China has made yet another attempt to shut down Chinese dissident artist Badiucao's upcoming exhibition in Europe. And, again, the exhibition continues, with the host institution asking for the public's support rather than giving in to pressure from Beijing.
The exhibition in question this time is “Tell China's Story Well”, scheduled to open today at Ujazdowski Castle, Center for Contemporary Art (CCA Ujazdowski Castle) in Warsaw, Poland. The exhibition is Badiucao's institutional debut in Poland.
The exhibition, which takes its title from President Xi Jinping's proposal for external propaganda when he came to power in 2013, will feature around 70 works, including many new pieces, from paintings and drawings to sound and neon installations. The politically charged show revolves around ongoing themes in the artist's practice, such as allegations of China's suppression of free speech and human rights abuse during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, the 2019 Hong Kong protests, the Chinese citizens' uprising against Covid lockdowns, forced cultural assimilation of the Uyghurs, as well as China's relationship with Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Hours after the announcement and promotional posters were released, a senior official from the Chinese embassy in Warsaw paid a visit to the museum to protest the exhibition and demand that it be canceled, Artnet News has learned.
“We would like to express our concern and astonishment at the actions of the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw in relation to CCA Ujazdowski Castle, which have been carried out for several days and whose aim is to stop the exhibition,” CCA Ujazdowski Castle said in a statement.
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage also received letters “demanding censorship interference” in the Warsaw art center program. China blocked the institution's website, the museum said.
CCA Ujazdowski Castle does not back down, saying that, “we strongly oppose” China’s action, which it interpreted as, “acts of preventive censorship”.
“We ask everyone committed to freedom of expression to support us and the artist in resisting this pressure, visiting the next exhibition and writing letters of support to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage”, says the institution.
“This is not the first time that the Chinese government has tried to end my exhibition,” Badiucao told Artnet News. In 2021, when the artist had his first major exhibition in Europe, China tried to close it, but failed. Last year, Beijing tried to cancel the artist's exhibition at the DOX Center for Contemporary Art in Prague, but the show went ahead as planned. The Censorship Index last year compiled a report on how the long arm of Chinese censorship reached Europe.
Badiucao called the tactics “warrior lobo” from Beijing as “barbaric” and “unacceptable”. “This is not normal diplomatic language,” said the artist. “This is not just an attempt to take away my rights to free speech. It is also a clear interference in the affairs of foreign countries.”
“But this just shows how little the Chinese government respects freedom of expression or appreciates the very essence of art, which is breaking limitations and telling the truth about our world and our reality,” he added.