{"id":5804,"date":"2025-04-16T17:54:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T14:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pen-greece.org\/?p=5804"},"modified":"2025-04-16T17:55:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T14:55:47","slug":"pen-international-hong-kong-and-italy-over-40-global-organisations-stand-with-badiucao-against-legal-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pen-greece.org\/en\/pen-international-hong-kong-and-italy-over-40-global-organisations-stand-with-badiucao-against-legal-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"PEN INTERNATIONAL: Hong Kong and Italy: Over 40 Global Organisations Stand with Badiucao Against Legal Harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo credit: Badiucao. Still image taken from a video provided with permission by the artist.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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11 April 2025: PEN International strongly condemns the legal threats and harassment directed at Chinese-Australian artist and political cartoonist Badiucao following the exhibition of his protest art in Hong Kong. PEN International is deeply concerned by attempts to silence Badiucao\u2019s peaceful expression and the chilling effect this may have on artistic freedom globally. The organisation joins Index on Censorship and more than 40 others in urging Art Innovation to withdraw all legal threats, issue a public apology, and cease further harassment against Badiucao.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The undersigned organisations condemn the harassment of artist, political cartoonist and activist Badiucao, which has taken place via email, in the media, and on social media in the last week. The harassment began as Badiucao was preparing to publish a statement criticizing the human rights situation in Hong Kong. The statement was providing context to his artwork \u2013 a short video \u2013 that was being exhibited in the city. Like much of Badiucao\u2019s work, the video sought to champion the right to freedom of expression and challenge authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

Badiucao was one of more than a dozen artists featured in the three-minute video compilation put together by the Milan-based digital gallery, Art Innovation, on billboards during the Art Basel fair in Hong Kong last week. The 4-second clip, entitled \u201cHere and Now\u201d, showed Badiucao silently mouthing the words \u201cyou must take part in revolution\u201d \u2013 the title of his newly-published graphic novel and a Mao Zedong quote. It was broadcast hourly between 28 March and 2 April.<\/p>\n

On 1 April, Badiucao contacted several media organisations to let them know he would be publishing a statement about the artwork later that evening. Some of them then contacted Art Innovation for comment. Shortly thereafter, Badiucao received an email from the gallery warning him not to publish his statement. They told him that legal action would \u201cdefinitely\u201d follow if content \u201cagainst the Chinese government is published\u201d. The gallery later responded to media requests saying that the exhibition \u201chad nothing to do with political messages\u201d.<\/p>\n

Badiucao went on to publish his\u00a0statement<\/a>. In it, he said: \u201cThis art action underscores the absurdity of Hong Kong\u2019s current civil liberties and legal environment. And it would remind everyone that art is dead when it offers no meaning.\u201d The exhibition was removed from the billboards the following morning, despite having been scheduled to be displayed until 3 April.<\/p>\n

In a second email to Badiucao, Art Innovation said that his actions had already resulted in financial implications, as well as legal actions, \u201cwhich will be directed against you\u201d. They demanded that he immediately remove all posts from his personal social media accounts related to the exhibition and claimed that failure to comply could \u201cresult in further legal consequences\u201d. They said their lawyers were already working to \u201cinitiate appropriate legal action\u201d against him.<\/p>\n

On 3 April, Art Innovation publicly accused<\/a> Badiucao of having provided them with false information and of having violated the contract he signed by submitting political content. \u201c[W]e can consider it a crime,\u201d they wrote on social media. Badiucao said he had submitted the artwork under the pseudonym Andy Chou because the video clip was to be shown in Hong Kong, where the authorities had previously shut down his exhibition. He said he never concealed his identity from the gallery and that they knew that he was behind the artwork.<\/p>\n

Art Innovation would also have been aware of the distinctly political nature of Badiucao\u2019s artwork given that they first contacted him via social media, where he regularly shares his artwork with his more than 100k followers, in 2022. They invited him to collaborate on a billboard exhibition during Art Basel in Miami that year, to which he contributed a satirical image of Chinese president Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are appalled at the behaviour of this Italian gallery, which\u00a0claims<\/a>\u00a0to \u2018love everything that is outside the rules\u2019 and \u2018love the freedom of artists\u2019 and yet harasses and tries to silence an artist that stands for exactly those principles,\u201d the undersigned organisations said. \u201cBadiucao must be applauded for his efforts to creatively challenge censorship and authoritarianism in such a repressive regime. Art Innovation should immediately withdraw their legal threats, issue a public apology to Badiucao, and refrain from further harassment of the artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Index on Censorship<\/p>\n

Alliance for Citizens Rights<\/p>\n

Art for Human Rights<\/p>\n

ARTICLE 19<\/p>\n

Australian Cartoonists Association<\/p>\n

Australia Hong Kong Link<\/p>\n

Befria Hongkong<\/p>\n

Blueprint for Free speech<\/p>\n

Civil Liberties Union for Europe<\/p>\n

Cartooning for Peace<\/p>\n

Cartoonists Rights Network International<\/p>\n

The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation<\/p>\n

DOX Centre for Contemporary Art<\/p>\n

European Federation of Journalists<\/p>\n

Foundation Atelier for Community Transformation ACT<\/p>\n

Freemuse<\/p>\n

Freedom Cartoonists<\/p>\n

Freiheit f\u00fcr Hongkong<\/p>\n

Hong Kong Committee in Norway<\/p>\n

Hong Kong Forum, Los Angeles<\/p>\n

Hong Kong Watch (HKW)<\/p>\n

Hongkongers in Britain (HKB)<\/p>\n

Hong Kongers in San Diego<\/p>\n

Hong Kongers in San Francisco Bay Area<\/p>\n

Human Rights in China (HRIC)<\/p>\n

Human Rights Foundation (HRF)<\/p>\n

Humanitarian China<\/p>\n

IFEX<\/p>\n

Lady Liberty Hong Kong<\/p>\n

NGO DEI<\/p>\n

Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)<\/p>\n

Croatian Journalists\u2019 Association (HND)<\/p>\n

Trade Union of Croatian Journalists<\/p>\n

PEN America<\/p>\n

PEN International<\/p>\n

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)<\/p>\n

Richardson Institute – Lancaster University<\/p>\n

The Rights Practice<\/p>\n

Safeguard Defenders<\/p>\n

StraLi for Strategic Litigation<\/p>\n

Toronto Association for Democracy in China \u591a\u502b\u591a\u652f\u806f\u6703<\/p>\n

Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)<\/p>\n

Washingtonians Supporting Hong Kong (DC4HK)<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n