Ever increasing circles

"Just like our mission statement, we hope to jump out of established art circles to bring people together," says Yang.

This summer, the art center plans to support "a walking project" that gathers scientists, novelists, artists and people interested in big data. The group will visit big data companies as well as other related sites in Guizhou province.

"We want people from various areas to brainstorm and deliver creative results," he adds.

The art center is scheduled to stage four shows a year. However, due to the pandemic, that program is subject to change.

Besides the Macalline Art Center, there are three other related art programs and another complementary art center already running in Shanghai, all supported by Che.

In May last year, the center also launched a digital magazine to publish bilingual articles in Chinese and English about the arts. In 2020, it set up an online video platform to help young artists release their works.

"The pandemic has changed many things in the art world. Despite the availability of physical spaces, we have to follow the trend of doing shows online, but I see no difference between online and physical shows. Both can be appreciated in their own way," says Yang.