SHANGHAI To protest censorship during the COVID-19 outbreak, a Chinese artist known as Brother Nut kept his mouth shut for 30 days, using metal clasps, gloves, duct tape and other items.<\/p>\n
In the project #shutupfor30days he also sealed his mouth with packing tape with 404, the error code for a webpage not found, written across it, a nod to the blocking of online content that is common in China for sensitive issues.<\/p>\n
If you ask me how an artist should digest unfair treatment, such as violence or censorship, my first reaction is: keep fighting, with art, said Brother Nut.<\/p>\n
The 39-year-old artist has built a reputation for statement-making projects in a country where the room for dissent has shrunk and censorship has intensified under President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n
China faced a barrage of criticism over the virus that emerged late last year in Wuhan, from being slow to sound the alarm to the treatment of a doctor who tried to alert authorities about the outbreak but was reprimanded by police for spreading rumors.<\/p>\n
The doctor, Li Wenliang, became a symbol of the outbreak in China and later died from coronavirus.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I feel my job is similar to that of an NGO or a journalist seeking to raise awareness of social issues and the moves to counter them, said the soft-spoken, long-haired artist during an interview at a cafe in Shanghais M50 art district.<\/p>\n
Brother Nuts previous performances include tugging a battery-powered vacuum cleaner around Beijing and creating a solid brick from polluted air.<\/p>\n
In 2018, he invited a heavy metal band to play in a village polluted with heavy metals, prompting local environmental authorities to investigate the contamination.<\/p>\n
To speak up for investors who lost their savings in a financial scam, Brother Nut staged a torch relay dubbed Good Luck Beijing, which in Chinese sounds similar to Beijing Olympics.<\/p>\n
He was later detained for 10 days by police.<\/p>\n
Threats and calls from police are commonplace, which he said makes him angry, rather than fearful, although he does not want his real name to be published.<\/p>\n
Brother Nut acknowledged that during last months project to maintain silence, he sometimes spoke to himself while eating.<\/p>\n
We need expressions of art whenever and wherever. Theyre like flowers growing in cracks and allow us to dance in the most desperate time, he said.<\/p>\n
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Artist holds his tongue in protest of pandemic censorship in China - New York Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SHANGHAI To protest censorship during the COVID-19 outbreak, a Chinese artist known as Brother Nut kept his mouth shut for 30 days, using metal clasps, gloves, duct tape and other items. In the project #shutupfor30days he also sealed his mouth with packing tape with 404, the error code for a webpage not found, written across it, a nod to the blocking of online content that is common in China for sensitive issues Continue reading