Press Release, April 16, 2026
From Hong Kong to Los Angeles:
Artist Blocked From Defending Free Expression of Art
Artistic freedom is under increasing pressure in many parts of the world.
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About the
Pillar of Shame
The Pillar of Shame is a memorial to the victims of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in Beijing 1989.
The sculpture was installed in Hong Kong in 1997. Following China’s tightening control over the territory; it was removed in 2021 amid widespread protests.
Since then, it has become a unifying symbol for a population that has lost its democratic rights and freedoms.
The sculpture has been reproduced through 3D printing and is now used as a protest symbol worldwide.
(more info at the end of this message)
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Trial: Did a Sculpture Undermine the Chinese State?
In Hong Kong—now under Chinese control—the leadership of the pro-democracy movement stands accused of “subversive activities.” The alleged crime is the exhibition and maintenance of a work of art: the 8-meter-tall sculpture the Pillar of Shame.
Pro-democracy leader Chow Hang-tun has requested testimony from the artist behind the sculpture, Jens Galschiøt. This request has been rejected by Hong Kong’s judicial system, which is widely regarded as highly politicized. As a result, foreign actors such as Galschiøt are denied the right to testify—even though he has offered to travel to Hong Kong to do so.
Trial Could Criminalize Hong Kong’s Art Market
Galschiøt’s testimony goes far beyond defending the pro-democracy movement. He warns that a conviction could have far-reaching consequences:
“A conviction would lead to the de facto criminalization of large parts of Hong Kong’s art market, including exhibitions, auction houses, and private collections that may be perceived as critical of China and therefore subversive.” (See full statement of Jens Galschiøt)
The case is therefore not only about a single sculpture, but about the fundamental right of institutions and private collectors to own and exhibit art without fear of prosecution.
Hong Kong’s art market is among the most important in Asia, and the consequences of this case could be extensive—both locally and internationally.
Tiananmen Survivor Organizes Hong Kong Trial—In the U.S.
To ensure that critical voices were heard, an alternative trial was organized in the United States in January.
Together with human rights activists and democracy advocates, Galschiøt was invited to Los Angeles to testify in defense of Chow Hang-tun.
Paradoxically, however, the artist’s own work became the reason he was unable to enter the United States to defend the right to exhibit art without punishment.
Galschiøt’s politically engaged art addresses injustice around the world. Among his recent works is The Orange Plague — a copper sculpture depicting a naked Donald Trump sitting on the back of a frail man.
As part of the project, the artist has distributed more than 12,000 miniature versions of the sculpture in Brazil, Denmark, Germany, and the United States, protesting Trump’s attacks on the rules-based international order.
The sculpture has gained global media attention and has been widely shared, particularly in the U.S., where it has become a recognizable protest symbol—from tourist destinations in Thailand to “No Kings” demonstrations in America.
Some Americans have even placed the figures in local Trump Superstores (yes, they actually exist all around the US) as a form of protest.
As a result, Galschiøt has become closely associated with criticism of Trump. Combined with increasingly restrictive U.S. entry policies, this has effectively led to his exclusion at the border.
The artist states: “The United States was once a stronghold of freedom, so it is both sad—and quite absurd—that I cannot travel there to speak in defense of freedom of expression.”
U.S. Art Market Also Under Pressure
There are growing indications that not only Hong Kong’s, but also the United States’ position in the global art market is under threat—albeit for different reasons.
In January, the respected art publication Hyperallergic published an analysis warning that increasingly restrictive U.S. border policies and bureaucratic hurdles could jeopardize the country’s vast art market.
The situation is compared to the impact of Brexit on London’s art market, where dominance quickly shifted toward Paris following political changes.
Testimony Presented Despite Barriers
In the end, Galschiøt managed to deliver his testimony digitally, allowing it to be presented in the Los Angeles court room. It has since also been accepted into the official trial in Hong Kong.
Galschiøt comments:“We are closely following the trial and, of course, hope for an outcome that will acquit Chow Hang-tun and safeguard Hong Kong’s art market. Unfortunately, the chances are slim. Hong Kong’s judicial system is fully politicized and cannot be considered free or fair. She risks being convicted retroactively for actions that were legal at the time—and for which she, as a newly appointed chair of the Hong Kong Alliance, was not responsible.” Get the full testimony by Jens Galschiøt here (video or text only)
Contact
Artist / Witness: Jens Galschiøt - aidoh@aidoh.dk - WhatsApp: +45 4044 7058
Links and Background info:
Court Statement, including defence of exhibiting art in Hong Kong:
Analysis of Hong Kong’s art market
Analysis of United States' art market
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The Tiananmen Massacre
June 4th, 1989
Yearly message by Jens Galschiøt to remember the massacre and its victims. With documentation, media coverage and much more.
