Surprisingly critical commentaries on China at a crossroads are presented by the separate Iberia and Ullens Centers for Contemporary Art in Beijing. A crowd stood transfixed before Mist, a 2008 digital animation by Zhang Xiatao, which envisions armies of insects infesting the industrial infrastructure that is transforming the Chinese landscape and then marching into Tibet — the whole work a kind of symbol of the global affront to the spiritual soul of ancient Chinese culture. Feng Mengbo’s video game Long March! Restart riffs on Chairman Mao’s infamous historical event.

The use of new technology to examine the effects of globalization is indicative of the current ethos — a sentiment “embedded in this particular moment,” according to Remy-Toledo. “Art has become a commodity that has robbed the soul of art.” That this large space devoted to critical works — showcased by nonprofits, no less — steals the show from the commercial center of the fair may itself represent a prophetic shift in focus.