Turning pollution into performance art — and into results

BEIJING— The 9,000 bottles of water on display at an art gallery in Beijing last month appeared identical to those of Nongfu Spring, one of China’s most popular spring water brands, with one jarring difference. Inside each bottle was brown, murky groundwater collected from a Chinese village.

The water from the village, Xiaohaotu, in the central province of Shaanxi, is polluted with heavy metals, the likely result of nearby coal mining and gas exploration operations, residents and officials say.

“The things I’m concerned about are all related to people’s survival experi- ence,” said Brother Nut, an artist and activist known only by his pseudonym, who put up the exhibit.

“For example, do people have fresh air, clean water to drink? These are basic human rights.”

This is not Brother Nut’s first attempt at turning pollution into art with a message. In 2015, he used an industrial vacuum to suck up particulate matter in Beijing’s air and formed it into a brick — but the “Nongfu Spring Market” exhibit stands out for prompting officials to take action.

Almost immediately after Brother Nut opened the “market” on June 20 in Beijing’s popular 798 Art District, images of muck-filled water bottles began to circulate on Chinese social media. Authorities in the capital ordered the show closed, which only served to generate more attention.

Authorities in Shaanxi also responded to the stir the show had caused. Rather than censure Brother Nut, authorities there opened an investigation into the water quality in Xiaohaotu, a village on the outskirts of the city of Yulin.

Brother Nut, 37, said he was moved to create the performance piece after travelling in Xiaohaotu, where he met residents who, he said, were suffering from high rates of cancer and skin diseases.

Authorities in Yulin said they tested 11 drinking water sources in and around Xiaohaotu and found that 10 were contaminated with high levels of iron and manganese.

The Yulin Environmental Protection Bureau announced July 7 that it would further inspect wastewater at three nearby coal mines and a gas field operated by Sinopec, a state-owned enterprise. The bureau also ordered the companies to temporarily halt their operations.

Despite the actions taken by Yulin authorities, both Brother Nut and the curator of the Moving Art Museum, Chen Junhui, said they doubted that the local government would take lasting steps to solve the pollution problem.

Nevertheless, they remained committed to the idea that art had the power to influence governments and move people to action.

“If it’s something that has meaning, that has moral value, and we don’t support it,” asked Chen, “then what is our art for?”