FIREWALL Internet Cafe

FIREWALL Internet Café is an art project founded in 2016 by visual artist Joyce Yu-Jean Lee as a socially engaged research and interactive art project about Internet censorship. The not-for-profit goal of FIREWALL is to investigate online censorship and foster public dialogue about Internet freedom.[1]

Controversy

FIREWALL received backlash from the Chinese Government during one of the public roundtables on February 19th, 2016, “Networked Feminism in China,” about how feminists in China use the internet to build online networks and movements. On the eve prior to the event, one of the speakers, a visiting Chinese scholar and law fellow researching female reproductive rights, received threats from Chinese authorities overseas about their scheduled presentation.[2] Ultimately, they did not participate, and an empty chair was left in their place, a nod to the empty chair of Liu Xiaobo during his Nobel Peace Prize ceremony on December 10, 2010.[3]

Reception

The Washington Post covered how FIREWALL Internet Café, a project about Internet censorship, was itself censored by Chinese authorities,[2] while ArtFCity[4] described how the Chinese Government might have sent citizens as agents to observe the Networked Feminism in China event in an act of cultural espionage. The China Digital Times[5] covered FIREWALL in an article about how China’s overseas critics are under pressure from the Central Government, and Hyperallergic[6] described how this pressure resulted in an act of self-censorship.

Editorial Commentary The Daily Voice (South Korean Live Radio)[7] expressed surprise at how attitudes that determine the Great Firewall goes beyond China’s borders. The academic journal publication Index on Censorship[8] described the escalating threats of the Chinese government and how FIREWALL Internet Café opened amidst an atmosphere of scrutiny. FIREWALL has also been covered by international language press including The Initium,[9] Apple Daily Taiwan,[10] and Hong Kong Free Press.[11]

Partners

FIREWALL Internet Café has received support from the following organizations: Franklin Furnace Fund,[12] Asian Women Giving Circle,[13] Lower Manhattan Cultural Council,[14] Human Rights Foundation, Oslo Freedom Forum, Jigsaw LLC and the Marist College Strategic Plan Projects Advisory Committee.

Exhibitions

FIREWALL Internet Café has exhibited at the following locations: Center for Community Cultural Development in Hong Kong (2019), University of Michigan Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design in Ann Arbor, MI (2019), Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City, NY (2017), The Oslo Freedom Forum in Oslo, Norway (2017–2018), REDpoint in St. Pölten, Austria (2016), and Chinatown Soup in New York City, NY (2016).[15]

References
  1. "About – FIREWALL - Internet Cafe". Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  2. Denyer, Simon. "How a New York art show about Chinese online censorship found itself censored". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  3. Walker, Peter (2010-12-10). "Nobel peace prize placed on empty chair in honour of Liu Xiaobo". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  4. Farley, Michael Anthony (2016-02-26). "How an Art Exhibition in New York Led to Harassment from Chinese Authorities". Art F City. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  5. Mar 11, Sophie Beach |; 2016. "China's Overseas Critics Under Pressure | China Digital Times (CDT)". Retrieved 2019-12-09.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. "Surf China's Censored Web at an Internet Cafe in New York". Hyperallergic. 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  7. "tbs eFM This Morning - , : 오디오천국 팟빵". www.podbbang.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  8. Steinfeld, Jemimah (2016-09-01). "Art Attack: Ai Weiwei and other artists have increased the popularity of Chinese art, but censorship has followed". Index on Censorship. 45 (3): 12–16. doi:10.1177/0306422016670329. ISSN 0306-4220.
  9. "專訪李玉瑾：華裔藝術家為什麼要在紐約開防火牆網吧". theinitium.com. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  10. "網路長城有多威？台裔女孩開網咖讓老美體驗｜蘋果新聞網｜蘋果日報". 蘋果新聞網 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  11. "Video: Google vs. Baidu - Artist Joyce Yu-Jean Lee examines cultural and political bias online... and in ourselves". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 2019-02-24. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  12. "FF Fund". franklinfurnace.org. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  13. "2015". Asian Women Giving Circle. 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  14. Bhandari, Heather Darcy; Melber, Jonathan (2009-03-24). ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-7238-1.
  15. "Events – FIREWALL - Internet Cafe". Retrieved 2019-12-09.



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