The National Gallery of Victoria has confirmed that Wilson Security will no longer provide services to the institution.
The decision follows months of protests by the Artists’ Committee, a group of arts workers who have been petitioning the NGV to end their contract with the security firm. Wilson Security has been the subject of allegations regarding their services at offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru.
In addition to a petition with over 1500 signatories, the Artists’ Committee staged protests including covering Picasso’s Weeping Woman with a black cloth emblazoned with Wilson Security’s logo, filling the NGV’s famous moat and water wall with red dye and interrupting the recent opening of the NGV Triennial.
In a statement released yesterday, the Artists’ Committee said that they had received a message from the NGV’s Associate Director of Governance, Policy and Planning stating that “SecureCorp has been appointed as the NGV’s long-term security services provider”.
A spokesperson for the Artists’ Committee, Kylie Wilkinson, said “We are so pleased that the NGV has done the right thing…We thank the gallery for showing ethical leadership on this issue and for relaying the concerns of its communities to the state government.”
An NGV spokesperson confirmed that “SecureCorp has been appointed as the NGV’s long-term security services provider” and that they have commenced the short transition to the new provider.
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