Dear
I send this mail in memory of the massacre in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. It is forbidden to mention the massacre in China. Sadly the same restrictions are seen in the once free Hong Kong. All media articles, fliers etc. on ths subject have been collected by the, now imprisoned, democracy movement in Hong Kong, and can be downloaded for free here. I send you this mail and all the documents, so that you can help in giving the Chinese and Hong Kongers their story back.
In memory of the 36th anniversary of the massacre, I enclose this appeal, and hope that you will pass it on to your Chinese friends, institutions, and others who might benefit from remembering this landmark event.
In 1997, I erected an 8 meter tall monument in Hong Kong in memorial of the massacre. As part of Chinas takeover and suppresion of free speech in Hong Kong, they removed the Pillar of Shame to use it in a court case agarinst the democracy movement. The Pillar of Shame was the only monument in China to commemorate the thousands who died at the Tiananmen Square massacre.
By removing the sculpture, China is trying to erase the event from their history. At present the Pillar of Shame is in a container in Hong Kong.
Placing this sculpture in Hong Kong cost me a permanent expulsion from China and two expulsions from Hong Kong. I think it's important that artists, cultural groups, and others defend human rights, and that we use our freedom of speech to tell the story of the massacre. I hope that you will help in doing this.
36 years after the massacre, history seems to be tragically repeating itself. Now with Hong Kong as the epicenter where Chinas National Security Laws in Hong Kong, effectively crushes the city's autonomy, and breaking Chinas promise of 'One Country - Two Systems'
I hereby encourage everyone to protest against China’s assault on Hong Kong citizens.
Let us remeber the youth that lost their life at Tiananmen Square and let us support the diaspora around the world, that China has forced to flee their countries.
Kind regards,
Jens Galschiøt
Ph +45 4044 7058
Email: jens@galschiot.com
Appeal to the press, culture- and art institutions, artists, working places, libraries, universities and others.
Give the Chinese students their history back!
Help mark the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. In 1989, Chinese students occupied Tiananmen Square in Beijing for months in an attempt to press the Chinese government to take steps towards democracy and to fight against corruption. But on the 4th June, 1989, the regime sent in the army against the unarmed students.
Give the Chinese their story back. It is forbidden to mention the story in China, but all the students’ newspaper articles, fliers etc. have been collected by the democracy movement in Hong Kong. These collections of Chinese and English documents have now been put on the Internet where they can be downloaded for free.
Many of the young dissidents were imprisoned in the wake of the crackdown. Some are still in jail but they are no longer young. China still practices massive censorship of information abour the massacre. And it is impossible for Chinese people to obtain uncensored information about the event.
In China the encroachments is getting worse and now includes Hong Kong. The year Nobel winner Liu Xiaobo died after having been imprisonned several times in China, and artists like Ai Weiwei and Badiucao are exiled from China. But these prominent artists are only the tip of the iceberg, there are thousands of artists, environmental activists and others imprisoned. And all they have done is defend their most basic human rights.
Thousands of Chinese students are today studying at universities and other institutions of education in the West. Most of them do not even know their own history due to the censorship. You can help remedy this.
Therefore we invite all pro-democracy institutions, scholars and working colleagues to download and print out this documentation or put it on a USB flash drive. Place it on the shelves of libraries and hand it out as a gift to Chinese students on the 4th June, the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.
This way we can make a contribution to preserve the memory of the victims, and maybe inspire a new generation of Chinese to see democracy as a possibility in China.
We call on everybody to support this initiative and to mail this appeal to other institutions of education where there are Chinese students, or others who might be interested in preserving and distributing knowledge about the Tiananmen massacre.
The initiative of this appeal and information campaign is a co-operation between the democracy movement in Hong Kong and Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot.
www.Galschiot.com
The Pillar of Shame
Documentation
TAKE ACTION: Downloads, 3D PRINTS, banners and DIY
More
2023 Kidnapping of the Pillar of Shame
Arrest Warrant on Jens Galschiot
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Take a Virtual tour around Galschiøt's Gallery with Google Street View
It is now possible to walk directly into Gallery Galschiøt and look around. So now the whole world can come visit, without having to travel halfway around the world. Of course, we still hope that our many thousands of annual guests will stop by and look at art and drink coffee. Click here and take a virtual tour.
About Jens Galschiøt
Danish artist Jens Galschiøt has created many socio-critical sculptures and installations through the years. Most often they are placed in public spaces around the world – as needle-sticks and silent reminders of a world that, in his opinion, is out of balance, and where exploitation of the world’s resources, inequality and migration are a constant part of the picture.
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9 meter tall banner litographs
Galschiot and former prime minister and Nato General Secretary Anders Fogh
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This mail has been sent from the sculptor Jens Galschiøt's workshhop.
Contact to the workshop:
Galleri Galschiøt
Banevænget 22
5270 Odense N
Tlf : (+45) 6618 4058
Fax:(+45) 6618 4158
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