Curated for the first time by Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of Artspace in Sydney, this year's edition of Encounters will present 20 artworks by artists from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, United Kingdom and the United States. Dedicated to presenting large-scale sculptural installations that transcend the traditional art fair booth, the sector will premiere never seen before work by David Claerbout, Dzine (Carlos Rolon), Taeyoon Kim, Zai Kuning, Yang Maoyuan, Dane Mitchell, Eko Nugroho, João Vasco Paiva, Shooshie Sulaiman, Gao Weigang and Zhao Zhao alongside previously exhibited pieces by Mikala Dwyer, Cao Fei, Siobhán Hapaska Wang Keping, Hew Locke, Tallur L.N., Xu Longsen, Sterling Ruby and Lee Ufan.

For her first curation of the sector, Alexie Glass-Kantor turns to Landscape Urbanism, looking at the spaces within cities in which to pause, inhale and reflect before returning to the dynamics of urban activity. Glass-Kantor sees Art Basel's Hong Kong show in many ways as a city within the city: a constructed world that channels the energy and zeitgeist of the international market place. But it is more than that, and, uniquely, Encounters occupies significant exhibition space across four 'meridians' or boulevards within the art fair itself.

'There are distinct thematics that knit through each of the meridians, woven together through visual association and conceptual threads that exemplify how art can resituate experience and enliven the viewer. Many works alter or revisit our view of the world, representing it not as we 'know' it to be, but rather as we innately sense or imagine it to be', says Alexie Glass-Kantor, Curator Encounters.

Information on individual presentations:As part of Encounters, Kerlin Gallery from Dublin will present 'Intifada' by British artist Siobhán Hapaska (*1963). Consisting of three uprooted olive trees that are suspended horizontally within open aluminum cubes and coupled to constantly vibrating motors, creating a flying forest, floating but trapped, shaking continually in a state of endurance and defiance.

In close proximity, Tomio Koyama Gallery, with exhibition spaces in Tokyo and Singapore, will show 'SEA Brothers Rubber Estate of 16 March' by Malaysian artist Shooshie Sulaiman (*1973). Continuing her interest in language, history and memory Sulaima's work depicts eleven South East Asian leaders on rubber sheets hanging in a smoke house. Referencing her late fathers profession as rubber tapper on the plantations of South East Asia, she gently draws connections between the natural world and the corrupt politics that underscores the global consumption of unsustainable resources.

'Les Spectateurs (Man and Woman)' by Chinese artist Wang Keping (*1949) will be presented by Hong Kong's 10 Chancery Lane Gallery. First created for the 1999 exhibition 'Les Champs de la Sculptures' in Paris, the two large-scale wooden sculptures, each made from a single tree, explore the human form by using the natural components of the wood such as the knots and grains to form the brutal shapes that are transformed into the figures. Now at the age of 65, Wang Keping will no longer be working on works of this scale, making these pieces, which have never before been exhibited in Hong Kong, a precious and unique part of his career.

Arario Gallery, with spaces in Seoul, Cheonan and Shanghai will show 'Chromatophobia' by Indian artist Tallur L.N. (*1971). The installation consists of a giant see-sawing log, or Wish Tree, propped up by two Indian Buddhist sculptures into which local coins may be nailed. In his work, Tallur L.N. exposes the absurdities of everyday life and the anxieties that characterize contemporary society. Exploring magical thinking and the futility of ritual acts that promise to deliver wealth or alleviate financial worries, 'Chromatophobia' is an invitation for a collective act of unrequited hopefulness.

Hanart TZ Gallery from Hong Kong will present 'Beholding the Mountain with Awe No.1' by Chinese artist Xu Longsen (*1956). The monumental ink scroll measures 10.3 meters by nine by nine meters and presents the artist's unique experimentation with the Shanshui art form.

Vitamin Creative Space from Beijing and Guangzhou will show 'Nu Project' by Chinese artist Cao Fei (*1978). Known for her multimedia installations and videos in which she mixes social commentary, popular aesthetics, references to Surrealism, and documentary conventions, Cao Fei's works reflect on the rapid and chaotic changes that are occurring in Chinese society today. Initially invited to make a feature film about the subject of Yunnan, the project reached an impasse. What remains are filmed sequences reconstructed as part of the video installation Nu River Project.

With spaces in Seoul and Daegu, Leeahn Gallery will present 'Around the way' by the American artist Dzine (Carlos Rolon) (*1970). This site-specific installation mines the themes of domesticity; pattern, and craft-making traditions. A continuation to Rolon’s highly successful installation ‘My Mothers Living Room’ at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, this shrine-like presentation embraces the universal themes of the home.

Shanghai Gallery of Art will present 'Consume' by Chinese artist Gao Weigang (*1976). A shiny variation on the traditional shipping container, made in stainless steel and titanium and painted gold. Almost everything that makes up daily life today is shipped from across the different corners of the world in containers. Commodities or goods, along with their conveyed information, run in-between human desires, and are then mutually assembled, exchanged or dispersed.

One and J. Gallery from Seoul will present ‘Evermore’ by Korean artist Taeyoon Kim (*1982). The artist reconstitutes patterns and rhythms from everyday life into a system of moving images and sounds that glitter, flicker, appear and disappear allowing the audience to discover and experience new rhythms. The movement of form is determined by customized software that utilizes live data feeds from various internet sources.

Sean Kelly from New York will show ‘Radio Piece’ by Belgian artist David Claerbout (*1969). The video and radio installation is a meditation on physical and mental space, and the relationship between the two in a world where physical space is becoming increasingly scarce. Set in Hong Kong, it depicts a city where mental space has already become the new real estate, literally the space between the two ears. ‘Radio Piece’ begins with a view of a Zen garden; the sound of birds and music can be heard through the headphones. Using a sound recording technology called binaural recording, the device renders an increasingly accurate mental image of a room.

