Workers at New York City’s Noguchi Museum are unionising in a “wall-to-wall” effort to unite all staff irrespective of department or title, according to reporting by Hyperallergic. Noguchi Museum staff have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to form a union with Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers (UAW) , a union that represents workers at many museums in New York City and across the Northeast. The Noguchi Museum workers cite a need for “greater transparency” and “better conditions”, according to a statement.
“We all care about the Noguchi Museum, and I want the working conditions to be sustainable so that staff can continue doing the jobs that we love,” Austin Kim, an archives associate at the museum, said. Elections will be held on 9 January and 11 January.
The Noguchi Museum, which is devoted to the life and work of the mid-century sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi, has witnessed mounting staff dissatisfaction in recent months over the institution’s decision to institute a new dress code banning keffiyehs, the scarves that have come to function as signs of Palestinian solidarity. Three employees—Trasonia Abbott, Natalie Cappellini, and Q. Chen—were terminated for their refusal to comply with the new dress code, sparking outcry from fellow employees and the public. More than 50 of the Noguchi Museum’s workers signed a petition voicing their disapproval of the dress code changes, and in September, over 60 protesters converged on the museum in opposition to the new policy. Also in September, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri declined the museum’s 2024 award in solidarity with workers, Hyperallergic reported.
A wall text for the "Drain of Dismissed Dissent" at the Noguchi Museum Courtesy Autonomous actors
In early December, anonymous activists placed mock museum labels on everyday objects and spaces throughout the museum in protest of its new dress code and treatment of employees. A bench in the courtyard was relabelled the “Bench of Banishment” and a water fountain became the “Fountain of Hypocrisy”, while a bare wall was turned into the “Wall of Erasure” and a rain drain became the “Drain of Dismissed Dissent”. The activists also placed fake identification cards for senior staff at the museum and placed bookmarks with a keffiyeh pattern in books at the museum shop.
“We will continue to expose the museum’s complicity,” an anonymous organiser involved in the label campaign said in a statement. “Art is meant to provoke thought, not to be weaponised for oppression. By reclaiming this space, we’ve laid bare their hypocrisy and sent a clear message: we won’t let them erase dissent.”