Photograph by Flickr user jblocknyc.
Ten dollars an hour is nothing to laugh at these days. It’s what Megan Robb was making before she was laid off from her job at an architectural firm. Unemployed, she applied for a new gig that requires considerably less effort on the job—sleeping in an upcoming participatory art installation at the New Museum of Contemporary Art.
“My brother told me about it as a joke because he thought it was weird,” said Robb, 24. “But I’m not doing anything else. I enjoy sleeping, art and money.”
So begins an article in the Columbia Journalist, titled “Sleeping beauties in the New Museum,” which contains interviews with several of the women participating in Chu Yun’s artwork. “More than 170 women responded to the [recruitment] ad with their pictures, said Jarrett Gregory, a curatorial assistant. About 50 were asked to audition at the museum. “Some people seemed like they had better motivations,” Gregory said. “Some were more exhibitionist. It’s just sleeping. It’s not a performance. It’s not people pretending to sleep.”
What is it like to sleep in a museum? What are the motivations of some of the women who have signed up? To read the rest, click here.
Nice to know that I am not alone. I did the performance ” The Competent Sleep” in the following Chelsea galleries in May 2008: Nicole Klagsbrun, Marcello Marvelli, Esso Gallery, The White Box. During that event I slept on a cot for two hours in each gallery.