Artists find anti-domestic violence show shut down

BEIJING: An art show highlighting domestic violence has been shut down at the last minute by Beijing authorities, organisers said yesterday, apparently the latest victim of Chinese cultural controls.

More than 60 artists, half of them women, contributed work to the show, timed for Wednesday’s United Nations-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

But when the artists arrived at the venue in the centre of the capital for the opening they found themselves locked out, while gallery staff were absent.

Curator Cui Guangxia said a source close to the venue said the show had “not received approval from relevant departments”.

Beijing’s municipal cultural bureau said it was not responsible for overseeing visual art shows, while a gallery employee said that it only provided the space for the exhibition, and was not involved in the organisation. She could not comment on the reasons for the closure, she said, adding that the works would be returned to the artists.

The sensitivity of the show’s themes, feminism and domestic violence, are the likely reasons for the closure, Mr Cui and artists involved said.

The ruling Communist Party does not allow public challenge to its authority, and officials tightly monitor and sometimes cancel art shows in the country as well as prosecuting activists who dare to mount protests.

Earlier this year Beijing police detained five feminist campaigners who had planned to distribute leaflets and post stickers against domestic violence in several cities, releasing them more than a month later.

Restrictions have increased since President Xi Jinping came to power, artists say with the country’s top independent film festival shut down for the last two years.