Chinese Artists Officially Withdraw from Gwangju Biennale in Protest of ‘Taiwan Pavilion’

The Chinese artists set to exhibit at this year’s Gwangju Biennale officially withdrew today from the prestigious exhibition, which opens September 5. The announcement follows a directive issued last week by the Chinese embassy in Seoul ordering China’s artistic team to halt its activities in protest of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation’s decision to allow Taiwanese exhibitors to participate under the name “Taiwan.”

On the eve of the exhibition’s opening, the Gwangju Biennale is grappling with a diplomatic dispute triggered by allegations that its organizers renamed the Taiwanese exhibition from the “Taiwan Pavilion” to “The NTMoFA Pavilion,” after its commissioning institution, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. In an August statement echoed by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, the Taiwanese artists said the Biennale made the change without their consent, characterizing it as “political censorship” and a betrayal of the event’s founding ideals tied to the pro-democracy Gwangju Uprising.

Beijing maintains that Taiwan is part of its territory and considers any recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state a violation of its diplomatic policy.

“Because the biennale organizers used an incorrect designation for the participation of China’s Taiwan region,” Ruan Yuelai, a curator for the China Pavilion, said at a news conference today, as first reported by South Korean media. Yuelai continued that “allowing political factors to interfere with art, the Chinese curatorial team finds this unacceptable and has unanimously decided to withdraw from the exhibition in strong protest.” 

China’s consulate-general in Gwangju accused the Biennale organizers of having “openly allowed the Taiwan region of China to participate in the exhibition using a name that is completely inconsistent with its status.” Meanwhile, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Foreign Ministry told the New York Times that the country’s “policy toward Taiwan had not changed” and that the disagreement had “roots in the private sector.”

In response to the controversy, the Gwangju Biennale organizers released the following statement: “The Gwangju Biennale Foundation sincerely apologizes for the concern, confusion and disappointment caused to artists, participating institutions, audiences and stakeholders in Korea and abroad in connection with the operation of the Pavilion Project for the 16th Gwangju Biennale.”

The foundation “consistently upheld the principle that it does not intervene in or censor the planning, content or expression of exhibitions presented by participating institutions and artists,” the statement concluded.