Cultural Settlements: Gulf Labor and Global Solidarity

Abstract

Artists should not be asked to exhibit their work in buildings built on the backs of exploited workers Those working with bricks and mortar deserve the same kind of respect as those working with cameras and brushes.-Walid Raad, artist and Gulf Labor Committee memberThe Worker. Photographs of workers in Abu Dhabi conceal as much as they reveal. They do not tell us that his lodging is unsanitary or that he may not have been paid in months and is in more debt than before he arrived. We cannot tell that his passport was taken away and that consequently he cannot leave the country or quit his job because of a series of coercive or fraudulent contracts. We do not know that long shifts in 115-degree temperatures are the norm. Only his creased forehead and pensive gaze might provide a hint that all may not be well.Laborers in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere in the Gulf have been jailed and beaten for trying to congregate and organize. Labor laws in the United Arab Emirates and the region, meager as they are, are not enforced. Home country embassies, police enforcement, the countries where the labor comes from, and the institutions and businesses all share blame for the tragic plight of workers, yet no one takes responsibility-either individually or collectively.The art world is an ethically murky place. One might even call it a quagmire... with its indeterminate spaces, its constantly unresolved processes, its simultaneously grandiose and empty assertions.-Mariam Ghani, artist, curator, and Gulf Labor Committee memberGulf Labor: Gulf Labor is a coalition of artists, writers, curators, educators, and other supporters working to ensure that workers' rights are protected during the construction and maintenance of new cultural institutions on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi (Island of Happiness in Arabic). In 2010, artists of varying experiences and logistical talents began to inform the art world about the plight of migrant workers in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. Since its inception in 2010, the members of Gulf Labor have worn several hats, and over the past four years have learned many new skills. They have studied legal contracts vis-a-vis international and local law practices; collected fieldwork that included speaking to the families of migrants; interviewed workers under highly constrained conditions; met with international organizations, including the International Labor Organization and Human Rights Watch; researched global links between institutions and their boards; and participated in interventions at museums and public spaces in the United States and the Gulf region.The members of Gulf Labor question their independence as observers, their dependence on museums to show their art, and, most important, the means by which such museums are being built. The Guggenheim Museum finally made a public commitment to protect the rights of the migrant laborers. However, they and their Abu Dhabi partner the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) did not take sufficient steps to better the conditions of workers. At the time of this writing, violations still exist despite claims of improvements from TDIC and various museums.The first signs of trouble at Saadiyat Island actually surfaced with the New York University project, which had started in 2006. Alerted by rights activists, based on reports by Human Rights Watch, NYU faculty and students began to demand protections for the construction workers who are building the NYU Abu Dhabi campus.Conflicting reports of improvements and violations were coming in simultaneously. NYU professor Andrew Ross cautioned that consistent enforcement requires institutional change: GCC countries like the UAE and Qatar have embarked on a massive program of nation-building. The primary concern of elites is to avoid tarnishing the national brand, and so they will do what it takes to showcase improvements in the treatment of migrants. In this respect, Saadiyat Accommodation Village is exhibit number one. …