YOU BELONG HERE
ESEA Unseen
Friday 16 - Sunday 18 August 2024
Southbank Centre
At a moment when East and Southeast Asian contemporary arts and music were gaining more attention, ESEA Unseen wanted to use the opportunity to platform long standing ESEA performers and creative energies. Each of the three days had a different focus, with a joyful emphasis on sharing ESEA communities with a wider audience.
Chance Encounters took place on Friday night. As the opening event, it was a feel-good sonic evening highlighting experimental and electronic ESEA artists. Compèred by Sue and Kim from ESEA Unseen, it featured live DJ sets by Filipino electronic musician So Sha, British/Chinese-Malaysian experimental DJ Rowan Allen and British/Hong Kong artist MUI ZYU.
Happenstance was an all-day event on Saturday, compèred by Jenny Lau from Celestial Peach. It featured DJ sets by musician and producer angeladotwav, and Andrew Hung from Fuck Buttons, followed by a stunning live guzheng set from Jett Kwong. ESEA Unseen were delighted to welcome Vietnamese artist Will Pham and the VLC Band, the house band from Vietnamese community centre Centre 151 who have been active since the mid-1980s. Pham’s live performance combined spoken text with music drawn from the band’s repertoire. The evening was rounded up with acclaimed yangqin performer Mantawoman 漫她我梦 and her psychedelic hypnopop songs.
Fabulation on Sunday was a family-focused event, transforming Riverside Terrace into an open community space, with beanbags for audiences to lie on. A public sound bath by Sound Mirror was followed by a performance of Pinoy heritage-inflected movement and dance by Labada Monologues, and an ESEA Life Drawing session accompanied by a DJ set by Raimung Wong. Fabulation was compèred by ESEA Unseen.
You Belong Here was produced by Southbank Centre.
Photos by Pete Woodhead & Sue Man