Thai gallery removes China-focused artworks after ‘pressure' from Beijing
In what the artists called the latest attempt by Beijing to silence critics overseas, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre changed many works by artists in exile in the exhibit on authoritarian governments collaborating across borders.
When Reuters visited on Thursday, some works previously advertised and photographed had been removed, including a multimedia installation by a Tibetan artist, while other pieces had been altered with the words 'Hong Kong', 'Tibet' and 'Uyghur' redacted together with the names of the artists.
Three days after the show, 'Constellation of Complicity: Visualising the Global Machinery of Authoritarian Solidarity', opened on July 24, Chinese embassy staff, accompanied by Bangkok city officials, 'entered the exhibition and demanded its shutdown', said the exhibit's co-curator, Sai, a Myanmar artist who goes by one name.
In a July 30 e-mail seen by Reuters, the gallery said: 'Due to pressure from the Chinese embassy, transmitted through the ministry of foreign affairs and particularly the Bangkok metropolitan administration, our main supporter, we have been warned the exhibition may risk creating diplomatic tensions between Thailand and China.'
The e-mail said the gallery had 'no choice but to make certain adjustments', including obscuring the names of the Hong Kong, Tibetan and Uyghur artists.
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