CSW’s Director Piotr Bernatowicz on Monday received a high-ranking official from China’s embassy, who demanded that the art show be called off, public broadcaster Polish Radio reported.
Bernatowicz told Polish Radio he had made clear to the Chinese official that cancelling Badiucao’s exhibition would amount to preventive censorship, which was unacceptable.
The CSW director informed the Chinese diplomat that the show would “go ahead as scheduled,” according to Polish Radio.
Bernatowicz told the public broadcaster that the Chinese official had first visited the CSW a week before, shortly after the exhibition was announced, but as no appointment had been made, he could not meet the diplomat because of other engagements.
Monday’s meeting took place at Bernatowicz’s invitation, conveyed to the Chinese embassy over the phone, Polish Radio reported.
Tell China’s Story Well
The exhibition by Badiucao is titled Tell China’s Story Well, a reference to China’s public diplomacy strategy, which encourages communist party-controlled media, as well as quasi-private actors, to promote official Chinese views and opinions and thus strengthen the country’s international influence.
Badiucao’s art depicts ongoing human rights violations in China; the manipulation of historical memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre; the censorship inflicted on Chinese citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic; forced cultural assimilation of the Uyghurs; protests in which Hong Kong residents fought to oppose government policy; and the disturbing relationship between China and Russia in light of the war in Ukraine.
Born in 1986, Badiucao is one of China’s most acclaimed political cartoonists, artists and human rights activists.
Badiucao is a pen name; the artist, who is based in Australia, adopted it to protect his identity.
Tell China’s Story Well is a tribute to everyone who has felt they have a duty to stand up and speak out against any form of injustice.
Badiucao, who is currently in Warsaw, is to attend Friday’s opening ceremony.
The exhibition will run at Warsaw’s Centre for Contemporary Art until October 10.
(mk/pm)