On November 11, 2021, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s “Whitewashing” (1995-2000) was seen at the press conference of the New M+ Museum in Hong Kong. (Isaac Lawrence/AFP)
- M+’s censorship is not the only sign of a decline in freedom of speech in Hong Kong.
- In June 2020, Hong Kong passed a law criminalizing a series of political opinions.
- After years of delay, senior officials opened the museum on November 11.
Hong Kong’s multimillion-dollar art museum M+ will open on Friday. Dissident artist Ai Weiwei will be absent Middle finger The series highlights concerns about creative freedom, as the authorities censored the city’s criticism.
This 65,000-square-meter venue is located on the waterfront of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour and is designed to compete with curatorial leaders in Western contemporary art such as the Tate Modern in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
After years of delay, senior officials from the Hong Kong and Chinese governments cut the ribbon on Thursday.
But a group of photos of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in the museum collection will not be displayed.
In this series, Ai Weiwei pointed the middle finger to institutions around the world, including the White House, the Reichstag Building and Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
“Artistic expression cannot be above the law,” said Henry Tang, the head of the cultural park where the museum is located.
“We will not show photos of the middle finger, but we will show Ai Weiwei’s works,” Tang told reporters on Thursday.
Earlier this year, pro-Beijing politicians called Ai Weiwei’s photos of Tiananmen Square in the series a “national security threat.”
This prompted the Swiss collector Uli Sigg to donate a large number of works including Ai’s series to M+, and issued an open letter stating that “in most parts of China-obviously in certain parts of Hong Kong society, it is very important for contemporary The understanding of art is different…about”.
Tang confirmed that the photo has been reviewed, and M+ welcomes the review by the police and the national security department.
“If there is any national security department that… violates the law, we will act in accordance with the law,” Tang said.
M+ censorship is not the only sign that freedom of speech in Hong Kong’s once vibrant art world is declining.
Insiders say that self-censorship has been on the rise in recent years, but the broad language of Hong Kong’s national security law — and the enthusiasm of influential pro-Beijing people who want to see it apply — adds additional risks.
The law was passed in June last year to target any behavior deemed to be “secession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with foreign forces” and quickly criminalized a series of political opinions.
Last month, Hong Kong passed a stricter film censorship law, authorizing the authorities to ban past films on the grounds of “national security” threats and impose stricter penalties on any violations.
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