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery from Sydney will present 'Square Cloud Compound' by Australian artist Mikala Dwyer (*1959). Mikala Dwyer’s installations often are mysterious, with weird shifts in scale, precarious construction and mismatched objects. ‘Square Cloud Compound’ raises the artist’s interest in magic and parallel worlds to new levels. The central structure is created from squares of colored fabric; a floppy Constructivist enclosure held up by stockings stretched to breaking point. The prison-striped poles that stretch the stockings play several different roles – at once lampposts, totems, and gallows. However, they also add a creepy human presence to the installation, like capricious guards engaged in an act of stretchy torture.

On the third level, Arndt from Singapore and Berlin will present Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho (*1977) at Encounters, who came to maturity during the period of upheaval and reform that occurred in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the subsequent fall of the Suharto regime and the transition to democracy in Indonesia. Deeply engaged with the culture of his time and committed to making socio-political commentary in his work, Eko Nugroho's works are grounded in both local traditions and global popular culture: traditional batik and embroidery styles as well as contemporary street art, graffiti and comics. Made especially for the show, and consisting of life-size bronze sculptures and embroidered tapestries, 'Lot Lost' reflects on the current situation of his society. It criticizes the publicly circulating messages of the people in power; hypocritical and intolerant messages that intimidate and manipulate, silence democracy and cause corruption to spread.

Kukje Gallery from Seoul and Tina Kim Gallery from New York will jointly show South Korean artist Lee Ufan (*1936). Combining strong elements of traditional Asian aesthetics and philosophy, ‘Relatum’ is an iconic sculpture based on just two elements, rock and steel, installed in exquisite balance. River rocks, hand selected by the artist, are placed adjacent to a steel plate that is delicately balanced on the wall, defying its enormous weight. This juxtaposition of nature and industry succinctly summarizes the simple yet powerful binary relationships that are at the crux of the artist’s practice: form versus emptiness, visual movement versus stasis, and being versus non-being.

Another collaboration, Hopkinson Mossman from Auckland and RaebervonStenglin from Zurich will show a new work by New Zealand artist Dane Mitchell (*1976). 'Fourfold Threshold' is a large floor-based sculpture accompanied by four banner-like ink jet prints on silk of the artist's hand in different poses, depicting hand gestures that according to various mystical belief systems are thought to, with practice, activate certain magical powers.

Gagosian Gallery will present ‘Black Stoves’, 2014, by American artist Sterling Ruby (*1972). Over the past several years, Sterling Ruby has collected and assembled a series of pot-bellied stoves in his studio in Los Angeles. Some stoves were traditional cast iron wood stoves such as those found in mountain cabins or farmhouses. Some were barrel stoves assembled from mail order kits. This led to an edition of fully functional stoves of the artist’s own design.

Osage Gallery from Hong Kong will present ‘Wood Block’ by the Chinese artist Zhao Zhao (*1982). ‘Wood Block’ is assembled from over one hundred woodblocks salvaged from a defunct Italian furniture manufacturer in Shanghai. The woodblocks originally formed the ‘negatives’ of luxury furniture for those who could afford it in China. Rescued from their abandonment, Zhao Zhao had them sanded and polished. Now liberated from subservience to the furniture, the blocks assume their own identity, symbolizing both a moment in the industrial past and a strange sculptural object of the present.

Edouard Malingue Gallery, also from Hong Kong, will present ‘Mausoleum’ by João Vasco Paiva, a Portuguese-born artist who lives in Hong Kong (*1979). This sculptural installation presents Paiva’s visualization of a contemporary mausoleum, created out of meticulously stacked styrofoam boxes, which the artist cast in stone resin; an ironic process as styrofoam takes millions of years to break down, far longer than typical building materials. Stacked one atop the other, the arrangement of boxes mimics the storing and transporting techniques used by Hong Kong vendors; towering walls of styrofoam containers, treacherously tied by a fine rope and balanced atop the back of a bike. Paiva’s inspiration, however, comes from antiquity: those beacons of civilizations past, from Angkor Wat in Cambodia, to Giza in Egypt and Chichen Itza in Mexico.

Platform China with spaces in Hong Kong and Beijing will present ‘THEY are coming to Hong Kong’ by Chinese artist Yang Maoyuan (*1966). This site-specific project is composed of inflated and distended representations of various animals, which together form a disturbing ensemble, confronting the observer with a striking combination of the bizarre and the banal.

Hales Gallery from London will present ‘Chariots of the Gods’ by British artist Hew Locke (*1959). The work draws on Locke’s memories from visits to London’s Museum of Mankind, which once housed The British Museum’s Department of Ethnography along with collections of objects from the Americas, Africa, the Pacific, Australia, Asia and Europe. ‘Chariots of the Gods’ incorporates depictions of key exhibits including Benin bronzes, Buddhists masks, Inca mummies, Mexican serpents and the famous Easter Island Moai figure known as Hoa Hakananai’a, into a Western heraldic motif, echoing the Western museums’ practice of re-configuring and absorbing treasures from other culture, celebrating the extraordinary variety and breadth of the cultures shown at the museum, at the same time visualizing the museum's collection as a kind of ambiguous heraldic symbol of power and dominance.

Ota Fine Arts, with exhibition spaces in Singapore and Tokyo will present Singaporean artist Zai Kuning (*1964). ‘Dapunta Hyang (Transmission of Knowledge)’ is a large hanging boat made of rattan, secured with red, waxed string and stones. It is trailed with 20 waxed rattan skeletons. The work is part of the artist's five-year research project on Dapunta Hyang Jayanasa, and his lifelong interest in discovering his own history as a Malay.