{"id":1274,"date":"2017-01-12T15:17:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T23:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/aboutus\/1274\/5-chinese-artivists-that-took-on-chinas-air-pollution\/"},"modified":"2019-11-23T22:03:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T06:03:30","slug":"5-chinese-artivists-that-took-on-chinas-air-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/blog\/1274\/5-chinese-artivists-that-took-on-chinas-air-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Chinese \u201cartivists\u201d that took on China\u2019s air pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With avenues of protest and online discussion strictly controlled, artists in China are finding increasingly creative ways to voice their frustration at their cities\u2019 appalling air pollution.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<div>It\u2019s easy to see why: at the end of 2016, an area of China larger than Spain and Portugal put together was trapped under a cloud of smog that didn\u2019t leave for five days, causing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/northern-china-remains-on-red-alert-amid-thickening-smog\/a-36821120\">a spike in respiratory illnesses<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/beijing-smog-prompts-residents-to-flee-seeking-breathable-air_us_5858b932e4b03904470a7675\"> grounding flights<\/a> and causing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/dec\/21\/smog-refugees-flee-chinese-cities-as-airpocalypse-blights-half-a-billion\">panicked exodus<\/a> from the city (for those who could afford it).<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" style=\"display: block; margin: 1em 40px !important 1em 40px !important;\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Northern China\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/smog?src=hash\">#smog<\/a> is affecting 460 million people, equal to the populations of the US, Canada &amp; Mexico combined <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AX5sevEhjT\">https:\/\/t.co\/AX5sevEhjT<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/j81HRtBw8G\">pic.twitter.com\/j81HRtBw8G<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Greenpeace East Asia (@GreenpeaceEAsia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEAsia\/status\/811061490027413504\">December 20, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-b48e46f1-90fc-ce8a-4010-33621f999526\">2017 then began inauspiciously with the <a href=\"http:\/\/energydesk.greenpeace.org\/2017\/01\/11\/beijing-air-pollution-smog-episode-longest-this-century\/\">longest air pollution episode<\/a> seen this century.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><script charset=\"utf-8\" type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-g1zAJS_C2k\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Years of winters spent under a seemingly endless cloud of smog has spawned some seriously creative protest art. Here are six artists that found unique ways to speak up against air pollution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nut Brother: Smog Bricks<\/strong><br \/>In December 2015, when Beijing\u2019s air quality was so bad that it triggered the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/12\/08\/world\/asia\/beijing-pollution-red-alert.html\">very first red alert,<\/a> one artist used a very interesting weapon of choice: an industrial-sized vacuum cleaner.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" style=\"display: block; margin: 1em 40px !important 1em 40px !important;\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Meet Nut Brother, China\u2019s vacuum-cleaner wielding artist turning Beijing\u2019s smog into bricks <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6juSboaVCe\">https:\/\/t.co\/6juSboaVCe<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gTyjQ2zcAt\">pic.twitter.com\/gTyjQ2zcAt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Greenpeace East Asia (@GreenpeaceEAsia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEAsia\/status\/671899566648614912\">December 2, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script charset=\"utf-8\" type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>For 100 days, Nut Brother <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/12\/02\/world\/asia\/beijing-smog-air-pollution-artist-brick.html\">wandered the streets of Beijing <\/a>sucking in the capital\u2019s dense, soupy air. When he\u2019d finished, he mixed the pollution he had hoovered up with clay and compressed it into a dense block, roughly the size and shape of a building brick. Nut Brother and his smog bricks quickly went viral as his quirky art performance showed the world a new and powerful symbol of China\u2019s smog battle.<\/p>\n<p>His project, while playful in tone- <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hungertv.com\/feature\/chinas-smog-is-so-bad-this-artist-is-making-bricks-out-of-it\/\">some reports<\/a> stated that he planned to \u2018reintroduce\u2019 the smog brick into a building site, like returning an animal to the wild \u2013 Nut Brother had a poignant message to impart: <a href=\"http:\/\/mashable.com\/2015\/12\/01\/beijing-smog-brick\/#7DT7QqVmN8qA\">\u201cThe day we exhaust all of the Earth\u2019s resources, we will ourselves turn into dust.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Invisible Man: Smog Vest <\/strong><br \/>Artist <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artnet.com\/artists\/liu-bolin\/\">Liu Bolin <\/a>is best known for his incredible ability to camouflage himself into almost any background. But during the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/red-alert-whats-happening-with-beijings-air-p\/blog\/58325\/\">Beijing\u2019s third red alert<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/red-alert-whats-happening-with-beijings-air-p\/blog\/58325\/\">i<\/a>nD<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/red-alert-whats-happening-with-beijings-air-p\/blog\/58325\/\">e<\/a>c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/red-alert-whats-happening-with-beijings-air-p\/blog\/58325\/\">e<\/a>m<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/red-alert-whats-happening-with-beijings-air-p\/blog\/58325\/\">b<\/a>e<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/red-alert-whats-happening-with-beijings-air-p\/blog\/58325\/\">r<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/red-alert-whats-happening-with-beijings-air-p\/blog\/58325\/\">2<\/a>0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/red-alert-whats-happening-with-beijings-air-p\/blog\/58325\/\">1<\/a>6, he went down a decidedly more conspicuous route.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" style=\"display: block; margin: 1em 40px !important 1em 40px !important;\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Recent pollution warnings in China inspired artist Liu Bolin to live stream smog scenes. