Above: Protestors occupied the Guggenheim’s Rotunda on May 1, 2015. Photo by Kyle Goen via Instagram @kyledidthis.jpg
On Friday May 1, activists from Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction (GULF) organized a sit-in at the Guggenheim Museum and demanded a meeting with board members to discuss the state of workers rights at the museum’s Abu Dhabi location. The protest is the fifth unsanctioned action by the group to date.
At noon, GULF, a branch of the Gulf Labor activist group, unfurled a large, red banner at the base of the museum’s Rotunda that read “Meet Workers’ Demands Now!” and released thousands of red and blue pamphlets inspired by the artwork of On Kawara (the artist’s retrospective is currently on view) from balconies above, according to Artinfo writer Mostafa Hedaya. Protestors sang chants over the live reading of Kawara’s ongoing performance project “One Million Years,” and announced that they would occupy the space until they were able to meet with board members. Their list of demands weredistributed on flyers that read:
WORKERS BUILDING GUGGENHEIM ABU DHABI DEMAND: A LIVING WAGE; DEBT JUBILEE – A fund to settle all recruitment debts; RIGHT TO ORGANIZE. This is an indefinite occupation in solidarity with the workers and their demands.
The museum stopped admitting new visitors shortly after the protest began and NYPD arrived at the scene. Another group gathered simultaneously outside the museum to protest, accompanied by artist collective the Guerrilla Girls, who are widely known for their own socially critical artwork and actions often directed at major museums.
The museum remained open during the protest until approximately 2:30 p.m. when it closed to the public, but allowed GULF members to stay.
The Guggenheim has been met with widespread criticism over its treatment of workers building the new Frank Gehry-designed location on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. Accusations against the museum include harsh transit and recruitment fees, seizing passports from migrant workers, substandard living conditions, low wages, and brutal work schedules. Investigations from the Human Rights Watch have been ongoing since 2009, according to the Times, which launched its owninvestigation into the conditions of workers building an N.Y.U. campus extension in the region in 2014.
Here, the Guggenheim’s latest statement on workers’ rights in Abu Dhabi, from February 2014. The group has been updating its Twitter with photos and videos since today’s action began using the hashtag #GuggOccupied.