Taiwanese participants in this year’s Gwangju Biennale have accused the biennial organiser of censoring the title of their pavilion.
The dispute arose earlier this month when promotional materials of the biennial listed the Taiwanese participation under ‘NTMoFA Pavilion’ – named after the acronym of its organising institution, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts – instead of the title ‘Taiwan Pavilion’, which the institution filed its application under. A series of statements issued by the pavilion’s 10 artists and curators, and by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, called the change an act of ‘political censorship’ and stated an intention to ‘continue to seek participation under the name “Taiwan Pavilion”’.
The Taiwanese artists received support in the form of a letter signed by twenty other contributors to the event, including CAMP, Daisuke Kosugi and Park Chan-kyong, who are all featured in the main biennial, and Gahee Park, a curator of the central show. ‘Art institutions should not become instruments for suppressing how people identify themselves. When participants’ right to name themselves is subjected to institutional restrictions without sufficient explanation, this is more than an administrative matter. It also concerns who has the right to decide how a group is represented in public space. We hold deep respect for the history of Gwangju. It is precisely for this reason that we are especially concerned about this dispute over naming.’
However, the organisers of the Gwangju Biennale have said they consider the listing an administrative convention. According to a response issued by the biennial, NTMoFA signed the exhibition agreement as an institutional participant rather than a national one, and that ‘posters and promotional materials use either the country name or the institutional name, according to the type of participant’.
‘Gwangju Biennale has not intervened in, or censored, exhibition planning or content,’ reads the statement.
Updated 25 August to include statement of support
