BlogInsta’ gratification
From self-censorship to activism: artists react to Instagram’s ban on ‘offensive’ art
An online show by gallery 42 Social Club provides invaluable information on the social media platform's draconian filters
NewsRussia
Russian theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov found guilty of fraud and ordered to pay $1.85m in damages to culture ministry
Accused of embezzling funds while staging a contemporary arts festival, Serebrennikov faced six years in prison but was handed a suspended sentence
NewsArt law
Alleging censorship, ACLU sues Miami Beach for removal of painting memorialising the police shooting of Raymond Herisse
A painting by Rodney Jackson was removed from an exhibition focusing on racial justice issues at the request of Miami Beach officials
NewsCensorship
'I have a 1% chance of being acquitted': Russian activist faces six years in prison for posting vagina drawings online
Police say the body-positive images, accompanied by captions like ‘Real women have body fat and it’s normal,’ violate pornography laws
BlogInsta’ gratification
Social media crack-down: how Instagram ‘protects’ us from art
As the art world's use of online platforms increases, so does frustration around its draconian censorship of creative images
NewsArt market
Gallery Weekend Beijing draws a local crowd to a city cautiously reawakening
Event was postponed from March due to coronavirus and, while China is still closed to international visitors, mainland collectors were eager to attend and spend
NewsIndigenous art
Kent Monkman issues apology for painting that depicts the 'sexual assault' of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
After outcries against the work on social media, the Cree artist says that the image "failed" in its message to address the victimisation of Indigenous women
NewsCensorship
Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara arrested on way to a LGBTQ+ censorship protest
The artist will face a summary trial in ten days while activists say the arrest amounts to "state terrorism"
NewsCensorship
San Antonio officials censor work by Xandra Ibarra in Chicano art exhibition
The curators and the National Coalition Against Censorship are challenging the removal of the artist's work
NewsAi Weiwei
Ai Weiwei's censored films to go on show in Berlin
The works cannot be shown in China where the dissident artist says his identity has been erased
NewsExhibitions
Taiwan to host censored Aichi Triennale show
Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art is planning to restage the exhibition, which was partly closed due to violent threats over the inclusion of a 'comfort woman' statue
NewsCensorship
Artists call for Kyrgyz minister of culture’s resignation in wake of censorship scandal
Open letter argues that censorship of the exhibition Feminnale violated a number of constitutional protections
NewsPoland
Lublin governor files defamation suit against art historian sparking free speech fears in Poland
Case against Tomasz Kitliński follows row over installation that marked pogrom sites in the city
NewsCensorship
Censored queer photographs get second chance at Miami's Nada fair
City officials cancelled a planned display by Pacifico Silano in Bal Harbour last year
NewsCensorship
UN condemns threats against Kyrgyz museum director who staged feminist art exhibition
Museum hosted a 'Feminnale' that included performance work highlighting plight of sex workers
NewsExhibitions
#MeToo show manages to evade authorities in Shanghai
Previous iterations of the show were closed early by authorities
AnalysisChina
Why museum partnerships between China and the West are booming
Cultural institutions have embraced mutual benefits of collaboration, despite challenges of communication and censorship
NewsMuseums
Michael Rakowitz wants to pause his video work at MoMA PS1 as a protest against museum's ties to 'toxic philanthropy'
"It's censorship", the artist says of curators' denials to suspend work that is part of show on the artistic legacy of the Gulf War
NewsCensorship
Beijing officials deny permit for show of Chinese-American artist amid political tensions
Exhibition of Hung Liu at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art has been censored by the government at the last minute
NewsExhibitions
Photojournalist Shahidul Alam—who served time for his activism—gets retrospective at the Rubin Museum
After spending months in a Bangladeshi jail, the artist continues to speak out against injustice
NewsCensorship
Feminist exhibition in China suddenly axed following alleged governmental pressure
Show in Shanghai cancelled after being deemed "too sensitive" to run during 70th anniversary of country's founding
NewsCensorship
'I wanted to break down white male ideas': sexually explicit Johannesburg show is pulled
Work by artist Anton Kannemeyer has also been removed from London's 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair after complaints
NewsCensorship
Instagram censorship U-turn? Female nude posted by Palazzo Strozzi finally given greenlight
Museum officials say that the 1910 image by Russian artist Natalia Goncharova, on show at Tate Modern, was initially censored by the social media giant
NewsControversies
Eleven artists withdraw or modify their works at Aichi Triennale in ongoing censorship row
Cuban activist Tania Bruguera closes down her exhibit while other artists reconfigure works to reflect the controversy
NewsCensorship
Artists wade into row over Japanese triennial dedicated to freedom of speech
More than 70 participants including Candice Breitz and Tania Bruguera have signed a statement demanding reopening of Aichi Triennale's exhibition
NewsCensorship
Long-running Facebook battle over censored Courbet painting gets happy ending
Social media giant pays out after closing French teacher's account for posting photo of the Origin of the World
ArchiveSweden
Lars Vilks: “Censorship is based on fear, not sensitivities towards ethnic minorities”
The Swedish artist is currently writing a musical about Islam
NewsCensorship
New US visa policy could stifle outspoken artists on social media
Several high-profile artists including Ai Weiwei have spoken out against the policy
NewsCensorship
Tania Bruguera fights censorship by launching investigative journalism project in Cuba
The artist and activist, whose School of Integration runs at Manchester International Festival, will organise workshops and awards for new writers
CommentCensorship
'Museum directors have lost panache and grit': 30 years on, the legacy of the Corcoran's Robert Mapplethorpe cancellation
New exhibition at the George Washington University looks back the censorship of the photographer's work—but what impact did it have on the art world?
