A Curator Flees Bangkok After China Deems His Art Show Too Provocative

An installation at the “Constellation of Complicity” exhibition at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center after its July opening. Flags representing Tibet and the Uyghur people were later removed | Constellation of Complicity exhibition

In an article by The New York Times, Francesca Regalado writes about a recent museum exhibition in Thailand that criticized authoritarian governments in China, Myanmar and other countries. The curator, an artist from Myanmar, swiftly left the country from fear of being arrested and deported back to Myanmar. Chinese authorities wanted the museum to remove the names of artists from Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang, as matters in these areas were “purely China’s internal affairs.”

The curator of a recent museum exhibition in Thailand that criticized authoritarian governments in China, Myanmar and other countries expected a pushback, but not one so swift that he would have to flee the country.

The curator, an artist from Myanmar who goes by the name Sai, said he was in the museum’s parking lot two days after the July opening when its directors warned him in digital messages that Thai police officers were inside, asking for his contact details.

Fearing that he would be arrested and deported back to neighboring Myanmar for his work on the show, Mr. Sai said, he scrambled to a Bangkok airport and took the first available flight to London, leaving his belongings behind.