Protesters Take Over Guggenheim, Again
- March 30, 2014 23:00
A group of prosteters showered visitors to New York's Guggenheim Museum with a confetti of literature denouncing labor practices at the museum's satellite site being built in Abu Dhabi. The museum soon after closed its popular Saturday "pay-as-you-wish" admissions evening and the NYPD was called in to usher out visitors.
Global Ultra Luxury Faction (GULF), affiliated with another group called Gulf Labor, was responsible for the demonstation which mirrored similar events last month at the Guggenehim.
In a statement GULF said, "The Guggenheim Museum should push to abolish the recruitment debt system, ensure that workers are paid a living wage and legalize the right to collective bargaining," as reasons for their protests against labor practices in Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island.
The museum released a statement:
It is important to clarify that the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is not currently under construction, despite erroneous claims by certain protesters. The building foundations and pilings were completed in 2011. While in Abu Dhabi in mid-March 2014, our director revisited the workers village to ensure that living conditions for workers who will work on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will set new and respected standards for workers engaged in building other projects on Saadiyat Island.