Chinese Artists Boycott Gwangju Biennale Over Taiwan Pavilion Name

Chinese artists withdrew from South Korea's Gwangju Biennale after organizers agreed to name a Taiwanese exhibition the Taiwan Pavilion, angering Beijing.

A group of Chinese artists announced Thursday that they were withdrawing from the Gwangju Biennale, one of Asia's most prominent art exhibitions, which opens Saturday and runs through mid-November. The boycott came after the South Korean organizers decided to use the name "Taiwan Pavilion" for an exhibition of works by Taiwanese artists. Curator Ruan Yuelai told reporters through an interpreter that the organizers "used an incorrect name for China's Taiwan region," causing a political issue to spill over into the realm of art, and that the Chinese exhibition team unanimously agreed to withdraw in protest. As of Friday afternoon, the Chinese participants had not yet removed the paintings, sculptures and other works originally planned for display in the "China Pavilion."

The dispute turns on a two-word designation. The "Taiwan Pavilion" is one of roughly 25 small national and institutional galleries in the biennale's Pavilion Project, operated separately from the main exhibition site. The surprising element is that the organizers had initially resisted the name: Taiwan's Ministry of Culture said in August that Taiwan had planned to exhibit as "Taiwan Pavilion" but protested when organizers changed it to "National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts Pavilion," before pressure and negotiation pushed the name back the other way.

China's Foreign Ministry criticized the biennale organizers on Thursday, saying they had "stubbornly clung to the wrongful practice" by allowing China's Taiwan region to participate under a designation "completely incompatible with its status." Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China hopes the South Korean government will uphold its commitment to the "one China" principle through concrete action. The festival organizers, for their part, said Wednesday that they "deeply apologize for causing concerns and confusion" to those involved in the Pavilion Project. According to the organizers, they signed a contract with the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and expected Taiwanese artists to exhibit under the museum's acronym, "NTMoFA," but the museum later insisted on "Taiwan Pavilion" and they felt pressure to accept it.

It remains unclear whether the protest will trigger a major diplomatic spat with South Korea, whose liberal government has been working to improve ties with China, the country's biggest trading partner. South Korea's Foreign Ministry sought to contain the damage, saying the naming decision was made by a non-governmental entity and has nothing to do with the government, and that Seoul hopes the issue will not affect relations and cooperation between the two countries. The episode illustrates how cross-strait disputes increasingly reach into cultural events: earlier in the week, China warned of consequences for Taiwan after the island's foreign minister attended a diplomatic forum in Palau, and in May it pressured an African country to exclude Taiwanese activists from a human rights conference.

The standoff fits a broader pattern of Beijing stepping up pressure on Taiwan. Taiwan is a self-ruled island, but China claims it as part of its territory; the two sides split after a civil war in 1949. Taiwan now has only 12 diplomatic allies around the world as Beijing poaches partners. For China, the withdrawal of its artists signals that even nominally apolitical cultural platforms are expected to conform to its naming standards, a demand the Gwangju organizers found themselves caught between.

The biennale opens Saturday without the Chinese contribution, and it is not known whether the Chinese works left in the "China Pavilion" will be removed or displayed. Attention now turns to whether Seoul's government will face further demands from Beijing, and whether future international exhibitions will resist or accommodate similar naming disputes. With the exhibition running through mid-November, the dispute has months to play out in public view.