Chinese artist Zhang Ding attracted curious visitors with his "18 Cubes" installation, which consists of 18 large steel boxes plated with 24-karat gold to give them a mirror-like finish.

In a twist, Zhang invited fairgoers to scratch whatever they wanted onto the surface, using anything they are carrying with them, or black crystal shards provided for the purpose. 

Coco Li, who runs a Shanghai company buying art on behalf of corporate Chinese clients, scratched the Chinese characters for "interactive art" onto one cube.

"This kind of art is better than 'quiet' art," said Li, gesturing to paintings displayed by a nearby gallery.

South Korean artist Ham Kyung-ah presented "Chandeliers in Five Cities," the latest in her series of embroidered works crafted with the help of unidentified North Korean workers. Ham settled on chandeliers as a reference to political power after she noticed one in a picture of world leaders meeting to divide the Korean Peninsula into north and south at the end of World War II.

She said she sends materials and digital images of her designs to the unidentified North Korean artisans through secretive middlemen who travel through China. It can take up to a year before she gets one back. 

Ham said she was inspired after she found a North Korea propaganda flyer in front of her parents’ home in 2008. 

"I wanted to send back these kinds of fliers in a very artistic way," she said.

Indonesian artist Tintin Wulia's collection of cardboard bales is the result of her yearlong investigation into a recycling micro-economy involving scrap collectors and Filipino migrant domestic workers who spend their days off in the heart of Hong Kong’s financial district.

She said the project examines how the material links seemingly unrelated groups in Hong Kong society and also symbolizes the city's widening wealth gap.