No-barrier initiative revives area's artistic heritage

A new location for innovative young people to display their talents, the Inno Social for No-Boundary Youth artistic square and platform was recently launched at INLET. 

The initiative aims to revive the artistic atmosphere of the area.

The INLET neighborhood at the crossroads of Wujin Road and Sichuan Road N. used to be the activity precinct for a group of renowned Chinese writers, such as Lu Xun (1881-1936) and Ding Ling (1904-1986), and was a cradle of the Chinese movie industry. 

"Boundaries exist in every corner of life – between art museums and communities, artists and the public, professional art events and public aesthetic activities, offline and online, art students and the market," said Ruan Jun, founder of Inno Social for No-Boundary Youth. "All these boundaries, no matter physical or mental, make the distance between art and life even wider." 

The center aims to break through these boundaries with a series of interesting, innovative and community-based art workshops, markets, exhibitions, forums and aesthetics stores.

"It will pay more attention to young artists from domestic and foreign colleges, providing them with opportunities to curate their own exhibitions and contact with collectors in the early stages of their careers," Ruan said. 

"We hope that in the future, more art and culture institutions, art and design colleges, young artists and art lovers will converge here."

As a platform supported by the government, colleges and businesses, the venue will start with visual art and later expand to drama, film and performing.

The INLET project also involves refurbishment of a group of old buildings in the neighborhood, including Hongkou District Historical and Cultural Center and Shanghai Literature Museum, that will reopen in the near future.

Ti Gong