Suzanne Lacy’s Cleaning Conditions confronts museum-goers with labor that usually goes unseen,  asking them to question the ethics of labor politics. By performing labor during museum hours, Lacy pulls the curtain back on museum upkeep to reveal intersections of immigration, labor, and gender politics in the service industry. The piece also addresses the need for living wages amongst service and care workers. 

The performance piece begins in front of Ford Madox Brown’s painting Work. Brightly colored political pamphlets are littered on the ground. For two weeks, teams of “sweepers” in bright red shirts from labor and immigration organizations pushed the pamphlets around, sweeping them to corners of the room and gathering them with dustpans.  After the cleaning, conversations were held by activists, politicians, students, and members of the public on labor and service, addressing intersections of racial, gender, and class discrimination generated and perpetuated by the service industry.