Shanghai art gallery apologises for controversial video ranking women ‘from prettiest to ugliest’
Seven-hour-long video prompted accusations of misogyny on social media
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An art gallery in Shanghai has apologised for displaying a video in which an artist filmed women and ranked them from “prettiest to ugliest”.
The seven-hour-long video, entitled “Uglier and Uglier”, had been displayed at the non-profit art gallery OCAT Shanghai as part of a group exhibition entitled The Circular Impact: Video Art 21.
Originally created in 2012 by the artist Song Ta, the video includes roughly 5,000 images and clips of women on a real-life university campus. The subjects were ranked by how attractive the artist considered them to be.
Following criticism on social media, the OCAT Shanghai gallery issued a statement confirming that the exhibit had been removed from display.
“After receiving criticism, we re-evaluated the content of this artwork and the artist’s explanation, we found it disrespected women, and the way it was shot has copyright infringement issues,” wrote the institution on Weibo, one of China’s biggest social media platforms (per BBC translation).
“As a museum that supports diversity, we will take this as a warning, improve our services and treat everyone with empathy.”
Song has previously defended his work, telling the Chinese-language Vice magazine in 2019 that he had “the right to tell the truth”.
“Uglier and Uglier”, titled “Campus Flower” in Chinese, also caused controversy and drew accusations of sexism when it was first exhibited back in 2013.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments