WITNEY artist Cai Yuan’s art makes a complex statement.

As part of his latest interactive exhibition, Optimism, a collaboration with German-based artist Yingmei Duan, Mr Yuan combines art and performance.

Writing on the windows of the pop-up exhibition space on The Plain, Mr Yuan, 58, explained what the words mean.

“They’re ‘isms’ – like materialism, capitalism, imperialism and so on. I’ve been collecting them from the news and internet and then I use them to create equations of mood.

“I like the ideology of using text in art, the act of writing.”

He will use the ‘isms’ to interact with the public who were asked to produce their own, which will be displayed in the gallery at a later date.

The interactive exhibition ends on February 28, but the gallery is open throughout March.