Gwangju’s city government has issued a formal apology to mainland China over the Gwangju Biennale’s decision to name one of its exhibitions the Taiwan Pavilion, after it had initially given it a title based on the sponsoring museum. Jeonnam Gwangju City officially reiterated its support for the “One China Policy” and pledged to “thoroughly investigate the setbacks that occurred during event preparations,” accordingly to Korean media reports.
Controversies around the independent pavilions at 16th Gwangju Biennale, opening in a few days (5 September-15 November), have swirled since mid-August. The Gwangju Biennale Foundation (GBF)’s decision to initially name Taiwan’s pavilion after the sponsoring institution, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art (NTMoFA), sparked protests from Taiwan’s ministry of culture and the pavilion participants. Those protesting claimed that the pavilion had been named after NTMoFA without their permission; the Biennale said the name had been decided as part of a 12 January 2026 agreement.
On 25 August, GBF renamed the exhibition the Taiwan Pavilion.
Mainland China, which territorially claims the autonomous island of Taiwan, had been previously silent on the matter. However, on 27 August its ambassador to South Korea, Dai Bing, told Gwangju’s mayor Min Hyung-bae that China’s Gwangju pavilion would be suspended as a result. South Korea diplomatically recognises China and not Taiwan, but also has unofficial ties to Taiwan.
Installation of the China Pavilion, located at the Seo-gu Ha Jung-ung Museum of Art, has indeed now been suspended. The exhibition, organised by Liu Tian, Wang Ran and Ruan Yuanlai, is backed by a consortium headed by the China Academy of Art and including China’s embassy in Korea and consulate in Gwangju and the Chosun University Museum of Art. Featuring 18 artists and collectives including Qiu Zhijie, Shi Hui and Wang Xin, it looks at how the China-Europe Railway Express, opened in 2011, and its predecessors back to the 1980s, have transformed interactions between China and Central Asia.
Jeonnam Gwangju City’s statement yesterday clarified: “In accordance with the government foreign policy line, there is no change in the position of respecting One China… The title of the Taiwan pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale is merely an expression entrusted to participating artists within the realm of art, and it does not mean that the city or the Biennale recognizes Taiwan as a country.”
The Art Newspaper has approached GBF and participants of the China Pavilion and they declined comment.