandum filed in federal court Tuesday alleged the family knowingly understated the risks of its company’s addictive opioid product.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey ’92 submitted the 274-page court filing as part of a lawsuit the state brought against Purdue Pharma — the Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company that produces the painkiller OxyContin — in June 2018.
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Hyperallergic
Artist Drops 800-Pound Heroin Spoon Outside OxyContin Manufacturer’s Headquarters
June 26, 2018
Artist Domenic Esposito and gallerist Fernando Luis Alvarez delivered the giant sculpture to the doorstep of drugmaker Purdue Pharma.
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Artforum
Protest at Purdue Pharma Headquarters leads to Gallery owner’s arrest
June 25, 2018
Fernando Luis Alvarez, the owner of an eponymous gallery in Stamford, Connecticut, was arrested for installing an eight-hundred-pound steel sculpture of a burnt heroin spoon in front of the headquarters of Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin, on Friday, June 22.
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NBC News
Drug spoon sculpture placed outside drugmaker Purdue Pharma’s headquarters
June 23, 2018
“We share the protesters’ concern about the opioid crisis, and respect their right to peacefully express themselves,” the company said in a statement.
Several state and local governments are suing Purdue Pharma for allegedly using deceptive marketing to boost sales of its opioid painkiller OxyContin, deceiving patients and doctors about the risks of opioids. The company has been blamed for helping fuel addiction and opioid overdose deaths.
Purdue Pharma denies the allegations in the lawsuits.
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New York Post
Artist put heroin spoon sculpture near pharma building as protest
August 27, 2018
A judge has ruled that the artist who helped place a steel sculpture of a bent drug spoon at Purdue Pharma’s Connecticut headquarters can get the artwork back.
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Time Magazine
A Gallery Owner Was Arrested After Leaving a 10-Foot Heroin Spoon Sculpture Outside OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma
June 24, 2018
A Connecticut gallery owner was arrested after dropping a 10-foot-long sculpture of a heroin spoon in front of Purdue Pharma’s headquarters on Friday
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Frieze
Gallerist Who Placed ‘Heroin Spoon’ Protest Sculpture Outside Purdue Pharma Avoids Jail Time
September 18, 2018
Fernando Alvarez was arrested in June for leaving a 300-kilogramme steel artwork outside Purdue’s headquarters.
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Artsy
A giant heroin spoon was given to the Massachusetts Attorney General in honor of her work on the opioid crisis.
October 30, 2018
For more than a decade, Danny Esposito has been struggling with opioid addiction.
“My mom would call me in a panic… screaming she found another burnt spoon,” his brother, sculptor Domenic Esposito, told the Hartford Courant. “This is a story thousands of families go through. He’s lucky to be alive.” Many aren’t as lucky: Each day in the U.S., more than 115 people die after overdosing on opioids.
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Vice
Artists Are Occupying Museums to Protest Big Pharma
October 24, 2018
The Sackler family name is all over the art world, but they made their billions pushing opiates. These artists have had enough.
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USA Today
Drug spoon sculpture placed outside drugmaker Purdue Pharma headquarters
June 23, 2018
STAMFORD, Conn. — An 800-pound, nearly 11-foot-long steel sculpture of a bent and burned drug spoon was placed Friday in front of the Connecticut headquarters of drugmaker Purdue Pharma as part of an art protest against the opioid crisis.
Artist Domenic Esposito and art gallery owner Fernando Alvarez dropped the sculpture at the company’s Stamford headquarters. Police arrested Alvarez on a minor charge of obstructing free passage. A city worker removed the spoon with a payloader and it was hauled to a police evidence holding area.
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The Opioid Spoon Project is a 501(c)(3) Registered Charity.
