When Sweetman and Sully published the open call for the issue in August of 2020, the aim was to propose different definitions of ‘safe’ and ‘risk’ to work with. For example, within the field of art, how might we come to a mutual and workable understanding of these two terms across so many different agendas and personal experiences and needs? Yet since October 2020, when the first contributions were submitted, a lot has changed. And even before that, back when they first set to work on the topic, neither the editors nor the contributors could have foreseen how timely the topic of safety would become in our lives.

As such, by taking into account the developments of recent events—both locally and internationally—this podcast reflects on what has happened since the issue went to print, translating different forms of contributions to their aural counterpart and inviting you to listen along to what has since been written between the lines. Given that a very real threat to our safety—that of Covid-19—prevented a more traditional launch event, what is presented here could be heard as a launch of sorts. Alongside reflections from the co-editors, the episode includes contributions from artist Anna Daučíková, artist and technician Mark Friedlander, researcher and educator Tom Clark, curator and philosopher Srajana Kaikini and artist Lee Kit.