GULF (Global Ultra Luxury Faction) Labor
March 30, 2014, GULF Labor released 9,000 “1%” bills of parodic currency which fluttered downward as patrons rushed to the inner edge of Frank Lloyd Wright’s spiral ramp.
Gulf Labor is a coalition of artists and activists who have been working since 2011 to highlight the coercive recruitment, and deplorable living and working conditions of migrant laborers in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island (Island of Happiness). The campaign focuses on the workers who are building the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, and the Sheikh Zayed National Museum (in collaboration with the British Museum).
The dollar bills, designed by Noah Fischer, were printed at NYU on six different colors of paper and were produced and deployed collaboratively by the 20 or so people involved in this action. Artist and activist Amin Husain told Hyperallergic that the group intentionally skewed the run to red paper to achieve the maximum amount of contrast with the Guggenheim’s white interior. The bills themselves play on the traditional language of fiat currencies (“By the authority of shit is fucked up & bullshit,” “No sustainable cultural value”) while asking the pointed question: “What does an ethical global museum look like?”
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