Umi Ishihara: Nocturnal Melody (Exhibition at esea contemporary)

esea contemporary presents Nocturnal Melody, a solo exhibition by Umi Ishihara, touring from Gasworks, London. Inviting us to enter a world of nocturnal animals, the exhibition unfolds within the transformative space of the night, where women come to life after dark: eyes glowing, claws extended, climbing high.

Upon entering the space, Nocturnal Vibration's strange, dissonant animal calls reverberate through the room interwoven with distorted fragments of club music. The sound installation creates an embodied experience of rupture and not-belonging, expanding within an unsettling sonic landscape.

Moving into the main gallery, the film Nocturnal Melody follows the experiences of Eri and Catalina, two dancers based in Tokyo whose lives are fuelled by music, nightlife and desire. They share their stories of childhood, growing up, dreams and politics as we join them in dressing rooms, dancing on stage and in the club, all under a cloak of darkness. In this world, orthodox rules and societal expectations loosen their hold; performance, labour, intimacy and sociality become intertwined in everyday life. As the film shifts amongst different registers, including documentary footage, interviews-to-camera, night vision shots and saturated glimpses of Tokyo at night, we're offered fleeting insight into the complexity of their lives and the roles they occupy.

Ishihara's participation in the alternative worlds of Nocturnal Melody has precedent in her upbringing. Growing up with parents involved in the free rave scene in Japan in the 1990s immersed her from a young age in a world populated by people pushed to the margins of society who found solace in music. As the film’s narrator, Ishihara accompanies Eri, Catalina and their friends as a nocturnal animal, her voiceover bridging stories of pleasure and vulnerability in spaces that come alive after dark.

Shot on-location in Tokyo, and at Madam Woo's gentleman's club in the Shibuya district, Nocturnal Melody is interspersed with dream-like sequences of Ishihara's stylised nocturnal animals roaming the streets, licking and clambering over each other. With their night vision and proclivity for climbing, these creatures have adapted to move through the city with ease, navigating and reshaping the contours of their surroundings.

On the other side of the gallery, these animals take over. Bathed in blue light, we see them grind, bump and slide over surfaces, playing with themselves, each other, and with stacks of fake money. Dressed in pearlescent skinsuits, these uncanny creatures appear at once otherworldly and untamed – only within this space, beyond the constraint of dominant social structures, are they able to exist freely.

Exhibition dates: 10 October 2026 – 17 January 2027

Free entry, no booking required.

Opening hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10am–5pm, Sunday 12pm–5pm. Closed Mondays and Bank Holidays.

esea contemporary, 13 Thomas Street, Manchester M4 1EU

Find out more info on eseacontemporary.org/exhibition/umi-ishihara-nocturnal-melody

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