In a landmark transfer, Taiwan’s Nationwide Tradition and Arts Basis has revoked the Nationwide Award for Arts given to artist Sakuliu Pavavaljung in 2018 and instructed him to return the NTD 1 million ($32,000) prize following his conviction on sexual assault expenses, Artwork Asia Pacific stories.
Established in 1997 and administered by the Taiwanese authorities, the award is likely one of the nation’s most prestigious honors bestowed to artists. Sakuliu was one in every of seven artists acknowledged within the award’s twentieth version, introduced in 2017, within the visible arts class. On the time, the muse praised his multidisciplinary follow, which pulls on Indigenous Paiwan tradition.
Controversy erupted following Sakuliu’s choice for the Taiwan Pavilion on the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, when he was accused of rape and sexual assault in a sequence of social media posts by former feminine college students utilizing the hashtag #MeToo. A police investigation was opened in Pingtung. Sakuliu denied all allegations and maintained that he would take part in Venice and in Documenta 15, one other main exhibition scheduled to open in Kassel, Germany, that very same 12 months.
Nonetheless, the Taipei Effective Arts Museum, which organized Taiwan’s collateral exhibition on the Venice Biennale, suspended planning for the occasion, whereas Documenta 15 withdrew his participation pending the end result of the investigation. Sakuliu was in the end discovered responsible and sentenced to 4.5 years in jail for forcible sexual activity.
The Supreme Court docket upheld the ruling on April 1. His identify has since been faraway from the muse award’s web site.




