Umi Ishihara: Nocturnal Melody

Umi Ishihara brings her first solo exhibition in Europe to esea contemporary, running from 10 October 2026 to 17 January 2027. The show, Nocturnal Melody, centres on a world of nocturnal animals, and it's a double bill: the title piece is a 24-minute video with sound, and alongside it sits Nocturnal Breath, a four-minute video installation with sound, prop money and UV light. If you're not one for just wandering through on your own, there are free guided tours every Saturday throughout the run.

Ishihara was born in Tokyo in 1993 and now works between London and Tokyo. She studied Fine Arts (Inter Media Art) at Tokyo University of the Arts, graduating in 2018, and later earned an MA in Artist's Film & Moving Image from Goldsmiths, London, in 2024. Much of the thread here comes from her childhood: her parents were involved in Japan's free rave scene in the 1990s, and she grew up around people pushed to the margins of society who found solace in music. That background—the nightlife, the dancefloor, the people who live for the hours most of us sleep through—is exactly where Nocturnal Melody lands.

The film was commissioned and produced by Gasworks, London, and picked up a GQ Global Creativity Award in 2024. Ishihara narrates it herself, and it was shot on location in Tokyo, including Madam Woo's gentleman's club in Shibuya. It follows two Tokyo dancers, Eri and Catalina, whose lives are fuelled by music, nightlife and desire. It's a look at a city that doesn't stop when the sun goes down, told through the people who keep it moving. Before this, her work has been screened at the Centre Pompidou, ICA London, BFI Southbank, the Locarno Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

So, Nocturnal Melody is at esea contemporary from 10 October 2026 to 17 January 2027, with free guided tours every Saturday. It's a long run, so there's plenty of time to catch it.