Arya News - The organiser calls the dispute an administrative matter as Taipei insists the museum applied, signed, and prepared under the name.
SEOUL – The Gwangju Biennale Foundation on Wednesday denied accusations of censorship over the removal of “Taiwan” from the name of a pavilion at next month’s event. Hours later, Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture rejected the organizer’s explanation as “clearly incorrect.”
The dispute erupted after the biennale’s official poster and program materials listed an exhibition organized by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts as “NTMoFA,” the museum’s English acronym. Taiwanese officials say organizers had earlier approved the exhibition as the “Taiwan Pavilion,” and that both sides used the name throughout the application and preparation process. The museum is a national institution overseen by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture.
In its first public statement on the matter, the foundation said the museum took part as a cultural institution rather than as a representative of Taiwan, under an exhibition agreement dated Jan. 12. The pavilion was labeled with the museum’s name accordingly, it said.
The foundation said its pavilion program is open to both countries and institutions, and participants wanting to present under a country’s name must first submit an approval letter from that country’s embassy or Culture Ministry. This year’s edition comprises 16 pavilions presented by countries and 11 by institutions.
“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. “Framing or disseminating the matter as an act of censorship by the Foundation may affect the reputation of not only the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, but also the countries and institutions participating in the Pavilion project.”
The Taiwanese Culture Ministry gave a different account.
In a release posted on its website later Wednesday, the ministry said the museum submitted its proposal in March under the name “Taiwan Pavilion,” won approval on April 2 and signed the contract on April 23. The Jan. 12 date cited by the foundation, it said, was mistaken. Correspondence continued under that name until June, when the organizer began calling the exhibition the “NTMoFA Pavilion.”
Citing legal advice, the ministry said the contract requires the foundation to produce official materials based on information supplied by participants — all of which the museum had labeled “Taiwan Pavilion” — leaving the foundation no authority to change the name unilaterally.
It added that the museum had offered to submit supporting documents and even to have the ministry re-sign the contract, but received no positive response.
“Taiwan will continue to insist on participating in the exhibition under the name ‘Taiwan Pavilion,’ leaving no room for ambiguity,” the ministry said.
The ministry had lodged a formal protest on Monday, saying it would take necessary action if the organizer unilaterally breached the contract.
The row first broke into the open on Aug. 15, when the pavilion’s curator, Chen Hsiang-wen, and nine participating artists issued a joint statement on social media titled “A Pavilion Under Censorship,” saying the exhibition had been renamed without their consent and Taiwan “brutally erased” from the poster.
“This goes beyond the removal of a name,” the statement read. “It is a threat to freedom of expression and to the global artistic community.”
A group of Korean artists and cultural workers, under the name Artists’ Solidarity Against Censorship, joined the criticism Tuesday, demanding that the foundation restore the original name and explain how the decision was made.
References to Taiwan are a perennial flash point at international events well beyond the art world. China claims the self-ruled island as its own territory and objects to any usage that presents Taiwan as a country. Most nations, including South Korea, maintain formal ties with Beijing rather than Taipei.
The question has come up at biennales before. At the Venice Biennale, Taiwan exhibited as a national pavilion from 1995 until 2003, when its presentation was reclassified as a collateral event organized by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
In a similar episode in September 2025, an exhibition of Taiwanese contemporary art at a state museum in Almaty, Kazakhstan, was canceled days before opening. The museum cited renovations, while Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry blamed Chinese interference.
The 16th Gwangju Biennale runs Sept. 5 through Nov. 15. The main exhibition, “You Must Change Your Life,” is led by Singaporean artistic director Ho Tzu Nyen. Its pavilion program, launched in 2018, will be staged at venues across the city, separately from the main exhibition.