Copyright © 1989 by Guerrilla Girls
GUERRILLA GIRLS' CODE OF ETHICS FOR ART MUSEUMS.
I. Thou shalt not be a Museum Trustee and also the Chief Stockholder of a
Major Auction House.
II. A Curator shalt not exhibit an Artist, or the Artists of a Dealer, with
whom he/she has had a sexual relationship, unless such liason is explicitly
stated on a wall label 8" from the exhibited work.
III. Thou shalt not give more than 3 retrospectives to an Artist whose Dealer
is the brother of the Chief Curator.
IV. Thou shalt not limit thy Board of Trustees to Corporate Offices, Wealthy
Entrepreneurs and Social Hangers-on. At least .001% must be Artists representing
the racial and gender percentages of the U.S. population.
V. Thou shalt not permit Corporations to launder their public images in Museums
until they cleaneth up their Toxic Waste Dumps and Oil Slicks.
VI. Thou shalt provide lavish funerals for Women and Artists of Color who
thou planeth to exhibit only after their Death.
VII. If thou art an Art Collector sitting on the Acquisitions or Exhibitions
Committee, thou shalt useth thy influence to enhance the value of thine own
colleciton not more than once a year.
VIII. Thy Corporate Benefactors who earn their income from products for Women
and Artists of Color shall earmark their Museum donations for exhibits and
acquisitions of art by those Groups.
IX. Thou shalt keep Curatorial Salaries so low that Curators must be Independently
Wealthy, or willing to engage in Insider Trading.
X. Thou shalt admit to the Public that words such as genius, masterpiece,
priceless, seminal, potent, tough, gritty and powerful are used solely to
prop up the Myth and inflate the Market Value of White Male Artists.
The events portrayed in this poster
bear direct resemblance to real events at U.S. art museums. It's the only
poster we have ever done in Old Testament language. Copies of it have been
spotted hanging in museum offices all over the country.