Returning: Chapter 2 takes the form of four newly commissioned moving image works by Australian and Taiwanese artists. Conceived as a visual experience, exclusive to Stream, this chapter builds upon chapter 1 of Returning, an online contemporary art project that coheres succinct meditations on the events, experiences and propositions of recent history.

Critical, engaged and historically grounded, Chapter 2 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, soundtrack, 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 with C-Lab, Taiwan and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan.