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Alan Lau shows off his spirited side through artworks that jingle, melt, and rock

History collides with humor in this Hong Kong tech entrepreneur's art collection

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Surprises abound within&nbsp;the dedicated apartment in Wong Chuk Hang that Alan Lau keeps for his burgeoning art collection.&nbsp;Asked to demonstrate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/27851/Lyota-Yagi">Lyota Yagi</a>'s LP-playing&nbsp;Vinyl (Moon River) (2005),&nbsp;Lau heads to his freezer to remove an ice mold of the classic 1961 Matthews-Mancini recording. When&nbsp;he sets it on the turntable and drops the needle, the ice 'record'&nbsp;emits a watery warble as it spins and melts. Elsewhere, a video produced by&nbsp;Cao Fei for her&nbsp;fictive digital metropolis RMB City&nbsp;unspools on an LCD screen. 'I was actually nominated as mayor of RMB City,' Lau casually reveals, an outgrowth&nbsp;of his participation in&nbsp;the collaborative online conversations that shaped the project.&nbsp;&nbsp;As an executive&nbsp;at a tech company,&nbsp;innovation is Lau's business, and during this tour of his collection, the&nbsp;concept of technology takes on an expansive definition, from written, text-based works by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/9178/Xu-Bing">Xu Bing</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7089/Danh-Vo">Danh Vo</a> to inventive musical&nbsp;installations by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7090/Haegue-Yang">Haegue Yang</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/6776/Anri-Sala">Anri Sala</a> to signal works of the digital era by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/19899/Jon-Rafman">Jon Rafman</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7870/Camille-Henrot">Camille Henrot</a>. Lau's art collection&nbsp;provides him&nbsp;a necessary lens through which to view technology's effect on society – 'the human element', he says.Direction and edit: Benny WooProduction: Sarah P. Hanson and Jeanne-Salomé Rochat for Art Basel

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Alan Lau shows off his spirited side through artworks that jingle, melt, and rock

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History collides with humor in this Hong Kong tech entrepreneur's art collection

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