The Art Handling Olympics (AHO) is the first event of its kind. It is equal parts competition, three ring circus, and foreign TV game show. The day’s events will be rowdy, fast paced and ending with a monster party.
"The teams will compete in a series of physically and mentally excruciating events that spotlight the absurdity and seriousness of our jobs. Picture the worst install you’ve ever worked on. Now add a psychotic art director frothing at the mouth, the world’s most indecisive client, a frantic truck dispatcher, an audience, a timer, and beer. Art will be destroyed and egos shattered. There will be glory to the winners, but nothing is sacred and no one is safe from humiliation in the olympic arena."
So why have such an event? This event revealed this sub-culture of art installers in the Museum and gallery world and brought some humor and fun to what can be a very serious and stressful job. I know when I think of people behind museums and galleries I think of bitchy, pretentious front desk girls and highly educated affluent curators who are very picky and are never satisfied. I don't think of a bunch of out of shape, dirty, hairy artists hanging and installing priceless works of art.
Most art handlers are freelance workers without health benefits. Sometimes we feel that we are not respected or given the attention we deserve by the higher-ups in the museum and gallery world. It feels like our work isn't recognized as it should be. After working long hours and rehanging the same piece in ten different places, the director and curator choose to show their appreciation by giving us a box of a dozen Dunkin Donuts. Sometimes there's such a class distinction between the curators and the installers that it feels like we're being exploited. I think the curators might say, "These poor artists will appreciate anything we give 'em. Let's work 'em hard. We're paying them, right? We're running tight on budget so lets just get them some donuts instead of taking them out to lunch or something." Many times the curators just don't know what we do. They think the show just hangs itself, but there is a lot of hard work that goes into making the show look like it placed by "god". haha.
The Art Handler Olympics is to me a "fuck you" to the higher ups in the art world. Shane, the organizer, took people like us out of the shadows by making an "art" event out of our day to day jobs. This event wasn't addressed as being art or a performance, but it was held in an art gallery. When you put something in a gallery it seperates the ideas from their original context, which allows people to look at the information in a new way. By exaggerating regular daily tasks, Shane was able to show the ridiculousness of our jobs. This event showed all the effort that we put into making sure the art is safe and is treated with the highest care. Since we were not working in the museum with real art, this event created an atmosphere where we were able to laugh and joke about what we do. For our team, team Asia, the Olympics was a reason to go out and have fun with our friends.
In the end, I think the event was appreciated by everyone and it was an admission that our job can be ridiculous and silly so we might as well celebrate that. It was like a big family gathering and it was very cool to see all of these people come from out of the woodwork who all do the same thing, but aren't usually seen or acknowledge by the public. It made the handlers feel more appreciated than the doughnuts ever did. The Art Handling Olympic Champion gives a new goal and prestige to art handlers city wide and other cities like LA and London are already planning their own similar events.
If you'd like to see more... check out all the events...look at the results of this years AHO, go to....
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