“Training of the Guards” By Michelle Falkenstein in ArtNews. May 2008. Vol.1
- “Museum security doesn’t get much attention from the media except when a major artwork is stolen.” (pg 134)
- “Over the years, the function has evolved into an amalgam of trained personnel and electronic protection devices…” (pg. 135)
- Customer service traing, was told to “stay out of sight” (IBID)
- Cultural protection, visitor services (IBID)
- “represent the face of the museum” (pg. 136)
- “They’re going to see vistors before the administration will, if they do at all” (IBID)
- screening process, resume, background check, drug testing, in state training, specialized certification,
- Many rely on the American Society for Industrial Security – Certified Protection Professional (CPP) (pg. 136)
- Permanent, temp, and contract (137)
o Pinkerton and Securitas
o Need Human element to check people out – superior customer service (137)
“Quick, which way to the restroom?”
ArtNews Vol. 93 1994
- Posing as a security guard at the Whitney
- “watch people without disturbing them. No one should get the feeling of being watched.” (pg. 168)
- “We are not just guards, we are guardians.” (Ibid)
- Common questions asked all the time, where is the bathroom?
- Beware of tired people, or of anything (Ibid)
- Famous artists as guards, LeWitt, and Robert Rhyman both guards. (169)
- Take the heat when visitors are disappointed (169)
Guarded view section:
“The Art of War”
San Francisco Bay Guardian
January 22nd, 2003
Vol. 37, No. 17
Glen Helfand
- 1991 sculpture comprises of four headless manniquens wearing guards’ uniforms from important New York Museums, including the Whitney, the MOMA< MET.
- “taps into racial stereotypes and divisions of labor in the culture industry: museum guard is a vocation primarily performed by people of color” (Pg. 3/6)
- Give in artists tour at the Whitney, part way through he told an audience to meet him downstairs to view some other pieces. While they were assembling, he changed into a guard’s uniform and positioned himself near the elevators. He went completely unrecognized.” (IBID)
“The Changing of the Guards” ArtNews Vol. 100, Number 3, March 2001 148-151.
Carly Berwick
- Docents wear, at times “Ask Me” Buttons (pg. 149)
- “Today, the person hired to make sure art does not get vandalized or stolen often serves a double duty as the person who serves to make visits pleasant.” (Ibid)
- Changing name – Gallery attendant, Protective Security Staff
- “They are security officers, not guards”
New York Times: “Defender, Critic, Watcher: All in One at the MOMA”
John Tierney November 20, 1991 Pg. B. 1.
- At the MOMA guards spend upwards of 2,000 hours a year in the galleries (1/3)
- SG’s notice where, how, what visitors like (2/3)
- Sometimes defend the artists or discuss the art with them (ibid)
- Some become artists themselves and are interested in art in general (3/3)
- Have the legs for it! (3/3)
“How Many Dots on a Seurat? Ask the Museum Docents
Published in the New York Times on April 19, 2000
Author David Masello
- “Some people feel there’s a certain prestige being affiliated with the museum, and they come attached to the idea” (1/2)
- “Docents,” Mr. Eskeridge said, “are the face and the voice and the character of what can be experienced here.” IBID
NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: SOHO – CITY PEOPLE “A Museum Guard Who Likes What He Knows
By Tanya Mohn, March 11 2001
- Kimball Augustus works at the New Museum of Contemporary Art as a Security Guard.
- “He discovered he was interested in the art he was guarding. He began to chatting up the artists. ½
- Since 1992, the museum has had gatherings of the staff to meet the artists and learn about their work.
- Augustus has a small collection of art at home
- He is part of the art world (1/2)
- An anomaly or how the guard position is changing?
“Hoping to Graduate From Guards to Gauguins”
The New York Times
March 5, 2010
Niko Koppel
- MET Guards, a fair number of the guards are artists yearning for a little exposure for them.
- A group of MET guards stepped into the spotlight with a new art journal called Sw!pe Magazine: Guards Matter and an accompanying exhibit.
- Funded by current or former guards.
- “The drawings, paintings, comics, prints, poetry, and photograp
“Training the Security Officer? A Museum’s Special Needs”
By Steven R. Keller, CCP Steven
- “Museum security officers must have a broad basis of knowledge about the overall concept of ‘protection’ such as basic understanding of the conservation needs of their collection.” (pg. 2)
