Human rights

Detained Cuban artist and activist releases latest statement from prison

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was imprisoned on charges of contempt and insult to national symbols when widespread protests swept the nation in 2021

Political art stays peripheral at Art Basel in Miami Beach

Fair’s stands largely remain neutral despite multiple hot-topic issues in the world today

Fears for artistic expression in Russia as ministry files motion to classify 'the international LGBT public movement' as 'extremist'

Members of the country's cultural sector are among those concerned about harsh punishments for perceived violations should the declaration be signed off

Cuban artists call for boycotts in light of government's 'persistent human rights violations'

Open letter also says that the regime is ‘using art to salvage its public image’

Are charity art auctions, not donations, the new model for offsetting taxes?

Paul Allen’s estate has pledged proceeds of its $1.6bn Christie’s sale to unnamed philanthropic causes, while FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried vaguely promised to give away his fortune

Russian artist flees LGBTQ crackdown

Yulia Tsvetkova was acquitted on charges of distributing gay ‘pornography’ but strict new laws have forced her to leave the country

Artist Katharina Grosse calls on Iran to overturn death sentences of LGBTQ activists

Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubda were sentenced in September for the crime of "corruption on earth through the promotion of homosexuality"

Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker and others sign letter denouncing human rights abuses in Iran

Meanwhile, Shirin Neshat decries execution of protestor Mohsen Shekari on Instagram

Marlene Dumas donates Mouth painting about women's rights for Amnesty International sale

Ai Weiwei and Richard Serra have also given works to the auction taking place at Sotheby's Paris

Can art actually help improve Saudi Arabia's abject human rights record?

Culture is being used by Saudi Arabia to project an image of a state that “enriches lives, celebrates national identity and builds understanding between people”

Censorshipfeature

Losing the battle: Cuba’s dissident artists find ways around censorship despite government crackdown

Since the passage of the country’s repressive Decree 349, the state has gone to great lengths to silence critical voices—but artists refuse to be silenced

Qatarnews

Artists protest against human rights abuses in Qatar as Fifa World Cup opens

Andrei Molodkin and Jens Galschiøt have created works highlighting the deaths of workers who helped build tournament stadiums in the gulf state

Mass protest against Iran's human rights abuses staged at Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Protesters gathered at Lacma to mark the Zahedan massacre as well as draw attention to the suppression and imprisonment of protesters and activists

Protestors at British Museum demand release of writer imprisoned in Egypt

Plight of British-Egyptian Alaa Abd El-Fattah, currently on hunger strike, is focal point of protest as hieroglyphs exhibition opens

Museums must unite over Iran's human rights abuses, say art-world figures

Institutions are urged to show solidarity following Mahsa Amini's death after her detention by the morality police

Shirin Neshat joins protests against Iran's worsening human rights situation with new digital works

Pieces in West Hollywood and London's Piccadilly are a reaction to the death of 22-year-old student Mahsa Amini, after being detained by authorities in the country

New York human rights organisation surpasses target for relocating Afghan artists fleeing Taliban

The Artistic Freedom Initiative is resettling 23 arts professionals and 38 family members in the US in the wake of the insurgency

Cubanews

Health concerns raised over Cuban artist and activist held in jail

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was sentenced to five years in prison in June

Russianews

Russian artist Yulia Tsvetkova—who faced six years in prison on pornography charges for her drawings—is acquitted in court

But the artist's mother warns that worst is not over as prosecutors can still appeal for a resentencing

Artists and writers call on Joe Biden to denounce Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses in meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed

The US president will travel to the oil-rich nation he once labelled a “pariah” and meet with its leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Ukrainian artists stage war crimes exhibition at Russia House in Davos for World Economic Forum

Show opens ahead of Ukrainian President Zelenksy's address at the global summit

Turkish cultural activist Osman Kavala sentenced to life in prison

He has been found guilty of attempting to overthrow the government by an Istanbul court

Hong Kongcomment

Hong Kong's last British governor on how Beijing's crackdown is corroding the city's vibrant cultural scene

The Chinese government is demolishing the freedoms that once made the special administrative region special, says Chris Patten

Russianews

Russia's oldest human rights society Memorial ordered to close as dissent clampdown continues

International Memorial documented the crimes committed under Stalin's Great Terror and its sister organisation Memorial Human Rights Centre chronicled today's abuses

Business as usual for European museums operating in China, despite genocide ruling

A London panel has assembled the largest cache of evidence on the concentration camps in Xinjiang, but museums will not say if they have examined it

Meryl Streep, Zadie Smith and others sign letter demanding Cuban government stop persecuting artists

The letter, signed by more than 300 well-known figures in the arts, adds pressure to calls for the Cuban government to let artists live and work freely

China’s treatment of Uyghurs may amount to genocide, museum report concludes

The Holocaust Memorial Museum’s report is a rare, unequivocal indictment of Chinese government practices from the cultural sector

Cultural activist Osman Kavala remains imprisoned in Turkey without conviction almost four years after his arrest

Turkish authorities behind the legal saga have been criticised by the European Court of Human Rights