"Nut Brother," a performance artist in Shenzhen, created a unique piece of art after vacuuming Beijing's smog for 100 days.
The 34-year-old artist reckoned it would be a great idea since Beijing has heavy pollution. According to Quartz, he was not particularly hoping for the Air Quality Index of the area to improve. He just wanted to make a point about the smog that surrounds the city.
During his 100-day journey, he wore a respirator mask as he walked on the streets of Beijing for 4 hours every day. He held the vacuum with a nozzle that collected the smog.
His 100th day ended on Nov. 30. After he had accumulated 100 days' worth of smog, he mixed it with clay to create a semi-finished brick. After a few days, the bricks hardened and were fried.
"Air in Beijing is bad all over. There's no special supply of air," he told the magazine.
He thought of this plan back in 2013 when he started living in the city. At the same time, it was when the "airpocalypse" grabbed the attention of the people in China.
With this project, he aims to inform the public about the connection "between human and nature."
"Nut Brother" was dubbed as the cleaner whenever he walked the streets with his vacuum. He recorded his daily journey on his Weibo, a Chinese social media website.
When he finally revealed the finished bricks to the public, many doubted the validity of his smog bricks.
"What can be collected to make a brick is by no means PM 2.5 [fine particulate matter that hangs in the air], but PM 250," a Weibo user wrote in Chinese. "Performance art shouldn't be a gimmick."
"Nut Brother" said that the bricks were made of clay and a mixture of "dust and smog" that weighed about 100 grams. The clay added the massive weight to the brick, however, "Nut Brother" said it was only meant to stand as a symbol of air pollution.
"I'm not doing a scientific research," he said.
"Nut Brother" aims to spread his message to the masses by putting his performance art to an entirely new level. He said he would like to get the bricks to a construction site to be used as a foundation. So, this would be an extension of his work and a constant reminder of the art he created.
He wanted a brick to join the concrete jungle "just like putting a drop of water in the ocean," he said.
