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Last night’s protest action at New York’s Guggenheim Museum by the Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction (G.U.L.F.) is the group’s fourth intervention and the latest to raise awareness about the labor conditions on Saadiyat Island in the United Arab Emirates. The group attempted to unfurl a banner in the atrium of the Upper East Side museum, while other members browsing the Futurist art exhibition taped up Futurist-inspired graphics with messages targeting museum trustees and other labor-related messages, including “No Museum Built on Death” and “Chairman Mack, No Time to Waste.” A number of G.U.L.F. protesters also distributed flyers to museum visitors with a statement from G.U.L.F, which is reproduced below.

The group of over 40 individuals, which included NYU students, artists, and activists, entered the museum during the weekly pay-what-you-wish Saturday evening and beginning at roughly 6:45pm ET the group ignited their protest. A booming voice, speaking briefly from a megaphone that was quickly taken away by museum security, sparked the beginning of the museum-wide intervention.

Activists attempted to unfurl a mylar banner in the atrium, but a museum security official quickly ran and grabbed the banner before it was fully revealed. Participants later told me that the banner and megaphone was a planned distraction for security so that other activists could stick the graphics of what one person was calling “augmentations” near art works that “inspired” them. The activists said they worked to ensure that all the materials they used for the action would not harm the walls of the museum or other surfaces.

more: hyperallergic.com

Protesters critical of the Guggenheim Museum’s planned franchise in Abu Dhabi smuggled artworks into the museum on Saturday evening, placing them in an exhibit of Italian Futurism.
The art created by the group, Global Ultra Luxury Faction, known as G.U.L.F., bore a stylistic resemblance to the museum’s work but also listed names of some of the institution’s board of trustees.
As about 40 protesters spread through the multilevel museum, a voice boomed across the open rotunda: “No justice, no art.”
The intervention staged by G.U.L.F., which lasted about 15 minutes, was part of a growing protest of labor conditions on Saadiyat Island, off the coast of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim will soon be built there, alongside an under-construction branch of the Louvre museum and a recently completed campus of New York University. The group called on museum officials to ensure that workers there are treated fairly.
Some museum visitors seemed bewildered to encounter a protest inside one of New York City’s leading cultural institutions, but security guards were less surprised; the protest on Saturday was the third since February to take place inside the museum. Guards quickly ejected protesters and ripped down the unsanctioned art.
Museum protests are the latest tactic employed by groups critical of the Guggenheim’s project: The highly visible spectacles are meant to draw attention to a campaign that has been waged more quietly for years.
Much of the work on Saadiyat Island, a luxury enclave being developed by the Emirates government, is done by foreign migrants, who are required to pay large recruitment and transit fees, critics say. In addition, the critics add, employers often seize the workers’ passports, house them in substandard conditions and pay them less than expected, all while enforcing demanding work schedules.
A statement from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation said that strengthening labor protections was a museum priority.
“The recent reports that allege continued worker mistreatment at Saadiyat Island are disturbing and should give anyone pause,” the statement said, adding: “The Guggenheim is working closely with our partners in Abu Dhabi at the highest levels to continue to improve workers welfare practices.”
It is unclear, however, how much influence the museum might wield in a project that is being led by the Emirates government.

more: TheNewYorkTimes