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What does the disappearance of ‘Nut Brother’ reveal about the plight of performance artists in China? [1]
['Oiwan Lam']
Date: 2025-07-11
A well-known Chinese performance artist, “Nut Brother” (a pseudonym), has been incommunicado since June 30, 2025, soon after he returned to Kunming from a trip investigating industrial pollution in Xiaohaotu County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. His collaborator and art curator, Zheng Hongbin, was also taken by police authorities in Xi’an on the same day.
According to Weiquanwang, an overseas Chinese human rights outlet, both were arrested by police officers from Yulin city in a cross-regional arrest operation and are now under detention for 20 days for picking quarrels and provoking trouble, a criminal offence in the People's Republic of China.
Pollution investigation
Over the last decade, the duo has built their reputation with their art performances, which center on environmental issues and social justice. Since 2018, they have been visiting Xiaohaotu, a lowland region located on the border of Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, investigating how coal mining and gas drilling operations are polluting underground water sources. Their investigation showed that the polluted water originated from several mines operated by Sinopec, resulting in abnormally high rates of skin diseases, kidney stones, and cancer among residents. Livestock also died in large numbers.
To raise public awareness, the two artists held an exhibition in Beijing, displaying 9,000 water bottles filled with polluted water from Xiaohaotu. Eventually, the environmental authorities stepped in, tested and verified that the underground water had excessive heavy metals, and hence suspended the related industrial operations. In addition, the government installed more than 3,000 water purifiers in affected villages and promised to establish a centralized water supply project to ensure residents could access clean water.
With 9,000 Bottles of Dirty ‘Spring Water,’ a Chinese Artist Gets Results: After a provocative Beijing art project cast a spotlight on a Chinese village’s pollution problem, the local authorities were forced to take action.
https://t.co/WszbtPHt0o pic.twitter.com/2p0HmVhJ8E — Helen Wang (@TheHelenWang) July 13, 2018
Currently, the pollution problem remains unresolved and seems to only be worsening. The Shaanxi government has since incorporated two major coal mines operated by the government-affiliated Northern Shaanxi Mining Company in Xiaohaotu into its Tenth Five-Year Plan, which has further exacerbated pre-existing pollution amid an increase in coal output. Earlier this year, the two artists revisited the region and found that some villagers have started developing chronic kidney disease and have tested positive for excessive lead in their blood. Their investigation was released through 12 reports on social media. But all of these reports were deleted upon the artists’ disappearance.
China's artist-activists
This is not the first time “Nut Brother” has been subjected to forced disappearance. The artist-activist has been arrested and coerced into silence several times in the past decade.
The first time is also related to Xiaohaotu. In exchange for the release of a villager who had reported and petitioned against the water pollution, “Nut Brother” agreed to stop visiting the county in 2018. Then, in 2019, the artist was arrested twice — first by the Hubei police during an investigation into a large-scale financial scam, and then by the Shenzhen police after he launched an art exhibition about education challenges faced by the children of rural migrant workers.
In China, as the space for citizen organizations and investigative journalism has shrunk, performance artists have, to a certain extent, taken on the media's role in raising public awareness of social issues, particularly those aligned with Xi Jinping’s socialist core values, such as his pledge to protect the country’s environment. To avoid accusations of spreading rumours, the artist-activists’ performances must be backed by rigorous research.
“Nut Brother” is one of the most successful artist-activists in negotiating with the authoritarian political system. For example, in Xiaohaotu’s pollution research, they worked with villagers, reporters, and volunteers to collect testimonies from approximately 50 villages, directing their criticism at corporations rather than local government authorities. Moreover, they organized their water bottle exhibition and heavy metal music performances in a guerrilla manner across different regions to circumvent arrest and detention from local authorities.
Chinese artist Nut Brother fights heavy metal pollution — with heavy metal music. Sixth Tone’s @BeimengFu joined him as he staged a series of rock gigs to highlight the water pollution crisis in China’s post-industrial heartlands. Read more:
https://t.co/GcrbKY2dJ0 pic.twitter.com/XhCP5VD7Wz — Sixth Tone (@SixthTone) November 19, 2021
Overseas Chinese activist from the White Paper protest, Rei Xia,took to X to explain the unique role of performance artists in China:
一直默默關注堅果兄弟和鄭宏彬這些藝術家的實踐。他們的創作路徑非常紮根於草根，多是聯結具體個體和著眼具體議題的社會介入式藝術。在中國，大張旗鼓的藝術表達從來沒有過空間，正因如此這樣溫和而堅實的實踐者才難得的可貴。毋寧說他們是模糊了藝術家與行動者的界線的人。 他們必須，被立刻釋放。
I have been following the practice of artists such as the ‘Nut Brother’ and Zheng Hongbin. Their creative paths are deeply rooted in grassroots organizing. Their works are primarily social interventionist art that connects with specific individuals and addresses specific issues. In China, there has never been much space for publicized artistic expression, which is why such modest but solid practitioners are rare and precious. They are the ones who blur the line between artist and activist. They must be released immediately.
While Nut Brother has launched dozens of art installations and performances, some of his memorable work include:
2011: The 30-day-bookstore (30天就倒閉書店)
he artist opened a bookstore in a shopping mall in Shenzhen and invited 30 individuals to serve as shopkeepers, interacting with customers each day. On the last day, the artist, together with shopkeepers and book lovers, held a discussion on the future of bookstores.
2015: Dust Project (尘埃计划)
The artist's most well-known work is the Dust Project. The artist spent 100 days walking around Beijing with an industrial vacuum cleaner, collecting dust from the air. In the end, he compressed the dust into a brick to symbolise the severity of air pollution in the city.
Chinese artist Brother Nut collected dust from the smog in Beijing for 100 days.
https://t.co/GSzbhiMN4h pic.twitter.com/LvLVaEnG8F — Do ArT Foundation (@DoArtFoundation) December 15, 2015
2019: A straight to gay conversion consultancy firm (深圳把直变弯心理咨询有限公司)
It is not uncommon to see businesses offering to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals in China. The artist set up a consultancy firm in Shenzhen to do the opposite, thereby mocking sexual orientation conversion businesses, which have been found to be devastatingly harmful to LGBTQ+ people.
2020: Truth Adventure Award (真话冒险奖) and Shut up for 720 hours (闭嘴720小时)
To pay tribute to journalists who spoke out the truth during the COVID-19 pandemic, the artist set up a “Truth Adventure Award” and attempted to recruit 1,000 individuals on social media to sponsor the cash prize. In the process, the artist muted himself for 720 hours to symbolize the status of speech freedom during this time.
Coronavirus: Chinese artist Brother Nut keeps his mouth shut for 30 days in censorship protest
https://t.co/R7bWSG35wQ pic.twitter.com/x1RZXl3ZZD — Zyite (@ZyiteGadgets) July 20, 2020
2021: Fish hotpot in Zibo (淄博火锅鱼)
A river in Zibo City, Shandong Province, had turned orange due to 30 years of industrial pollution. Residents described the water as Sichuan red pepper hotpot soup. Hence, the artist placed 50 inflatable fish in the river to create the world's largest fish hotpot.
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