Gulf Labor is an active participant in the 2015 Venice Biennale’s central exhibition, All the World’s Futures, which is curated by Okwui Enwezor. They are a coalition of artists, writers, architects, curators, and political cultural advocates. The group staged a series of protests dedicated to its investigations of labor conditions in the Persian Gulf:
Facebook Image: Noah Fisher, May 8, 2015, Venice. Ivor Stodolsky, Gregory Sholette, Amin Husain, Natasha and Joulia Strauss.
May 8, 2015, VENICE — At 10:20am this morning, two boatloads of artists and activists occupied the dock landing of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (PGC) in Venice.
Facebook Image: Noah Fisher, May 8, 2015, Venice.
The message:
‘This morning we shut down the Venice Guggenheim by way of boats, for the same reason we recently shut it down in NYC: to crank up pressure on the museum to meet the worker’s demands in Abu Dhabi for dignified rather than debt-bonded labor conditions. Now is the time: main construction starts in the next few months .
Even since I was invited to participate in the Venice Biennale with Gulf Labor, it was always clear that this was a new possible stage for the campaign, and also that we should avoid export/import politics so frequently seen in high-flying art exhibitions. Following months of setting up relationships and plans through skype, this time we were joined by more than 30 people from occupied art spaces in Venice & Milan: Seasoned activists who provided us with all kinds of support and quickly became friends.
After a day of meetings and a night of banner painting, we rode through the grand canal on five boats and scrambled up on the Guggenheim to occupy its canal-facing facade with a banner carefully lettered by Joulia, waving colorful flags and bearing signs, then a group shut down the entrance on the other side. After a few hours the museum agreed to meet a small delegation of us, and after a couple more hours Richard Armstrong called from NYC, they had acceded to our demand to meet with the board of directors. The campaign is far from over but it was a big win today in Venice!
– from Facebook wall, Noah Fisher
Facebook Image: Noah Fisher.
The flyer. Image for Hyperallergic.
Facebook Image: Amin Husain
Facebook Image: Noah Fisher, May 8, 2015, Venice.
Facebook Image: Joulia Strauss.
Facebook Image: Joulia Strauss.
Facebook Image: Amin Husain
– Images and text coordinated by J.G. Wita
