The PGC (Peggy Guggenheim Collection)

Here is a rough idea of what I do everyday, where I am, and who I'm with:

1. Location

There are six sestieri, or districts, in Venice. The PGC is located in Dorsoduro, a residential sestiere, across the Grand Canal from San Marco, where I live. It takes me about 15 minutes to walk to work each morning, and it isn't confusing at all because there are signs the whole way. The collection itself is housed in a palazzo, or palace, on the Grand Canal.

2. Collection

The PGC is the premiere museum for modern art in Italy, and it houses some of the most important modern pieces in the world. It is a small collection, but the phrase quality over quantity definitely applies. See this link to look at some of our permanent collection pieces (click on the rooms to see what's in them): http://www.guggenheim-venice.it/inglese/museum/map.html

3. The People

I am working with the most diverse, intelligent, interesting group of people you could imagine. Aside from CUAB, I have never been associated with such exceptional individuals. To give you an idea of the diversity, I will list the countries we come from:

- Australia (Cam, Rebecca, Kelly, Jilly)
- Canada (Vikki, Nico)
- England (Rory, Rachel)
- France (Anna)
- Germany (Cornelia)
- Greece (Kelly)
- Italy (Claudio, Anita, Angela, Chiara, Cecilia, Marta, Kaitlin)
- Japan (Yoshiko)
- Lithuania (Grazina)
- Mexico (Maria)
- New Zealand (Winsome)
- Serbia (Nevena)
- Spain (Manuel)
- USA (Mardee, Francesca, Marianna, John, Lila, Allison, Rachel and Me!)

We range in age from 17 (daughter of a major art appraiser) to 27 (established lawyer and art scholar). Most of us are 22-25. I don't have nearly enough time or room to introduce everyone to you, but I assure you that everyone is exceptionally kind, smart and wonderful.

I have two supervisors, or capi, Grazina and Anita. Grazina is from Lithuania and Anita is from Lake Como, Italy. They are both super accomodating, and they will both speak English with us if we need help. We are expected to speak to the other staff members in Italian, but they will also help us if we need it. Overall, I feel very welcome and happy at work.

4. The Job

When the director of the museum spoke to us on our first day, the first thing he said was this: "You run the museum." He wasn't exaggerating. Below is a list of the things I do everyday.

MORNING DUTIES

- Take the pajamas off the artwork: Yes, all of our pieces wear pajamas to bed. The pjs are sort of slip covers to protect the art, and we have to take them all off and fold them before the public arrives.

- Wipe the nose prints off the windows: We have many windows that overlook the Grand Canal, and these windows are often smudgy with finger and nose prints. We Windex them before opening.

- Clean bird shit off the artwork: Using distilled water and cotton balls, we wipe bird shit, pollen and dew off of the sculptures in our garden. We also pick up cigarette butts around the bases of the artworks.

- Sweep the leaves off Peggy's grave: Peggy Guggenheim is buried in the sculpture garden with her 14 dogs. We have to sweep the leaves and pollen off of their graves every morning.

OPEN HOURS

- Tickets and audioguides: The interns sell tickets and audio guides to the public upon their arrival to the museum. I know how to sell a ticket in 5 different languages (not very well, mind you). We are encouraged to speak the language of the visitor if at all possible. German and French are the hardest for me. French people are definitely the hardest to work with.

- Cloakroom and entrance: All visitors must check their bags in our complimentary coat room for the safety of the artwork. Interns take visitors' bags, check them, and then tear their tickets for entry.

- Guarding: The interns guard all of the galleries in four hour shifts. We make sure no one touches the art or takes pictures of it. We also answer any questions they have about the pieces. If you were wondering, four hours is a long time to walk around the same room. My throbbing feet and I are getting to be well acquainted with the art, though.

- Shop, Library and Taxi: These are three of the easiest jobs. Our days are divided by an hour for lunch, and we usually have one harder half (see above) and one easier half (see below) over the course of the 8-hour work day. If you are working for the shop, you go into the storeroom and bring out the merchandise the museum shop needs to restock. You also roll posters and put them into plastic sleeves for the shop. Rolling posters is actually relaxing and fun. If you are assigned to the library, you help the librarian, Silvio, re-shelve and clean the library. If you are on tax duty, you pick up VIPs from the personal taxi dock along the Grand Canal and bring them to the museum. There are more VIPs that you would think.

When we close, we put the PJs back on the artwork, and go home.

OTHER RESPONSIBILITES

- Peggy talk: We are expected to give a 10-minute talk on Peggy's life to the public once every three weeks or so. We usually stand by her grave and talk about her eccentricities and sexual promiscuity (she had many famous lovers and husbands, including the artist Max Ernst) for as long as our audience is enthralled. I learned recently that Peggy had the last private gondola in Venice, and her father and his mistress died on the Titanic. She was pretty crazy and awesome.

- Permanent Collection highlight: We are expected to give another 10-minute talk to the public on a piece of artwork in the permanent collection that interests us. I think I will talk about the silver headboard that Alexander Calder made for Peggy. It has mobile elements like hanging fish and coral in relief, and it is extremely beautiful.

- Temporary exhibition talk: Once a month we each give a 30-minute tour of the temporary exhibition. Right now we are showing Gluts: Robert Rauschenberg. It is an extremely awesome show, but I know nothing about it. I have a ton of research to do. I will tell you more about this when my time to talk gets closer.


There are tons of other fun things that go along with being an intern. I will detail them later, because I feel that I have already said too much. Just know that my job is challenging and tiring and the people I work with make it absolutely worth it. Anyways, I love you all, and I will talk to you soon!

L