Gwangju Biennale Restores ‘Taiwan Pavilion’ Amid Censorship Claims

Ten days into a deepening diplomacy dispute between Taiwan and South Korea’s Gwangju Biennale over allegations of censorship, the Gwangju Biennale Foundation (GBF) has agreed that a satellite exhibition at its September edition can open as the “Taiwan Pavilion.” The decision follows a series of conflicting accounts between the two parties over the exhibition’s renaming under the banner of its commissioning institution, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA), and accusations from Taiwanese and South Korean artists that the Biennale had caved to pressures from Beijing.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the foundation said it had reached an agreement with Taiwan’s ministry of culture “and officially approved the use of the name ‘Taiwan Pavilion.’” GBF also said it had granted the Taiwanese exhibitors permission to enter the pavilion’s official host venue, the Asia Cultural Center (ACC). The Taiwanese artists previously accused the venue of denying them entry since August 18, delaying their preparations for the prestigious international exhibition, opening on September 5. 

Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture released an August 15 statement saying it “sternly protested” the ACC’s refusal to admit the Taiwanese pavilion team and alleging that the foundation had suggested relocating Taiwan’s exhibition to a smaller venue.

As ARTnews previously reported, the dispute began in June, when Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture first learned that the Biennale’s program had recorded its presentation as the “NTMoFA Pavilion,” an acronymic reference to the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Through the Taipei Mission in Korea, the ministry contacted the Gwangju City Council and the Biennale to demand an explanation and the restoration of the “Taiwan Pavilion” name. NTMoFA reportedly also made efforts to reach the Biennale. Neither the Taiwanese ministry nor museum, however, received a response from the Biennale.

The controversy went public in August, when the pavilion’s participating artists and curator posted a statement accusing the Biennale’s organizers of “political censorship” and “brutally eras[ing] Taiwan” after they also learned that “Taiwan Pavilion” was not listed on the Biennale’s promotional materials that was published earlier this month.  

“As a city and a biennale with a profound history of pursuing democracy and freedom, Gwangju and the Gwangju Biennale Foundation should respect the fact that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country,” the ministry said. It noted that the Biennale had confirmed on April 2 that its exhibition “Instance Dungeons: Gray Zone” would appear under the banner of the “Taiwan Pavilion,” and that an agreement signed on April 23 also used that designation. 

The Biennale organizers denied allegations of political interference, saying that the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts had entered the agreement as an institution rather than a national pavilion. Because Taiwan did not submit the required approval letter from an embassy or culture ministry, the foundation said, it could not accommodate Taiwan’s subsequent request to reclassify the exhibition as a national pavilion after the agreement had been signed. 

In response, Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture shared proposal materials and emails showing that the project had been referred to as the “Taiwan Pavilion” from its initial submission through final approval. While calling the Biennale’s claims erroneous, the ministry said it remained willing to work with organizers to resolve the dispute.

“This matter does not concern the content of an exhibition or freedom of expression. It arises from an administrative difference concerning participant classification and naming conventions,” the foundation said in a statement to ARTnews. “Framing or disseminating the matter as an act of censorship by the Foundation may cause serious concern for the reputation and trust of not only the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, but also the countries and institutions participating in the Pavilion project.” 

Meanwhile, public scrutiny of the controversy mounted, prompting outcry from Taiwanese and South Korean artists against the Biennale’s organizers. Critics said the alleged censorship of the Taiwanese pavilion betrayed the event’s founding spirit: established in 1994 to commemorate the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, the Biennale is rooted in a pro-democracy movement during which hundreds of South Korean civilians were killed by the authoritarian military government. 

“These values have been among the most important grounds on which the Gwangju Biennale has established its legitimacy in the international art world,” wrote a coalition of South Korean artists, called the Artists’ Solidarity Against Censorship, in a statement. “At a time when political, diplomatic and economic pressure from states increasingly extends into the field of art and culture, biennials have a responsibility to defend the political, ethical and artistic values that contemporary society must uphold, and to protect the autonomy of exhibitions and artistic practice.”

The incident underscored Taiwan’s precarious position on the international art stage as a self-governed island that has spent decades rebuffing China’s claims of sovereignty. Given these fraught geopolitics, Taiwan’s presence at major international exhibitions has repeatedly prompted controversy and marginalization. In 1995, it participated in the Venice Biennale for the first time as a national pavilion and continued to do so until 2003, when it was demoted to a collateral event following protests from Beijing, which had announced its own national pavilion that year.