A Bangkok exhibition exploring state violence and resistance, which included artists from Tibet and Hong Kong, was altered beneath strain by officers on the Chinese language Embassy in Thailand.
In an e-mail despatched to the artists reviewed by Hyperallergic, the curators of the exhibition mentioned that the present was modified to guard diplomatic relations between the 2 international locations. The information was first reported by Reuters. Among the censored works reference China’s therapy of Uyghurs and different primarily Muslim ethnic teams.
The ten-artist exhibition, Constellation of Complicity: Visualising the Global Machinery of Authoritarian Solidarity opened final month on the Bangkok Artwork and Tradition Middle (BACC) and is ready to shut this October. Bangkok’s Metropolitan Authority, a public company, was the exhibition’s most important supporter, in line with emails reviewed by Hyperallergic.
In an e-mail despatched to artists, BACC workers mentioned that works by artists from Hong Kong, Tibet, and the Uyghur diaspora have been altered, together with with textual content black outs, on account of a danger of “creating diplomatic tensions between Thailand and China.” The present was curated by the Myanmar Peace Museum and likewise contains artists from Iran, Russia, and Syria.
“We’re doing every little thing we are able to to make sure the exhibition proceeds as deliberate whereas taking vital steps to de-escalate the state of affairs,” BACC workers mentioned within the e-mail, reviewed by Hyperallergic. “Quite than eradicating any names, we are going to place a black tab over the affected entries — serving as an announcement itself and leaving the interpretation open to the general public.”
The curators of the exhibition fled the nation after officers from the Chinese language Embassy and Thai police visited the museum, in line with Reuters and one of many censored artists, trans Tibetan artist Tenzin Mingyur Paldron, who goes by the moniker Doc Tenzin.
“The identify Tibet is politicized, and that features Tibetan names,” Tenzin advised Hyperallergic.
Pictures taken after the adjustments have been made beneath strain from Chinese language officers present that the names of 4 members — Uyghur artist Mukaddas Mijit, duo Clara Cheung and Gun Cheng Yee Man from Hong Kong, and Doc Tenzin — have been blacked out.
Hyperallergic has tried to contact the curators who’ve fled Thailand. Doc Tenzin didn’t blame BACC for the exhibition alterations, and mentioned he believed that the middle had accomplished their finest to mitigate the state of affairs.
Doc Tenzin, who was born a refugee in India and moved to the US as a baby, mentioned that seven objects in his mixed-media set up have been altered beneath strain from Chinese language officers. Uyghur and Tibetan flags have been blacked out, he mentioned, however different flags within the set up, together with Palestinian, Rohingya, Haitian, and Sudanese flags, weren’t. Tenzin added that three movies he labored on, together with Listen to Indigenous People (A Trans Tibetan Scholar and Survivor Speaks on the Dalai Lama), footage he edited of a multi-hour demonstration by LGBTQ+ Tibetans in New York Metropolis, and a brief animated movie he wrote about listening to nature have been all eliminated.
A graphic by artist Liz Hee relating China and Israel’s surveillance and repression of Muslim communities within the international locations’ respective occupied territories was additionally censored, the artist mentioned.
Tenzin defined in an announcement that his 12-minute conversational movie Listen to Indigenous People explored the roots of a controversial viral 2023 video by which the Dalai Lama asks an Indian boy to “suck” his tongue. Doc Tenzin claims that the footage was “spliced” and offered maliciously by an nameless Chinese language supply to media.
“Who’re museums for? They need to be for the individuals, not for dictators of any ideology,” Tenzin advised Hyperallergic.
“When museums are unfairly pressured like BACC has been, the individuals should communicate up for cover of the humanities and artists. They have to let the powers that be know that is unacceptable,” Tenzin continued. “Extra importantly, they have to ship a message to censoring governments that these works will probably be seen, they are going to be heard, they are going to be mentioned.”
Hyperallergic has reached out to different artists within the present, the Thai Ministry of Overseas Affairs, and BACC for remark.
