Italian city defies Chinese embassy call to scrap show by ‘China’s Banksy’ – dissident artist Badiucao
- Cartoonist Badiucao’s exhibition in Brescia is expected to denounce Chinese political repression and censorship of information on Covid-19
- “It is important to show that you can stay friends while criticising some things,” the mayor of Brescia said of China-Italy relations
An Italian city is going ahead with plans to host an art exhibition by a Chinese dissident despite a request from China’s embassy to cancel it.
The show, called “China is (not) near,” is due to run from November 13 to February 13 in the northern Italian city of Brescia, about 100km (about 62 miles) east of Milan.
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Brescia mayor Emilio Del Bono said that his office would not comply with a request from the Chinese embassy in Italy to scrap it.
The friendship between the Italian and Chinese people “is not in question”, but “I think it is important to show that you can stay friends while criticising some things”, Del Bono told Il Foglio newspaper on Friday.
The deputy mayor, Laura Castelletti, earlier tweeted that, “For us art and freedom of expression are an essential combination.”
Her message accompanied pictures of newspaper reports about the alleged censorship request from the cultural affairs office of the Chinese embassy in Rome.
