Vasari Art Codex

article policy schedule Apr 15, 2026 visibility 18 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

Is Chinese Censorship Reaching Inside Britain’s Museums?

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has come under fire following reports that it altered exhibition catalogues to comply with Chinese government censorship. To reduce production costs, the museum utilized printers in China, which are subject to Beijing’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) regulations. Consequently, the museum removed historical maps and an image of Vladimir Lenin from publications for the "Music is Black" and "Fabergé: Romance to Revolution" exhibitions after they were flagged by Chinese authorities.

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article news schedule Sep 26, 2025 visibility 2 link 5 artists

us museums under report wwii era provenance morning links 1234753811

A new report by the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) reveals that most U.S. museums are failing to provide adequate online provenance data for artworks with World War II-era gaps, making it harder for families to track Nazi-looted art. The American Alliance of Museums shut down a central online portal that had listed nearly 30,000 such works, and the WJRO found that only 10,668 of those can now be located through individual museum websites. Separately, the Central State Museum in Almaty, Kazakhstan, abruptly canceled a planned exhibition of Taiwanese artists amid allegations of Chinese government pressure, while Marina Abramović is set to become the first woman artist to receive a solo exhibition at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice in 2026.

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article news schedule Jan 26, 2026 visibility 2 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

ai weiwei returns to china 10 years 2740171

Artist Ai Weiwei returned to his native China after 10 years in exile, making a quiet three-week trip to Beijing last month. It was his first visit since authorities returned his confiscated passport in 2015, allowing him to leave China and live in Europe. During the trip, Ai was briefly interrogated at the airport but otherwise faced no interference. He shared photos and videos on Instagram, and told CNN the visit felt like a reconnection after a decade-long disconnection. The trip was partly motivated by a desire for his 17-year-old son and 93-year-old mother to meet.

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article culture schedule Feb 23, 2026 visibility 3 link 1 artist

ai weiwei censorship artificial intelligence deepseek 1234773741

Renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei critiques the intersection of artificial intelligence and censorship, drawing parallels between AI's algorithmic limitations and the Chinese government's systematic suppression of dissent. Using the emergence of the Chinese AI model DeepSeek as a catalyst, Ai recounts how the tool refused to discuss him, mirroring the state's long-standing strategy of erasing sensitive topics from public discourse. He argues that AI's reliance on existing data sets inherently replicates societal biases and moral codes, leading to factual inaccuracies and the homogenization of human thought.

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article policy schedule Apr 16, 2026 visibility 8 link 1 artist

V&A Museum Has Acquiesced to Censorship Requests from Chinese Printer: Report

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) reportedly complied with censorship demands from its Chinese printing firm, C&C Offset Printing, to alter exhibition catalogues. Internal emails revealed that the museum removed a photograph of Lenin from a Fabergé exhibition book and altered historical maps to align with Chinese government standards after the printers flagged them as "sensitive." Staff noted that while they were aware of contemporary geopolitical sensitivities, the restrictions had expanded to include historical imagery, forcing last-minute editorial changes to avoid production delays.

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article policy schedule Mar 31, 2026 source 3 sources visibility 7

US-based dissident artist put on trial in China over satirical Mao sculptures, says rights group

Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen, based in the US, has been tried in a closed-door court in China on charges of "defaming national heroes and martyrs" related to his satirical sculptures of former leader Mao Zedong. The one-day trial concluded without a verdict, and the artist faces up to three years in prison. His wife and young son, both US citizens, are under exit bans and unable to leave China.

newspaper The Guardian Also: ARTnews, Le Journal des Arts open_in_new Read original