Censorship

Tania Bruguera exhibition in Chile opens in modified form after uproar over artist's political stance

The Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum delayed the opening of the Cuban-born artist's solo exhibition amid pushback from Allende family members and supporters

What's behind China's spate of museum closures and downsizings?

As the country's economy takes a nosedive, its institutions face fiscal freeze and covert control amid an increasingly chaotic and arbitrary government censorship regime

Lawsuit over removal of mural honouring victim of police shooting returns to court

Judge previously ruled that taking the artwork down did not violate free speech rights

Invisible by numbers: artists must remain vigilant to escape censorship loop created by social media shadowbans

New European regulations have required Instagram to reveal how some artists’ accounts have been deprived of visibility. But fears remain over who has access to the culture-shaping power of social media

Cuban artists call for boycotts in light of government's 'persistent human rights violations'

Open letter also says that the regime is ‘using art to salvage its public image’

Arizona city accused of censorship for postponing museum exhibitions over Shepard Fairey police brutality print

Municipal officials in Mesa have come under fire for postponing the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum's autumn shows

'Cancelled' St Petersburg show honouring Timur Novikov finally opens—with censorship

Artists accuse the Russian Museum—which blames technical issues for the delay—of covering up parts of their works

Artist says California city censored his exhibition after local police took offense

Two days after his exhibition at San Mateo City Hall opened, Diego Marcial Rios’s entire show was taken down

Cubanews

Detained Cuban artist and activist pens appeal from prison on two-year anniversary

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was imprisoned on charges of contempt and insult to national symbols when widespread protests swept the nation in 2021

Young V&A accused of removing trans-affirming books and poster from display

Former employees of the newly reopened London museum have joined a chorus of criticism over the removal of materials related to trans rights and queer identities

Not safe for work: Beeple donates 'censored NFT' to Italian museum

The image of an orgy in an office setting—a satire of the downfall of banking entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried—was allegedly blocked by YouTube due to nudity

Barbican exhibition cancelled in wake of 'anti-Palestinian censorship' row

Resolve Collective has accused staff at the London arts centre of censoring a talk and for showing “hostility towards close family and friends at the exhibition opening”

Activists plan day of action, online and at New York museums, against social media censorship of art

After collecting signatures outside art institutions, the group Don’t Delete Art will deliver its manifesto to Meta’s Manhattan headquarters

Oil giant Chevron removed public art installation without warning, artists allege

The energy giant did not inform the associated artists of their plans to remove a piece of art that advocate for environmental justice, according to organisers

Pop-up museum commemorating Tiananmen Square Massacre opens in New York

A similar institution in Hong Kong was forcibly shuttered in 2021 following the passage of the city’s restrictive security law

Beijinganalysis

'The economy is bad, the mood is worse': Gallery Weekend Beijing returns under renewed fears of censorship

This is the event's first edition since China lifted its Covid restrictions

Public artanalysis

Hong Kong: artists carve out a space for themselves in public

From giant rubber ducks to thinly veiled protest art, outdoor sculpture is having a moment in the city

Michelangelo's David blocked from Scottish ad campaign

Glasgow's Barolo Restaurant will run posters with the sculpture visible only from the waist up after artwork with the masterpiece in full-view was rejected

Are we more prudish about Michelangelo’s David in 2023 than we were in 1564?

The ousting of a Tallahassee principal after school children were shown images of the famous Renaissance sculpture reveals a rather zealous mindset

Germany’s museums buy back ‘degenerate’ artworks purged by the Nazis

A painting by Egon Schiele is among those bought back by the institutions from where they were confiscated

President Macron stands up for artists after vandalism of controversial Miriam Cahn painting

French leader says defacing the work, which will remain on show at the Palais de Tokyo, is "attack on values"

Unesco seeks to improve artists’ protection from censorship and violence

New report finds that, unlike journalists, artists are often "in the dark" about the organisations they can turn to when their rights are threatened

Pillar of Shame sculpture seized by police in Hong Kong

Work commemorating Tiananmen Square tragedy is confiscated as part of "incitement to subversion" case

Leaderscomment

Now is the time to honour not censor Russia’s dissident artists

The director of the Zimmerli Art Museum, which is home to the world's foremost collection of Soviet nonconformist art, says recent calls to censor all Russian art in light of the war in Ukraine oversimplify the issue

Censorshipcomment

An Idaho college removed my abortion-related art, strengthening my resolve to tell these stories

Last month, citing a state law prohibiting the use of public funds for abortion, a college removed my works and those of two other artists from a show about healthcare

Censorshipcomment

'The nipple has not been freed! The art world must continue to fight Meta over gender discrimination'

Social media giant has been taken to task for its notorious “female nipple” guideline, but the battle for creatives' freedom of expression is not yet over

‘Glad to see they are scared’: Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova added to Russia’s wanted list for criminals

A performance in which she burns an effigy of Vladimir Putin, and an NFT of a vagina-shaped Virgin Mary are thought to be behind new charges

Hong Kong is back with bang: Art Basel returns and M+ museum makes waves

Plus, art censorship online and Brenda L. Croft's photos of fellow First Nations Australian women

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Citing Idaho’s anti-abortion law, college censors art exhibition on health care

Three works addressing abortion were removed from the exhibition at Lewis-Clark State College