“The Gulf: High Culture/ Hard Labor”, a book by the Gulf Labor coalition published by OR Books, is launched at the Venice Biennale on July 29, 2015.
Background: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, site of the May 8th actions in Venice.
Gulf Labor Report 2015
Gulf Labor releases its 2015 report as part of its activities at the Venice Biennale.
The report includes sections on:
Field report India
Field report UAE
Restricted movements
The full report is here: 29 pages, pdf
Gulf Labor at the 56th Venice Biennale
Gulf Labor Coalition is presenting three events at the Biennial including 1) a program of informational panels that will focus on our ongoing research into the nexus of art+labor+capital as it is congealing in Abu Dhabi and the UAE at the Arena, 2) a celebratory pageant performance at S.a.L.E.-Docks and 3) the launch of our new book also at S.a.L.E.-Docks in only a few weeks. The program is as below:
A Letter to the Louvre
Image: Saadiyat Island, courtesy Gulf Labor
The Louvre Abu Dhabi is addressed in several recent letters from the international art community to UAE-based institutions. In an attempt to establish direct contact, get a response from the Louvre on a growing list of points of worry, and extend our concerns and solidarities regarding ongoing activity on Saadiyat Island to France, Gulf Labor sends the below open letter to the Louvre.
__________ (In French, and English below)
Continue reading A Letter to the Louvre
Letter from Six Documenta Curators to Institutions in the UAE
July 2, 2015
TO:
HE Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
CC:
Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York, NY, USA.
William Mack, Chairman, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY, USA.
John Sexton, President, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Al Bloom, Vice Chancellor, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Carol Brandt, Associate Vice Chancellor, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Manuel Rabaté, Directeur Général, Agence France-Muséums, Paris, France.
Jean-François Charnier, Directeur Scientifique, Agence France-Muséums, Paris, France.
Jean-Luc Martinez, President-Director, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.
Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum, London, UK.
Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi, President, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
We write to you today as the current and former Artistic Directors of Documenta, the most widely visited and respected periodic exhibition of contemporary art, held since the end of World War II in the German City of Kassel. Documenta has marked the most significant moments in the history of Modern and Contemporary Art since the mid twentieth century, and prides itself for its research-oriented approach and for having a particular focus on the relations between art and society at large. It has contributed to processes of civil society building and democratization around the world through its presentation of great and concerned works of art. Continue reading Letter from Six Documenta Curators to Institutions in the UAE
Building Solidarity
Paula Chakravartty, a member of Gulf Labor Coalition, responds to an article published in ArtFCity on June 3rd titled, “Too Little Too Late: The Art World’s Letter-Writing Campaign to the UAE.”
A Response to “Construction on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has not begun”
The Guggenheim Foundation has repeatedly claimed, and insisted to the press that “Construction on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has not yet begun.”
Really?
Continue reading A Response to “Construction on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has not begun”
Letter from sixty+ curators, critics and museum directors to UAE art institutions, and their affiliates
AMCA issues statement in support of barred artists
The Association for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World, Iran and Turkey (AMCA) has expressed solidarity with the artists and academics denied entry into the United Arab Emirates. AMCA is an international organization whose aim is to advance the study of modern and contemporary art in the Arab World, Iran and Turkey.
Their statement in full:
Continue reading AMCA issues statement in support of barred artists
Statement by Artists of the 12th Sharjah Biennial
Please find below the statement issued by the participating artists of the 12th Sharjah Biennial in support of fellow artists Ashok Sukumaran and Walid Raad, who were recently denied entry into the UAE.
Continue reading Statement by Artists of the 12th Sharjah Biennial