Moving Image from the Mori Art Museum Collection

As part of Japan Week and From Tokyo to Manchester — a weekend festival celebrating contemporary culture across borders — esea contemporary presents two thoughtfully curated screening programmes featuring moving image works from the collection of the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, one of Asia’s leading institutions for contemporary art.

Presented in two parts — Rhythms of the Earth and Feminist & Queer Reflections— the programme brings together lyrical meditations on survival, resilience, and transformation, alongside incisive perspectives on gender, desire, family, and memory. Featured artists include Mako Idemitsu, Maiko Jinushi, Tsubasa Kato, Futoshi Miyagi, Hiraki Sawa, Momoko Seto, Koki Tanaka, Chikako Yamashiro, Taguchi Yukihiro, and Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group.

Programme I: Rhythms of the Earth

14:00–15:00

This programme offers a visual meditation on survival, resilience, and transformation across human and more-than-human worlds. Through a selection of lyrical and contemplative works, it foregrounds the quiet tensions and subtle harmonies that reveal the planet as a living, moving entity.

• Momoko Seto, Planet ∑ (2014) – 11’40
• Chim↑Pom from Smappa! Group, Black of Death (2007) – 9’13
• Koki Tanaka, Fly Me To The Moon (2001) – 3’43
• Tsubasa Kato, Break It Down Before It’s Broken (2015) – 4’49
• Taguchi Yukihiro, Moment, Performative Hills (2011) – 6’20
• Chim↑Pom from Smappa! Group, KI-AI 100 (2011) – 10’30
• Hiraki Sawa, Airliner (2003) – 3’00

Programme II: Feminist & Queer Reflections

15:15–17:00

This programme foregrounds feminist and queer perspectives through works that are raw, intimate, and unapologetically personal. Drawing on family archives, constructed narratives, and mythic fictions, the selected films examine desire, memory, and identity with both emotional intensity and critical urgency.

• Mako Idemitsu, HIDEO, It’s Me MAMA (1983) – 27’00
• Chikako Yamashiro, Seaweed Woman (2008) – 7’15
• Futoshi Miyagi, The Ocean View Resort (2013) – 19’25
• Maiko Jinushi, A New Experience of Love (2016) – 42’00

Experience two compelling screening programmes exploring resilience, transformation, and care — for ourselves and the world we inhabit. Presented with the generous support of the Mori Art Museum.Booking is essential, as spaces are limited.

About esea contemporary

esea contemporary is the UK’s only non-profit art centre specialising in presenting and platforming artists and art practices that identify with and are informed by East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) cultural backgrounds.

esea contemporary is situated in an award-winning building in the heart of Manchester, home to one of the largest East Asian populations in the UK. Since its inauguration as a community-oriented visual arts festival in 1986, esea contemporary – previously named Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art – has continuously evolved to establish itself as a dynamic and engaging space for cross-cultural exchanges in the British art scene, as well as in a global context.

esea contemporary aims to increase the visibility of contemporary art practices from the East and Southeast Asian communities and their diasporas. It is a site for forward-thinking art programmes that beyond exhibitions also include commissions, research, residencies, publishing, and a wide range of vibrant public events. esea contemporary values creativity, compassion, interconnectedness, and collectivity in implementing its mission.

Photo by Joe Smith.