NewsCensorship
Artists take stand against social media censorship
Instagram and others are quick to ban female nudity, at a high price for the arts
NewsCensorship
Video of Polish artist Natalia LL eating a banana temporarily goes back on show after protests over museum’s ‘censorship’
Almost 1,000 people attended banana-eating demonstration outside Warsaw’s National Museum yesterday
NewsLaw
Art vs porn: Iowa prisoners mount legal challenge to nude image ban
A new statute means inmates cannot access art, literature and even medical journals that contain nudity
CommentHavana Biennial
The 2019 Havana Biennial is a smokescreen for government censorship
Art fares poorly when parroting official narratives, especially when that messaging is opposed to the values of free speech and an open society
NewsHavana Biennial
Activist artist arrested on eve of Havana Biennial
As the cultural event gets under way, a Cuban-American artist is also blocked from entering Cuba
CommentBiennials & festivals
Why we need an independent biennial in Havana
The San Isidro Group of Cuban artists explain their plans for the Bienal Sin 349
FeaturePhotography
Remembering Tiananmen Square in a new age of censorship
It's been 30 years since the event that saw thousands of protestors clamour for democracy in Beijing
CommentCensorship
'Hong Kong is free—on paper'
Certain subjects have become off-limits—but no one knows exactly what can or cannot be discussed
NewsCensorship
Self-censorship on the rise as Hong Kong grows closer to China
Artists voice concern for Hong Kong’s artistic landscape amid so-called “mainlandification” of the SAR
NewsCensorship
Exclusive interview: photographer Shahidul Alam speaks out about prison, being tortured and the human rights situation in Bangladesh
Artist was granted bail in November after being held in custody in Dhaka for 102 days
NewsCensorship
Protests against Cuba’s censorship law continue as Havana Bienal opening nears
A new report by the non-profit organisation Pen America calls for the repeal of Decree 349 while Cuban artists ask for solidarity from biennial participants
NewsCensorship
Turkish artist Zehra Dogan is released from prison after more than two years
The journalist, accused of spreading propaganda, was backed by Banksy
NewsCensorship
Ai Weiwei’s contribution to Berlin movie scrapped amid censorship fears
“It was infuriating to find our involvement had been erased,” Ai says
NewsProtest
Hundreds of Christians protest against McJesus sculpture at Haifa Museum of Art in Israel
Finnish artist Jani Leinonen has asked museum to remove the work—with no response
NewsChina
'Hundreds' of cultural figures caught up in China’s Uyghur persecution
Most of the north-west Chinese region's Uyghur writers, artists and scholars have already been imprisoned
NewsTania Bruguera
Tania Bruguera pulls out of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, vowing to stay in Cuba and fight censorship law Decree 349
The activist says that the government crackdown continues with the creation of a “cultural police”
NewsArt market
Censorship could stifle China's art market
Under president Xi Jinping's increasingly stringent regime, galleries must negotiate a slow and capricious approval process to show works of art
NewsPolitics
College gallery closes exhibition after complaints about ‘false flag’ work
The artist, Daniel Bejar, sees the early dismantling of his show in Westchester as an example of institutional censorship
NewsCensorship
Artist accuses Florida officials of censoring his photographs of queer life
Organisers at Bal Harbour show asked Pacifico Silano to remove his images with partial nudity and descriptions referring to pornography
NewsCensorship
Wolfgang Tillmans and Tania Bruguera pledge support for censored Serralves Museum director
João Ribas has stepped down following censorship row around Robert Mapplethorpe show
NewsCensorship
Cuban activists issue manifesto against artistic censorship
Document denounces effort to ‘punish free creation’
NewsMarina Abramovic
‘We’re all in the same boat’: Marina Abramovic poster angers Italian right-wing politician
Trieste deputy mayor Paolo Polidori calls image commissioned for sailing regatta “political propaganda”
