If you visit the Carleton Art History website frequently and have read the student blogs you may know that I’m currently in Venice working as an intern at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the sister museum of the Guggenheim in New York. My internship is almost done with just over a week and a half left and this is the first time I’ve had a chance to write a blog for the website as it’s been such a busy and demanding month doing the internship. In the short time I’ve been here I have learnt a lot about how a museum is run day to day as it is the interns who are in charge of keeping the museum operational everyday. I’d like to write about some of my experience here and to start with I will explain a little about what it is exactly the interns do at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
View of the Grand Canal from the private Peggy Guggenheim Collection roof terrace
It seems like a pretty sweet gig working at a prestigious institution four days a week and having the other three days to explore Venice but it turns out you actually spend a lot more time working than that. Between special events, early openings and preparing for art talks. Our 9:20am-6:05pm days always seem to be longer but it’s really hard to complain when you’re in Venice, at the Guggenheim and surrounded by modern art masterpieces.
“P.J’s” for the artworks
Each morning the interns open the museum by cleaning the sculpture garden and interior of the museum and removing the “P.J’s” on the paintings that protect them during the evening. During the opening hours tasks include working in the ticket office, selling audio guides, working in the cloakroom, greeting visitors, meeting water taxis arriving from the Grand Canal and guarding the galleries (this is probably the most tedious but also important job). Even though the jobs seem quite boring they are very important as the interns are the face of the museum and we work directly with the public to make sure they have a great museum experience. Interns also assist in the museum library, shop and office when needed. When closing times comes at 6pm we attempt to clear out all the visitors are quickly as possible and then put the “P.J’s” back on the artworks.
Peggy Guggenheim’s dinning room, now the Cubist art room before opening
It’s still feeling like a surreal experience working at the Guggenheim in Venice. Especially when you’re in the galleries before opening, cleaning the Giacometti sculptures in the garden and putting Picasso and Kandinsky to bed at night in their P.J’s.