YANGON, Myanmar – Hours before the performance art show was to open to the public, the censors arrived and the grilling began. Under their watchful gaze, the nine artists performed parts of their works, aware that every movement could arouse suspicion.

It is the high-stakes ritual that every public art exhibition must undergo in military-ruled Myanmar — scrutiny by the Ministry of Information's censorship board. Any politics or criticism of the government can close a show and land an artist in jail. So can sexual content.

For Myanmar's small but vibrant arts community, the risks have never been higher. Government censorship has always been a part of life under the junta, but last year, the regime cast a wider net for its critics, jailing hundreds including comedians, writers and musicians.

Saw Wei, a poet, was jailed for two years for publishing a love poem with a hidden message calling the country's top general, Than Shwe, "power crazy." Maung Thura, a comedian who goes by the name Zarganar, is serving a 35-year term for criticizing the government's slow relief effort in last year's cyclone disaster. Zeyar Thaw, a popular hip-hop musician suspected of leading an underground student movement, was sentenced to six years.

For the show's organizer, Moe Satt, the censors' visit made for a nerve-racking morning. All the money and work he had put into coordinating the show could be undone in a single decision. In the end, he grasped the government's official permit with a sense of relief.

"There are many restrictions," he said during an interview days later. "You never know what they are thinking. But I don't confront. I find ways to dialogue with them. I find other ways to do what I want."