The Gulf Labor Coalition, an international group of artists and writers, and an official participant in this year’s Biennale, has been pressuring the museum for five years to ensure fair labor standards for the workers constructing its new Saadiyat Island branch in Abu Dhabi. After five years of inaction, G.U.L.F. decided to follow a May 1, 2015 occupation of the Guggenheim New York by targeting the Venice museum. S.a.L.E.-Docks, the Venice arts collective, to draw attention to the exploitative use of unpaid workers to staff the expositions in Venice, Milan, and beyond.
As part of the Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research, GULF Labor organized the Precarious Workers’ Pageant at the Venice Biennale and participated in the public event, Gulf Labor and Precarious Workers Rights.
