Guggenheim Closes for the Afternoon as Workers’ Advocates Escalate Protests

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The museum was closed for the day after protesters refused to leave. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
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 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, styled to look like the current exhibition of work by On Kawara.
In contrast to other recent demonstrations, when protesters acquiesced to being led out by guards, this time they planned to stay and “occupy” the space. They sat on the banner as guards tried to wrest it away.
The protest, which came on May Day in solidarity with the international workers’ holiday, was intended to challenge the museum over labor practices at the Guggenheim’s planned expansion, designed by Frank Gehry, on Saadiyat Island, a luxury enclave in Abu Dhabi.
Protesters dropped leaflets from the top of the rotunda. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Advocates have said that workers there, many of them foreign migrants, must pay recruitment and transit fees to be hired in the construction, which is being overseen by the government of the United Arab Emirates. The developers, the advocates said, also seize the workers’ passports, provide them withs 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.
In a statement on Friday night, museum representatives said they were “disappointed that the actions of today’s demonstrators forced” them to close, adding that they had met with the group behind the demonstration on several previous occasions. “We share their concerns about worker welfare in the Gulf Region, but these kinds of disruptive activities run counter to our objective of building the cooperation and good will necessary to further change on an extremely complex geopolitical issue,” the statement said.
In the past, Guggenheim officials have said they held little sway over construction and labor practices undertaken by another country. The statement on Friday added that construction of the museum had not yet begun, a contractor had not been selected and that the museum and its partners were working toward an employment policy that made progress on “worker accommodation, access to medical coverage, grievance procedures, and retention of passports.”
“We understand that this endeavor comes with great responsibility and we believe strongly in the transformative potential of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi,” the statement concluded. Museum officials did not speak with the activists in person on Friday.
The activists had urged the museum to reimburse migrant laborers for workplace-related debts. The leaflets also demanded that workers be paid a living wage and have the right to organize, and demonstrators asked to speak to members of the museum’s board.
“The museum is perfectly capable of meeting the demands,” said Andrew Ross, a professor of labor relations at New York University and a longtime activist.
Security guards seized the banner. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Museum guards quickly removed the protest banner, prompting boos and cheers from visitors along the rotunda, while other staff members swept up the leaflets. After several protests, the activists might have felt a little bashful at the scene they created for these employees.
“Dear Guard,” read a postcard they 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 have been 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.”
“C’est mort,” one man muttered to his family as they walked away.
Protesters' leaflets covered the floor. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
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.
“That the Guggenheim authorities thought they had to close down the museum rather than talk to their critics was unfortunate,” Mr. Ross said. “But we thought the occupation was successful.”
Geneviève Massé, 35, a graduate student and artist from Montreal, had traveled to New York especially to see the On Kawara exhibit, waiting outside for two hours before learning of the museum’s closure. Ms. Massé said she was disappointed, but that workers’ rights were more important than her study of Mr. Kawara’s art. “I can buy the book,” she said.
A version of this article appears in print on 05/02/2015, on page A15 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Guggenheim Closes for an Afternoon After Labor Activists Escalate Protests.