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Returning - Chapter 2

  • On-demand

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.

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Serwah Attafuah x Soft Centre | Apotheosis (2021)

  • Dance
  • Film
  • On-demand

A real-time motion capture performance, in which movement artist Lydia Kivela explores a hyper-real 3D environment created by Serwah Attafuah, accompanied by an original score, performed live, by ptwiggs. Inspired by the glaring neon ambience of Spring Breakers and cyberpunk, Apotheosis ushers audiences through a hallucinogenic dreamscape populated by demons, abandoned Western Sydney landmarks and NPC doomers.

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Liminal

  • Contemporary Music
  • On-demand

Liminal is a contemporary music film series featuring eight Australian artists who created unique live performances for the screen –spotlighting BLESSED, Budjerah, Chris Abrahams, EGOISM, Liz Martin Band, Maina Doe, Ninajirachi and Young Franco.

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In Session

  • On-demand

‘In Session’ is a series of intimate, long-form music films, staged behind closed doors. In taking a highly stylised filmic approach, ‘In Session’ goes beyond the confines of a traditional performance film, giving audiences an entirely unique and close-up perspective on their favourite artists.

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Amrita Hepi (Australia)

  • On-demand

Amrita Hepi, The Anguilla Pursuit (2021), video. 4:31. Commissioned by Sydney Opera House and C-LAB, Taiwan with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan. Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery. The Anguilla Pursuit takes inspiration from the migration of the freshwater eels, Anguilla Anguilla, who travel over 2 000km from New Caledonia to freshwaters of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. In this split-channel work, Hepi personifies their journey home through the Sydney Opera House and into the waters that surround, in a dynamic chase scene. Through metaphor and allusion, Hepi’s work explores the physical and psychological dimensions of the 'oceanic feeling'.

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Riverbed Theatre (Taiwan)

  • On-demand

Riverbed Theatre, The Weight of Things (2021), video, 13:30. Commissioned by Sydney Opera House and C-LAB, Taiwan with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan. Courtesy the artists. (Craig Quintero, Lynn Yeh, Kuan-Yu Chen, John Rommereim, Carl Johnson). Imagined as a Surrealist dreamscape, the Riverbed Theatre's The Weight of Things transports audiences into the world of suspended belief through a series of striking scenes. Threaded together with a dramatic score, evocative cinematography and suggestive narrative, The Weight of Things stirs deep contemplation and reflection about our current moment. The film includes the same cinematic images with two different musical scores. In this Rashomon-inspired experiment, we are reminded that “the truth” is always clouded by our own perspective, that a twice-told tale will never be the same.

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Charwei Tsai (Taiwan)

  • On-demand

Charwei Tsai, Numbers (2022), video, 16:44. Created in collaboration with Stephen O’Malley. Commissioned by Sydney Opera House and C-LAB, Taiwan with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan. Courtesy the artist. Filmed across Australian natural environments and Sydney Opera House, Taiwanese artist Charwei Tsai’s Numbers is an evocative black and white meditation on trauma, grief and discord. Collaborating with musician Stephen O’Malley, the soundtrack features the musician Kali Malone, and five local Opera Singers, each commissioned to sing numbers significant to each artist, recounting days of separation, to ages of loved ones, to rising death tolls.

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Su Yu Hsin + Angela Goh (Taiwan, Australia)

  • On-demand

Su Yu Hsin and Angela Goh, Tidal Variations (2021), video, 14:40. Commissioned by Sydney Opera House and C-LAB, Taiwan with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan and Critical Path. Courtesy the artists. Using the lenses of technology, ecofeminism and the body, artists Su Yu Hsin and Angela Goh have reimagined the House as a speculative data centre drifting upon water where undersea cables converge. Through language, sound, animation, dance and archival footage, their commissioned artwork weaves together a layered portrait of space, time and the virtual.

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Koki Tanaka (Japan)

  • On-demand

Koki Tanaka, Reflective Notes (Reconfiguration) (2021), HD video, colour and sound, 06:32. Commissioned by The Sydney Opera House for Returning with support from The Japan Foundation, Sydney. Koki Tanaka’s video essay, Reflective Notes (Reconfiguration) explores the impact from COVID-19 and self-isolation. Drawn from his recent book, Reflective Notes (Recent Writings) published in 2020, Tanaka animates his text through archival footage drawn from his film catalogue. Central to his exposition is the metaphor of “concrete” and “abstract” which he uses to explore the clear and the abstract, the tangible and intangible, the qualitative and quantitative impacts of the pandemic. Questions are posed, answers are suggested, but ultimately, Tanaka reminds audiences that real change lies within individuals and communities. Reflective Notes (Reconfiguration) features Sydney based artist Rainbow Chan as co-narrator.

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Cherine Fahd (Australia)

  • On-demand

Cherine Fahd, Play Proximus (2021), HD video, 10:37. Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by the Sydney Opera House for Art Assembly, with support from our Corporate Partners and Donors as part of New Work Now, project donors and the ARROW Collective. An articulation of touch and intimacy, artist Cherine Fahd’s, Play Proximus documents the 50 public performances of Fahd’s participatory artwork, A Proxy for One Thousand Eyes performed as part of ANTIDOTE at Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room. Transforming these performances into 12 minutes of tender imagery, Play Proximus is a document of connection, embrace and yearning -- continuing the artist’s interest in portraiture, documentation and performance.

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