A contemporary art centre is having an impact when the Chinese government tries to shut down one of its exhibitions. This happened to the BACC after it opened an exhibition critical of authoritarianism in 2025.
The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) is a contemporary arts center in Bangkok, Thailand.
In July 2025, following the opening of the “Constellation of Complicity: Visualising the Global Machinery of Authoritarian Solidarity” exhibition on authoritarian governments, the BACC was told by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) that in order for the exhibit to remain open, it had to remove or censor material considered offensive to China. These materials included references to China’s treatment of ethnic minorities, including the Uyghur Muslims.
On 24 July 2025, the exhibition opened. Three days later, officials from the Embassy of China in Bangkok and representatives of the BMA “entered the exhibition and demanded its shutdown”, according to Sai, the exhibition’s co-curator. Sai subsequently fled Thailand. Several works were described as “problematic”.
In a 30 July 2025 email, the BACC noted: “Due to pressure from the Chinese Embassy – transmitted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and particularly the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, our main supporter – we have been warned that the exhibition may risk creating diplomatic tensions between Thailand and China.” The BACC subsequently obscured the names of Uyghur, Tibetan, and Hong Kong artists. Link to the full Wikipedia article below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok_Art_and_Culture_Centre_censorship_incident
I visited the BACC today, and while there is a limited number of works on display, the quality of those works is mostly impressive.