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“Yang Fudong is renowned for his enigmatic visuals and dynamic explorations of space and time in film,” said M+ curator of moving image, Ulanda Blair. “When we approached him to make a site-specific moving image work for the M+ Facade, he was immediately inspired by the physicality of the building and its highly public urban context.

“He set out to create an ‘architectural film’ that interacts with the environment of the facade, while still embodying the distinctive visual language for which he is known.”

One thing is missing though: despite being commissioned for the space, Yang’s original work includes a soundtrack – one that was only heard at a handful of cinema screenings, last month. Otherwise, “The city’s ambient sounds become the soundtrack of the work,” said the artist.

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How was the M+ Facade designed?

M+’s connections with Basel, Switzerland, run deeper than you might expect. The rows of terracotta mullions – the vertical bars between window panes – on the museum’s cladding were designed by Basel-based architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron (HdM). Serving as sun-shading louvres for the structure’s interiors, the angled slats also feature grooves for insetting the LED lights that comprise the screen. And when it came to designing the M+ Facade, HdM tapped Valentin Spiess, founder of Basel-based media architecture studio IArt.

In an interview with the online M+ Magazine, Spiess explained that it was necessary to “find solutions to apply a digital layer into the physical layer, to integrate the screen into the architecture and the grooves of the building”.

IArt used models and simulations to understand the effects on the facade of light emitted by the M+ building and the wider city. The studio’s solution was “a hybrid low-contrast and high-contrast system that projects and creates depth and texture on screen”. Images are displayed with the lowest power consumption possible under prevailing environmental conditions. “The hybrid system controls the aesthetics of the facade and compensates for the gaps between the LEDs that generate a halo effect,” added Spiess.

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How are works presented on the M+ Facade?

“Hand Me Your Trust is created with this illusion of 3D depth,” Wong told M+ Magazine. “The images don’t extend to the borders, creating a work that looks almost as if it’s floating in the sky.”

Indeed, the work’s various disembodied hands in perpetual motion appear like independent creatures in their own right. Hands open to reveal hands opening, revealing more hands opening … to infinity – resembling both a flower blooming and sea anemone. In the artist’s words, “My work looks at hands not only as working and creating, but also ornamentally: our hands can be beautiful extensions of our emotions – to communicate with other living beings without words.”

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In this case, the artist chose to embrace the light interference coming from the M+ building and the wider city. “Pau experimented with the way her pixels would interact with the visual noise … creating images that would dance with the ambient light,” said Blair at the time.

When can the current M+ Facade show be seen?

As in the last two years, the film co-commissioned by M+ and Art Basel is being shown from 7pm to 9pm daily. For anyone spending time around the fragrant harbour this spring, it will be hard to miss, beaming out at the same time every night until June 9, before the next quarterly work is unveiled.

So what will be brightening up our night skies next? “Following Sparrow on the Sea, we will present a digital interactive work that connects the interior of the museum with the M+ Facade and the streets of Hong Kong,” said Blair. “In the autumn, we will present a live-action film shot in the Pearl River Delta and Greater Bay Area, as well as Yunnan.”