Popularity and Censorship: An analysis of Chai Jing’s Under the Dome and Nut Brother’s Project Dust
Although the word smog (“雾霾”) first appeared in the newspaper Beijing Daily on May 4th, 2004, the smog problem did not raise public attention until 2012 when the government adopted the particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) index as one of the measurements for air quality (Xue 2016; “Baidu Index” 2017). Since then, many artists have created artworks in response to the air pollution. One of the most famous pieces is Chai Jing’s multimedia documentary Under the Dome: Investigating China’s Smog.1 It presents facts about the smog and the pollution control agencies, and proposes changes. Another piece is Nut Brother’s Project Dust (Wang 2015). It is a performance art piece, an action towards the air pollution. However, Under the Dome was taken down from all Chinese websites after four days of release (Cui 2017, 40), while Project Dust was allowed and promoted during and after the project on mainstream websites such as Tencent News and Sina ("坚果兄弟：在无意义中寻找自由" 2017; "坚果兄弟：砖不是全由雾霾构成 吸尘不够做一块砖" 2017). The difference in governmental response to the two pieces of artworks may be attributed to the content of the works, the status of the artists, and the modes of …show more content…
The regulations promised people’s freedom of speech, writing, and publication, but then negated when the publication of any form aims to the following, but not limited to the following circumstances: to change in form of government, to harm the public peace, to impair public morals, to reveal any secret documents of a military, diplomatic or any other official organization without authorization (Ting 1974, 7-26). In short, when the government faces public pressure or collective reaction because of a work, or when there is the predicted potential, it claims the right to censor the
Although the word smog (“雾霾”) first appeared in the newspaper Beijing Daily on May 4th, 2004, the smog problem did not raise public attention until 2012 when the government adopted the particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) index as one of the measurements for air quality (Xue 2016; “Baidu Index” 2017). Since then, many artists have created artworks in response to the air pollution. One of the most famous pieces is Chai Jing’s multimedia documentary Under the Dome: Investigating China’s Smog.1 It presents facts about the smog and the pollution control agencies, and proposes changes. Another piece is Nut Brother’s Project Dust (Wang 2015). It is a performance art piece, an action towards the air pollution. However, Under the Dome was taken down from all Chinese websites after four days of release (Cui 2017, 40), while Project Dust was allowed and promoted during and after the project on mainstream websites such as Tencent News and Sina ("坚果兄弟：在无意义中寻找自由" 2017; "坚果兄弟：砖不是全由雾霾构成 吸尘不够做一块砖" 2017). The difference in governmental response to the two pieces of artworks may be attributed to the content of the works, the status of the artists, and the modes of …show more content…
The regulations promised people’s freedom of speech, writing, and publication, but then negated when the publication of any form aims to the following, but not limited to the following circumstances: to change in form of government, to harm the public peace, to impair public morals, to reveal any secret documents of a military, diplomatic or any other official organization without authorization (Ting 1974, 7-26). In short, when the government faces public pressure or collective reaction because of a work, or when there is the predicted potential, it claims the right to censor the