Following on from Returning: Chapter 1 released exclusively on Stream in 2021, Returning: Chapter 2 builds upon this meditative digital contemporary art project, this time featuring works by four Australian and Taiwanese artists responding to the events, experiences and propositions of our recent times.
Critical, engaged and historically grounded, this chapter platforms contemporary artists with particular interests exploring autobiography, mythology and culture to address a world that seems perpetually in crisis: from the day-to-day to the shifts in politics, and existential in between. Energised with cultural opposition, reclamation, and risk-taking, their responses are entwined with the politics of this time. Using the body, music, the Opera House and the virtual as their muses, the result is a broad-ranging collection of works that read as scenes, scores and states of existence: innocence, happiness, the sublime, despair, rage, confusion and imagination.
Delving deep into their responses, we find open-ended and provocative questions designed to stir us into deeper contemplation and reflection. To fully appreciate their responses, however, requires time. The more we look, the more we see — catching glimpses into fictitious worlds that move us towards an inner illumination. A place that is both simple, complex and often beguiling. Ultimately, these artists have set their ambition to challenge us to be genuinely critical and thoughtful — asking us, as thinkers, as feelers and as witnesses to the past two years, to interrogate and engage more thoughtfully with the world around us. This is their vision of how we will return - return to the world, return to each other and most importantly, return to ourselves.
Returning: Chapter 2 is co-curated by Sydney Opera House and Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab（C-LAB）, and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan, Cultural Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Sydney, Australia.
Returning：Chapter2
Date｜2022.02.23（Wed.）— 2022.12.30（Fri.）
Link｜ Sydney Opera House
Artists｜Amrita HEPI, SU Yu-Hsin X Angela GOH, Riverbed Theatre, Charwei TSAI
Curator｜Micheal DO, WU Dar-Kuen
Co-curated with｜
Sydney Opera House、Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab（C-LAB）
Supported by｜
Cultural Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Sydney and Ministry of Culture, Taiwan