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Xcz7Nnijef\">pic.twitter.com\/Xcz7Nnijef<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 TRT World (@trtworld) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/trtworld\/status\/811458688141508608\">December 21, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Masked and wearing a high-vis jacket on which were strapped 24 cell phones, Liu live-streamed the smoggy cityscape as he walked the streets. The artist and sculptor, who described China\u2019s air quality as \u2018a disaster\u2019 has gained international attention for his \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/3787154\/liu-bolin\/\">Hiding in the City\u2019<\/a> series and has been <a href=\"https:\/\/grazia.com.au\/articles\/liu-bolin-moncler-annie-leibovitz\">photographed<\/a> for fashion campaigns by Annie Liebowitz.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wen Fang: Maskbook<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sick of feeling helpless in the face of China\u2019s toxic air pollution and worried for her child\u2019s health, Beijing artist Wen Fang fought back in the only way she could: through art.<br \/><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-2a430837-9117-d7a2-5818-f947341ca9bb\">For a global climate art project, she took part in \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/wen-fang-maskbook\/blog\/56686\/\">\u2018Maskbook\u2019<\/a> a series of images that takes the pollution mask \u2013 a mundane symbol of the very real fears that Chinese urban residents face \u2013 and turns it into an absurd work of art.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"events-box big-box left\">\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><a class=\"open-img EnlargeImage\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/^577ED2D9F35995CA1370F37ED93927A130AABB92B04361B4F6^pimgpsh_fullsize_distr.png\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"ctl00_cphContentArea_epiEntryContent_ctl00_ctl02_Image1\" class=\"Thumbnail\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/ReSizes\/Large\/PageFiles\/299371\/%5E577ED2D9F35995CA1370F37ED93927A130AABB92B04361B4F6%5Epimgpsh_fullsize_distr.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><em style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Greenpeace\/ Chu Chu\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The name comes from a common Chinese joke about Facebook: \u201cIn China, since we all wear masks to protect us against the pollution, we say that Facebook for us should be renamed Maskbook.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Project participants come from all over the world and included over 1500 participants, each of which designed their own unique masks.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-2a430837-911c-df01-bbeb-b60c54a52220\">\u201cIn my opinion, individual participation is important. The special thing about Maskbook is that it all comes from common people, from all different colours and nations,\u201d said Wen Fang.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Zhang Lingling: Smog Perfume <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>We all know what air pollution looks like, but how can we truly experience it if we\u2019re not living with it? Scent can be exceptionally evocative as Zhang Lingling learnt when she spoke to people of their experience living in smog and<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/ever-wondered-what-its-like-to-experience-chi\/blog\/57117\/\"> heard their descriptions<\/a> of the smell of pollution.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GLLlq4lsUyk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, she collaborated with a friend to make the first ever \u2018smog perfume\u2019; a scent that has been described by a test audience as smelling of eggs, rotten fish and burning alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>By making the perfume and testing it on the unsuspecting public of Shanghai, Zhang wanted to remind people that air pollution is a continuous problem, even when you can\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kong Ning: Marry the Blue Sky<\/strong><br \/>When airpocalypse hits, Beijing artist Kong Ning can be found at the city\u2019s most popular landmarks and out on the streets, in striking dresses of her own creation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"events-box big-box left\">\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><a class=\"open-img EnlargeImage\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/7ac3d1ad-7ac3d1ad-cfp476607857.jpg\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"ctl00_cphContentArea_epiEntryContent_ctl00_ctl04_Image1\" class=\"Thumbnail\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/7ac3d1ad-7ac3d1ad-cfp476607857.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><em style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Image credit: chinafotopress<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In December 2015, she stepped out in a wedding dress adorned with hundreds of air pollution masks and walked the streets appealing to Beijingers to take public transport rather than contribute to the choking smog by driving. The year before, she was photographed outside the Beijing Exhibition center in another, wedding dress complete with a 10-metre-long train in a piece entitled \u201cMarry the Sky\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Her most striking outfit was created in response to an orange alert called by the government when she appeared at Beijing\u2019s historic Drum tower in a dress covered in bright orange cones.<\/p>\n<p>Kong Ning\u2019s approach stems from the idea that \u201cHumans are married to nature. We need to show that we love the environment\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Anna McGurk is an editor for Greenpeace East Asia\u00a0<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><script charset=\"utf-8\" type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With avenues of protest and online discussion strictly controlled, artists in China are finding increasingly creative ways to voice their frustration at their cities\u2019 appalling air pollution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":1276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[22,18],"p4-page-type":[26],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-sustainably","tag-reduce-air-pollution","tag-coal","p4-page-type-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1274"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2541,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions\/2541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}