Chan's industrial-strength irony

LAST year, the Schaulager - arguably the most cutting-edge museum in Basel - showed a retrospective of artist-filmmaker Steve McQueen before he became famous with the release of 12 Years A Slave.

This year, the Schaulager decided to fill its cool Herzog & de Meuron-designed space with works by Paul Chan, the Hong Kong-born artist who has been making waves in New York for just over a decade.

Unlike McQueen's works which were heavy with import, Chan's works are much lighter - though not lightweight. Mischief and irony course thr…