NewsCensorship
Facebook censors artist's work criticising male-dominated society because it features naked breasts
The social media giant also deleted her comments and friends
NewsVandalism
List of 34,361 dead refugees and migrants goes back on show in Liverpool after being destroyed
Reasons and perpetrators behind the removal of the key biennial work remain unclear
NewsPolitics
German Green Party politicians launch petition 'for freedom of the arts'
Online campaign criticises right-wing governments in Austria, Hungary and Poland and warns that Germany could be next
NewsCensorship
Instagram deletes photographer Dragana Jurisic's account and Facebook censors her work
Image is no more contentious than those shared on the platforms by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, supporters say
NewsLaw
ACLU files art censorship lawsuit against the city of New Orleans
A citizen is facing potential jail time over a mural referencing Trump’s 2005 Access Hollywood tape
NewsFacebook
French court makes mixed ruling in Courbet ‘censorship’ case
The social media giant was found to be at fault for closing a schoolteacher’s account but his claims for €20,000 in damages were dismissed
NewsControversies
Adel Abdessemed’s blazing chickens withdrawn from Lyon show
Violent animal video triggers another avalanche of criticism for provocative Algerian artist
NewsCensorship
Facebook censors 30,000 year-old Venus of Willendorf as 'pornographic'
Nude statue is latest artwork to be deemed inappropriate by social media giant
NewsCensorship
Santiago Sierra work censored at Arco fair to be shown at Catalan museum
Media mogul Tatxo Benet says that censorship is damaging for artists—and the viewing public
NewsControversies
Palais de Tokyo removes work showing artist protesting against Dana Schutz's Open Casket painting
Parker Bright says protest image of him taken at Whitney Biennial was used by Neil Beloufa without permission
NewsLaw
Paris court hears arguments in Facebook censorship case centering on Courbet’s Origin of the World
The social media giant has argued for dismissal, saying the plaintiff should have sued its European web host
NewsControversies
Jock Sturges’s nudes incite strong feelings in Moscow, again
Activist targets American photographer’s latest show for second time amid claims of promoting paedophilia
NewsArt market
Abu Dhabi Art censors work by Saudi Arabian artist
Abdulnasser Gharem’s painting about Sunni-Shia divide was removed from Brigitte Schenk's stand at organisers' request
NewsCensorship
Brazilian arts group calls out censorship by 'arrogant fundamentalists' in open letter
More than 1,000 artists, curators and professionals have signed the protest document published by the pro-democracy collective Pela Democracia
NewsControversies
Censored 'sexual' sculpture finds new home at the Centre Pompidou
Domestikator piece was withdrawn by the Louvre from its surrounding gardens
NewsControversies
Sexually explicit sculpture pulled from Fiac after Louvre raises concerns
Domestikator was due to go on show in garden close to Paris museum as part of contemporary fair's public programme
CommentArtists
Why taking down Sam Durant’s Scaffold was the right thing to do
The director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis defends the decision to let the Dakota people claim the controversial sculpture
NewsPolitics
Korean government apologises for culture blacklist
Around 10,000 cultural figures thought to be critical of country’s president deprived of government support
News
Indian right-wing groups target Jaipur Art Summit over semi-nude painting
Artist attacked for creating “obscene” work and pictures snatched off the walls during incident
NewsCensorship
Artistic censorship is on the rise, advocacy group reports
A study by the Copenhagen-based organisation Freemuse paints a bleak picture for global creative expression
CommentHong Kong
'The future of Hong Kong is already set': Ai Weiwei responds to escalating violence against democracy protesters
In Hong Kong, university campuses have become literal battlegrounds in the protracted clash between police and protesters over the region’s future
Ai Weiwei