SYDNEY (AFP) – Five North Korean artists have been banned from entering Australia for an exhibition of their work, the government said Wednesday, drawing accusations of censorship from the arts community.
The artists and a translator have been refused visas because it is contrary to foreign policy interests and because they are from a studio linked to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
"The studio reportedly produces almost all of the official artworks in North Korea, including works that clearly constitute propaganda aimed at glorifying and supporting the North Korean regime," a spokesman told AFP.
"To make an exception in this case would have represented a relaxation of Australia's visa ban (on North Korean nationals) and sent an inappropriate message to the North Korean regime."
But the curator of the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Nick Bonner, said denying the artists the right to present their works at the Brisbane exhibition smacked of censorship.
"It's not really, I don't think, the job of any government to override a government art institute on which artists can and can't be chosen," he told AFP.
"And even if it had been propaganda art work, so what?" Bonner said, arguing the artists faced no choice under North Korea's Stalinist regime.
Bonner said the exhibition had allowed the North Korean artists to diversify away from the revolutionary works typically seen in the secretive state.
And he denied that the North Koreans, who are employed by the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang and had submitted a large mosaic and five "very humble" ink drawings for the exhibition, worked exclusively on propaganda.
The Asia Pacific show, which is supported by the state and national governments, opened at the Gallery of Modern Art and Queensland Art Gallery earlier this month.
It features artists from more than 25 countries including Iran, Turkey, Tibet, Cambodia and Myanmar.