The capital of Queensland, Australia’s second-largest state, Brisbane seems perennially on the cusp, always on the lookout for defining moments and keen to mint a progressive identity. 

I met Aarnout Helb in late January at 21,39, a weeklong program of contemporary art exhibitions, education and open studios in Jeddah intended to foster international interest in contemporary Saudi Arabian art. Among a colorful congregation of artists, collectors and gallerists was an intriguing figure who introduced himself as the founder and director of an Amsterdam museum dedicated to contemporary art from Saudi Arabia. 

We are undergoing a national identity crisis. Who are we? Are we South Asian, Bengali, Muslim?

—Nazia Andaleeb Preema

Bangladesh has undergone near constant political and cultural flux since its two independences: the first from Britain in 1947, after which it became East Pakistan, and then from Pakistan in 1971.

Dinh Q. Lê, one of Vietnam’s best known artists and the subject of a retrospective at Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, has over the last two decades created an insistent, moral critique of America’s version of the Vietnam War. 

Life is full of choices, and Japanese-born, New York-based artist Aki Sasamoto’s witty installations, ready-mades, performances and videos demonstrate the banality of such trivial yet ceaseless decision-making processes. 

During London’s morning rush hour, as commuters crowd train platforms and stream toward the city center, I head in precisely the opposite direction, traveling to the placid southwestern suburb of Barnes, home to Shirazeh Houshiary’s studio. 

In the previous edition of “Fine Print,” we saw how a recent New York court case between gallerist Larry Gagosian and collector Ronald Perelman exposed the risks of entering into high-value art transactions without the protection of a comprehensive written contract.