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Full text of this piece for this month’s Art Newspaper, I think it went on the front page:

China tightens up, censors, artworks for export

Gao Brother’s work, photo from www.zonaeuropa.com.

Following China’s recent top party plenum and the 60th anniversary celebrations for the founding of the People’s Republic, cultural policy has been given some new impetus in the country. But while promising to open up, in speeches by the central leadership, a new censorship measure was implemented in August to restrict the import and export of artworks, including contemporary art. There has also been a major reshuffle in recent months within the Ministry of Culture (MOC), initiated by newly appointed minister Mr. Cai Wu.
Despite the promises to open up its cultural industry China’s censorship of artworks leaving the country has caused some anxiety amongst people working in China’s art market. Under the new rules to export an artwork a special form must be completed outlining the artworks content. If this content is not agreeable to the MOC the work cannot be exported.
Melanie Ouyang Lum, a Beijing based dealer and consultant commenting on the rules for export of artworks from China said: “its damage control, before it was more vague, a lot more under the table, the government is very smart, it lets a lot through the cracks, but it is now making it harder, it is like a slap on the wrist. Also the government is trying to regulate to make it harder for foreign galleries to dominate the market. Recently there are lot more China to China based relationships, with local galleries and local collectors. The censors are obsessed with Mao and the cultural revolution, issues like nudity do not bother them at all.”
Lum said in October she tried to send a photograph by controversial artists the Gao brothers to Hong Kong, but was rejected multiple times. “It was a small photo, each time it returned or just disappeared. The Gao brothers always have these issues, customs officials, if they see work or catalogues with Mao images (in their luggage), they say they can get on the plane, but without the works.”
Angeline Shen, an official affiliated with Shanghai Publicity Dept. (formerly known as the Propaganda Bureau) said: “In my personal view, some policies are delayed within the field of cultural development. If you are smart you can see some flexible margins within these rules. You can still follow the rules and do what you want. Galleries, for instance, can find some very smart ways to deal with this and be pragmatic.”
The declaration from the MOC, in conjunction with the State Council and China Customs, was released early August, called the “Interim Provisions for Import and Export Management of Fine Art works.” Though the declaration was not noticed initially, galleries began to report to the Art Newspaper that export of certain artworks was now impossible without a special approval from the MOC. The wording of the declaration in Chinese language makes the announcement sound temporary, or provisionary, leading to the understanding it is under review. But long term gallerists in China fear that the measure is a new long term rule going forward for contemporary art.
After extensive interviews with numerous galleries it appears the results of the new rules for artwork exports are mixed. Some galleries and auction houses reported the ruling does not affect their business at all, as shipping is not their concern. Many others, a mixture of foreign and local galleries, all reported this new regulation has caused many issues, and especially increased the cost of business. No gallery would talk about their reaction or experiences on the record, but different galleries said certain kinds of work have become very difficult to export, from sculptures to Chairman Mao portraits. Different galleries have formulated different strategies to deal with this new ruling.
The arts fall under China’s ‘cultural industry’ category for legislation, alongside the media, and related bodies. The arts are governed by a complicated mix of ministries, who fight turf wars over legislative power over the various sectors, but overall ‘cultural industries’ are still predominately the domain of the MOC. Being mixed in with media the arts have been given new guidelines from the central government. The Chinese government is on a drive to grow its ‘cultural industry base’ – a recent highlight was the visit by various world media moguls to Beijing for a summit with China’s leaders. The central government also promised to further open up its media sector, and ‘eliminate parasites’ in the sector.
A spokesperson for the MOC, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the ruling on art exports is not new, but a more “convenient application of earlier rules that have not been implemented properly in the past.”
“Customs did not pay proper attention to the rules before, now they must pay more attention. The intention of the new guidelines are to make artwork imports and exports more convenient, as local MOC departments must now implement this approval process at the point of entry or exit, unlike before when all approvals were supposed to go through Beijing. The approval process involves the submission of a form stating the works content and a photograph. Price does not need to be mentioned, this is not related to price,” the official said.
Ms Lin from Art Beijing art fair said: “Regarding exports, the rules in China have to be obeyed, of course. However, in China, the rules might concern those art works which have an important meaning for Chinese culture, being exported overseas. Thus, they have to control and avoid these things happening.”
The detailed 11 point guidelines were posted online by the MOC. According the rules affected artworks are “works of creative aesthetic significance…(including) paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, photography, installations and other work.”
In relation to foreign artworks it further states: “No unit or individual may sell, exhibit, display or transmit imported artworks without approval.” For foreign art exhibitions in China a long exhaustive list of documentation must be provided 45 days prior. The approval process for Chinese artworks is 15 days.
Ms. Shen, of the Publicity dept. said: “The Central government wants to promote and encourage the cultural industry. There are still some restrictive policies- such as on media and broadcasting, which are very tightly controlled by the government, but the overall environment is now more open.”
Commenting on new guidelines for the arts Ms Shen said : “Art itself is an abstract concept, we should make art relate to products… embed cultural value, be affordable. This is an emerging industry…this kind of field is very important, and there is a lot of impetus for development, for art we should be more down to earth, and practical. If art can be related to practical objects, if it can become related to the economy, the government encourages this. We should not just create art for individuals- it should be more mass market. The government also encourages healthy foreign investment and cooperation.”
Ms. Shen further said: “Shanghai is poised to be the financial center of China, within 15 years. How do we relate this financial investment, to embed it into the progress of cultural development? You can say culture is not related to products- but this does not mean we need only physical objects for the public- performance art for instance can become a successful product in itself. Also in China we are working on ways traditional art can be further innovated and marketed. Some regulations are still very restrictive, important channels are still controlled, but it is a good phenomenon that some are opening up.”
Sinologists have been pouring over footage of the recent day long anniversary parade, analyzing every aspect of the interaction between the Chinese leadership as a way of ascertaining some understanding into the inner workings of China’s secretive politicians.
Cultural industries were represented by a rather lackluster float with several of China’s top TV presenters aboard waving microphones at the central leadership. No artists were present on the float.