At the National Gallery of Victoria, the ancient terracotta warriors of Xi’an are exhibited with the work of contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang, provoking a conversation about history, legacy and immortality.

While old-style public housing apartment blocks conjure fond memories of the ‘real’ Hong Kong, a flawed system has seen them unable to keep up with demand, leading to near-intolerable living conditions for many tenants.

Morning in the Shik restaurant kitchen with Peter Jo.

A walk through the mind of MC Escher with Oki Sato, from Japanese design studio Nendo.

A conversation side-stage with the director of Victorian Opera’s Lorelei.

Where once he was Tickled, New Zealand documentary-maker David Farrier has most recently devoted himself to visiting ghoulish sites of so-called ‘dark tourism’. Here, he talks about murky ethics, Kiwi sensibilities and the pressure to react the ‘right’ way. “There’s one point where I’ve got a gun to my head and I laugh, because I’m sort of nervous. “Some people will say to me that it was really inappropriate to laugh at that point … [But] that’s what happened. It’s uncomfortable laughter. We wanted to leave all that in.”

Pizza with “full-time geek” and entrepreneur Skaidris Gunsmith.

Michelle Law is a prolific writer, working across stage and screen, whose biggest achievement is in telling the stories of an unrepresented migrant experience. “A lot of people would come out and be like, ‘I’ve never seen a story that I could relate to in that way’ and ‘That was me growing up’ or ‘That’s me now’.”

An American stand-up comic writes about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs.