1 day Ago By Elizabeth Flux
A video of Chinese dissident artist Badiucao silently saying “you must take part in revolution” has been playing hourly on two billboards in Hong Kong since March 28, but until now the potentially controversial subject matter has remained a secret. Badiucao , a Walkey Award winner who writes for this masthead, revealed the true words and intention of his work titled Here and Now on social media overnight. He told this masthead that the video – which has no audio – was a “test for the freedom-of-speech situation in Hong Kong”.
A still from Badiucao’s Here and Now. The original work screened in Hong Kong has no audio or caption. “You must take part in revolution” is both a quote from Mao Zedong and the title of Badiucao’s recently released graphic novel.
Written with journalist Melissa Chan and set in Hong Kong, You must take part in revolution is a dystopian story that is described by the publisher as being “about technology, authoritarian government, and the lengths that one will go to in the fight for freedom”. Since the 2020 implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, “secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion” have been criminal offences and hundreds of people have been arrested. Amnesty International described the law as “dangerously vague and broad”, saying that “virtually anything could be deemed a threat to ‘national security’ under its provisions”.
The law also extends beyond the border of Hong Kong and mainland China. The Shanghai-born, Australia-based artist’s work has always targeted mainland China and its policies, and as a result, attracted threats and controversy. He uses a pseudonym to protect his loved ones.
Badiucao’s choice of phrase is particularly pointed. The popular protest slogan “revolution of our times” has been banned in Hong Kong because authorities say it is “capable of inciting others to commit secession”. Commissioned by Art Innovation Gallery as part of an outdoor exhibition titled Luminance , the video is part of a series of works by several artists that have been playing across two billboards in Mong Kok since March 28.
The exhibition will end on April 3. The timing was chosen to coincide with Art Basel, which ran in Hong Kong from March 28 to 30. In a statement released on social media, the artist wrote: “There is no true creativity without freedom.
Anything less is subpar, consumerist, and for the purchase of vapid billionaires and oligarchs. It is thus an indictment of Art Basel when it continues to stage its event in Hong Kong at a time when freedom of expression is under assault in the territory.” Badiucao submitted the video under the alias Andy Chou, the name of a character from his graphic novel.
He emphasised that the commissioning organisation did not know the true meaning of the work. He obscured his identity because he feared that if he used the name Badiucao it would be “immediately flagg[ed]” and the work taken down. In 2018, Badiucao was due to stage a solo exhibition in Hong Kong, featuring Joshua Wong, a key figure in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Umbrella Movement.
“At the time I was still anonymous ...
I did not show my face. But three days before the opening of the show, the Chinese government found out my identity and took my relatives into the police station,” he explained. Facing the threat of police stopping his show, Badiucao reluctantly cancelled it.
In 2019, he revealed his face publicly. Though the video was submitted through two layers of pseudonyms, the face saying the words is the artist’s. “Being able to display the very face of mine in Hong Kong, after this, to me is significant – but it’s also a test of how much freedom of expression Hong Kong still has,” he said.
Here and Now by Badiucao on display in Hong Kong, March 2025. Badiucao said he doesn’t know what the consequences of his latest work would be now that he has revealed its true meaning. “I am not officially on those wanted lists from the Hong Kong Police like Kevin Yam and other Australian Hongkongers, thus theoretically I should not be a taboo.
” Yam, an exiled pro-democracy dissident, shared the artist’s post on X with the caption: “NOW THIS IS COURAGE”. “I am very curious to know ..
. what will be the response from the Hong Kong government?” Badiucao said. He is ready for the likelihood his work will be removed.
“It is a test for the freedom-of-speech situation in Hong Kong. And it’s an attempt to show that artists or activists that still have the ability or space, if we really spin our creativity, to infiltrate and go through this existing censorship and reach our audience one way or another.” At time of publication, the status of the work remains unknown.
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