Reading Circle: Talking Beasts and Trickster Tongues

Reading Circle: Talking Beasts and Trickster Tongues

esea contemporary × the Whitworth

📅 21 August 2025⏰.6pm - 8pm

📍the Whitworth

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Step into a world where animals test our wits, slip between worlds, and hold up a mirror to human desire.

Presented in collaboration with the Whitworth, this evening of collective reading invites you on a journey across continents and centuries, weaving together voices and texts in dialogue with Slavs and Tatars: The Contest of the Fruits, currently on view at esea contemporary.

Together, we will read ‘The Conference of the Birds’, a Persian classic by Attar of Nishapur, which is closely tied to Slavs and Tatars’s exhibition. In the poem, a council of birds embark on a journey through the seven valleys to find the legendary Simurgh. Along the way, they are blighted by forces of nature and their own shortcomings.

Our path will then lead us to Southeast Asia to encounter Sang Kancil, the cunning mousedeer of Malay folklore. We begin with a screening of 'Hikayat Sang Kancil' (Tale of the Mousedeer), a classic Malaysian animation from the 1980s that delighted generations with its mischievous animal tales. This familiar childhood story sets the stage for Hazri Haili’s sharp and provocative re-examination of Sang Kancil, questioning how the mousedeer’s trickster values—once a source of gleeful resistance—become normalised in adulthood and ultimately weaponised by the powerful.

A few animal and bird masks will be provided. The participants are encouraged to bring their own.

This session will be led by Valentin Diaconov, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Whitworth, and Jo-Lene Ong, Curator at esea contemporary.

About the venue

The Whitworth is a venue with level access throughout, and facilities to support you during your visit. Alongside this our visitor team will be on hand to assist you in the gallery. Find out more about planning your visit to the Whitworth and accessibility information for you.

If you’d like to speak to a team member about any access or additional needs, please get in touch with the gallery and we will be happy to assist you. Email whitworth@manchester.ac.uk or telephone 0161 275 7450.

The Whitworth art gallery and gardens is driven by a mission to work with communities to use art for positive social change, and actively addresses what matters most in people’s lives. We are proudly part of The University of Manchester, operating as a convening space between the University and the people of the city.

(Credit: Slavs and Tatars. ‘Simurgh Self-Help’, installation view. Photo by Jules Lister).