Watchtower as performed at Documenta in Kassel, Germany. Dimensions variable, 2007. Courtesy of the artist

Visitors to an art fair might not expect to be confronted with a seemingly political demonstration in the midst of the art market—especially one that hints that the Chinese are taking over the art world. Singapore-based performance artist Cai Qing, however, does just that with his entry to Simulasian titled Watchtower (2007). Born and raised in mainland China and based in New York City for many years, the artist is known for his public—and often guerilla—happenings, whether it be crawling across New York City on a red carpet or picketing Documenta in Kassel (both 2007). Sitting atop a self-made wooden tower and holding up hand-painted signs that warn of the coming invasion, Cai remarks on the proliferation of Asia not only in the realm of contemporary art, but in all aspects of our contemporary lives.

No Place: Portal, Household refuse, wood, papier mache, paint, found carnival costume; dimensions variable, 2007. Courtesy the artist and Zone:Chelsea Center for the Arts, New York.

Saya Woolfalk’s installation and performance art is colorful and shaded in equal measure. It explores the confluence of cultures in contemporary society, whether that be African-American history, Brazilian Carnival, or Japanese Butoh—all are wrapped here in the artist’s bright color palette exacted with a month’s worth of garbage from her New York apartment. Herself a cultural hybrid of Japanese, African-American and Caucasian heritage, Woolfalk’s work is reflective of her own tenuous position in the midst of global cultures blending and clashing in full force. Her No Place: Portal (2007) acts as an entryway to Simulasian, welcoming visitors with strange relics and totems that become artifacts of contemporary society, unearthed in tandem with the artist’s own psychic realm.