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The museum was closed for the day
after protesters refused to leave.
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The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
closed to the public on Friday afternoon after a few dozen protesters descended
on the museum and unfurled a red banner that read “Meet
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Protesters dropped leaflets from the
top of the rotunda.
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Workers’ Demands Now”
in the crowded lobby.
Other protesters at the top of the
Manhattan museum’s spiral rotunda dropped 10,000 leaflets about workers’ rights.
In contrast to other recent
demonstrations when guards led the protesters out, this time they planned to
stay and “occupy” the space. They sat on the banner as guards tried to wrest it
away.
The protest was intended to
challenge the museum over labor practices at the Guggemheim’s planned expansion
on Saadiyat Island, a luxury enclave in Abu Dhabi.
Advocates say that workers there,
many of them foreign migrants, must pay recruitment and transit fees to be
hired in the construction. The developers also seize the workers’ passports,
provide them with substandard housing and subject them to brutal schedules.
A New York Times investigation of a
New York University campus built on Saadiyat Island found harsh conditions and
retaliation against workers involved in labor actions.
Museum officials did not speak with
the activists in person on Friday.
The activists asked the museum to
reimburse migrant laborers for workplace-related debts, to pay workers a living
wage and to grant them the right to organize.
“The museum is perfectly capable of
meeting the demands,” said Andrew Ross, a professor of labor relations at New
York University.
Museum guards quickly removed the
protest banner, prompting boos and cheers from visitors along the rotunda,
while other staff members swept up the leaflets.
“Dear Guard,” read a postcard the
activists passed out. “We apologize for creating a stressful environment and
making your work day more difficult.” It also urged them to consider whether
their wages were fair and provided a union contact.
Outside the building, on Fifth
Avenue, a line of would-be visitors wrapped around the block as guards kept the
doors closed. The museum has closed during each of the previous protests there,
but this was the longest closure by far, and the first to turn away potentially
full-paying customers. (Previous protests were held on Saturday nights, during
“pay-what-you-wish” hours.)
At 2 p.m., a Guggenheim employee
walked outside and announced that the museum was closed “indefinitely.”
A dozen protesters remained inside
until just before the museum’s usual closing time at 5:45 p.m., when they
declared victory and left.
“The Guggenheim authorities thought
they had to close down the museum rather than talk to their critics. That was
unfortunate,” Mr. Ross said. “But we think the occupation was successful.”
Photo Credit: Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
