In May, Art Basel in Hong Kong brought with it the many collectors, curators, journalists and art enthusiasts who follow in its wake. Galleries across the city—some participating in the fair, some not—strove to rise to the occasion. The Pedder Building was no exception, with all six galleries putting forth shows to mark the occasion. With the exception of two, they are on through the end of the month.

Just as we arrived at the Glass House, the late architect Philip Johnson’s country home in New Canaan, Connecticut, the leaden sky opened up and threatened to drench us. We were there for “Night Sounds #4,” which featured a live performance by the avant garde–electronic duo Lucky Dragons and the unveiling of a sculpture by Vincent Fecteau—as well as a more ephemeral work by the Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya.

Throughout extended periods of political conflict in Palestine, artistic practice has emerged as a critical tool. In the face of cultural annihilation, art helps bring the fight for survival to the world’s attention, offering a unique perspective of military occupation. Artist Rana Bishara explores the complex issues that have emerged in the region following decades of hostility and injustice. Drawing from both collective memory and individual stories, Bishara makes works that explore irrevocable trauma and distress, yet simultaneously encourage strength, hope and resistance. Her paintings, installation art, sculpture and performance, constantly employ symbolic materials and imagery and while highly political, are thought provoking and sensitive. These works reflect the range of emotions interwoven in the fabric of the Palestinian experience and are threaded with the recurrent themes of displacement, home and exile. ArtAsiaPacific met with Bishara to discuss symbolism and the role of art in resistance.

Sustainability is a catch phrase in today’s hyper-consumerist world. Similarly, terms such as recycling, re-using and up-cycling have been absorbed into both political and marketing rhetoric, making their interpretations even more obscure. With his scintillating textiles composed of bottle caps and other metal refuse, it is tempting to pin one of these coinages onto the work of Nigeria-based Ghanaian artist El Anatsui, but to do so would be to miss the point entirely. Selected as the inaugural artist to exhibit at Belgian gallery Axel Vervoordt’s Hong Kong debut this past May, several specially commissioned pieces by Anatsui undulated from floor to ceiling, transforming the former office space on the fifteenth floor of the Entertainment center building in central, into a small richly hued arena. Rather than seeing each rich tapestry as an assemblage of disparate pieces, Anatsui urges the viewer instead to acknowledge their human provenance; many hands have gone into its production both during and after the creation of the art object. Speaking to ArtAsiaPacific, the 70-year-old artist explains that matter has meaning only after people have interacted with it.

 Austrian painter Xenia Hausner is obsessed with people. Captivated by the interpersonal relationships she observes in the everyday, the Austrian artist absorbs these vignettes only to reclaim them in her own imagined narratives. Ordinary people are models for her large-scale paintings, which using bold, vivid colors, depict her these figures in an often exaggerated and theatrical manner. The women that make up the main subjects of her paintings are at times challenging and defiant, while at others seductive, aloof or vulnerable. ArtAsiaPacific met up with the 63-year-old artist a few days before her first solo exhibition in Hong Kong opened at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, to discuss her background in stage design, her working process and her innate infatuation with exploring the lives of those around her.

Singaporean-born New York-based photographer John Clang is known for his low-tech style; resisting the temptations of Photoshop, he prefers instead to hand-cut and paste images together.  Working mainly with the idea of accessibility, challenging the barriers between the artist and the audience, his ongoing series “(Re)Contextualizing My Mind,” (1996–?), now on show at Pékin Fine Arts in Hong Kong, brings forth a different side of the artist. The photographs here show poetic translations of Clang’s thoughts, and the images featured are equally abstract. Though he declines to identify them this way, the works feel like a walk through the artist’s visual diary. On the occasion of the exhibition, ArtAsiaPacific spoke with Clang briefly about his work and his passion for archiving.

Kanazawa, located in northern Japan, was once among the country’s four biggest cities during the Edo period (1603–1867).  Fortunately, withstanding numerous bombings during WWII, its historic sites, such as the Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen Garden, still stand, and much of its traditional culture and craft remain in practice.  With this rich cultural background, it is perhaps no surprise that in 1995 the municipal government decided to build an art complex there.  This coming October, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, will celebrate its 10th anniversary. ArtAsiaPacific visited the museum, which is housed in a circular, one-story building designed by Japanese architectural firm SANAA. 

What could be a better canvas to work on than Hong Kong’s iconic skyline? For this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong, German light and sound artist Carsten Nicolai did just that with Alpha Pulse (2014), a huge installation powered by the light system of the city’s International Commerce Centre (ICC). For three nights during the fair, the 484-meter building, which sits across the harbor in Kowloon, sent pulsating light signals for just under an hour. With an app created by the artist available for download, participants could receive the light and audio signals from the tower on their own phones, and experience a new way of interacting with the city.

Piecing together discarded shards of porcelain, and marking joins and bare edges with lines of gold leaf, Korean artist Yeesookyung creates new shapes, often softly curved and anthropomorphic, occasionally jagged and alien. Her ceramic practice, which started with the “Translated Vases” series in 2006, has proved therapeutic for the artist, and the resulting works are profoundly, undeniably beautiful.

Untitled Selection is a bi-weekly post of photography from ArtAsiaPacific’s areas of coverage. Created by photo editor, Ann Woo.