Protest Art Censored in HK

No Rioters was shown on the massive outdoor screen at Sogo

Art Basel is wrapping up today in Hong Kong after what seems like a pretty successful comeback with 177 galleries and 86,000 visitors, but it wasn't without controversies.

One of them involved a digital art installation on the giant outdoor screen of Sogo department store in Causeway Bay that was taken down apparently because of censorship.

The work was called No Rioters by American Patrick Amadon. Shouldn't the title have given a hint of what it was about? And who at Sogo was the one who allowed the piece to be shown there?

The work shows a surveillance camera filming

Or perhaps Amadon shouldn't have said anything?

That's because he revealed in the mostly red and black digital art display, there are flashes of computer coding that reveal the names, ages and jail terms of Hongkongers who were convicted for their participation in the 2019 protests.

The art installation, which mainly shows a surveillance camera swivelling around, was one of several shown on the massive outdoor screen.

No Rioters refers to the protesters who demanded the authorities drop their characterisation of the demonstrators as "rioters".

Amadon told a Hong Kong media outlet that he wanted to express solidarity with Hongkongers who were "doomed to fail against the resources of the government, yet so many protest[ed] and fought back anyway."

"Don't want the sacrifices, principles and people who participated to be forgotten. The world has moved onto art this week. Think this is a good opportunity to remind everyone of what Hong Kong has become and the tragedy so many are ignoring," he said, adding that the flashes of computer code represented protesters as a "glitch in the government matrix."

Flashes of code show names and ages of convicted protesters

The Los Angeles-based artist was not concerned about his safety because he was not in Hong Kong, but five days after the installation was put up, No Rioters was taken down.

It was unclear if the government was involved in the decision to remove the art work, but surely Sogo senior executives must have been terrified.

Nevertheless it gave Amadon an opportunity to show that Hong Kong had lost its freedom of expression and artistic freedom.

"This objectively shows that they are no longer here in the same way that they once were," he said. "From a narrative standpoint, I mean, it did have to get censored and taken down, I feel like, to be a completed piece."

He's made his point loud and clear artistically and politically...