Issue and Opponent: 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. Almost immediately after Brother Nut opened the “market” on June 20, 2018, in Beijing’s popular 798 Art District, images of muck-filled water bottles began to circulate on Chinese social media.
Dilemma Action: 9,000 bottles of water on display at an art gallery in June 2018 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.
Outcome: The authorities in the capital ordered the show closed, which only served to generate more attention. They also responded to the stir the show had caused. Rather than censure Brother Nut, the authorities there opened an investigation into the water quality in Xiaohaotu, a village on the outskirts of the city of Yulin. Despite the actions taken by the 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.