Exhibition Preview 'Chris Zhongtian Yuan: Two Improvisations'

Join us for the preview of at esea contemporary, the first UK institutional solo exhibition by Chris Zhongtian Yuan. Born in Wuhan and based in London, Yuan is an artist and filmmaker who works across video, sound, performance, and sculpture, using improvisation and storytelling to explore how personal histories, subcultures and marginalised communities sit within broader political, cultural and institutional narratives.

Taking place during esea contemporary’s 40th anniversary year, the exhibition also coincides with the 40th anniversary of Manchester and Wuhan’s twinning as sister cities — placing within a broader history of cross-cultural artistic dialogue and exchange.

Two Improvisations: A Punk Musical (2026), commissioned by esea contemporary, forms the second instalment of a planned film and performance trilogy examining the Yěrén (野人), a mysterious ape-like figure rooted in Chinese history and folklore. For Yuan, this elusive ‘wild man’ becomes a stand-in for the artist: a figure both visible and othered, alternately mythologised, pursued, and misunderstood.

The new commission, shown in the main gallery, comprises two films that combine stop-motion animation and musical performance. In the Communal Project Space, a stage lined with handmade props brings the film's miniature world into tangible form.

Underpinned by punk impulses of rebellion and the handmade, and arising defiantly from a particular cultural moment, Two Improvisations mobilises DIY as a method and a stance, generating visual and aural stimuli that resist disciplinary containment.

Advance booking for this free event is recommended due to limited capacity.

About Chris Zhongtian Yuan

Chris Zhongtian Yuan (b. 1988, Wuhan) is an artist based in London. Their practice centres on ‘punk filmmakingʼ, which deploys techniques drawn from improvisational music and experimental animation. Moving fluidly between reality and myth, digital and analogue, Yuan's work examines the role of memory in familial, domestic and institutional spaces and relationships.

Yuan has presented work internationally, including at John Hansard Gallery; Studio Voltaire; Surplus Space, Wuhan; Current Plans, Hong Kong; Somerset House; Reading International; Macalline Art Center, Beijing; The Courtauld Institute of Art; Kunsthal Rotterdam; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen; Guangdong Times Museum; Whitechapel Gallery; OCAT Institute, Beijing; Power Station of Art; Videox Zurich; and the International Film Festival Rotterdam, among others. They have also contributed to the Venice Architecture Biennale (Greek Pavilion) and the B3 Moving Image Biennale. Yuan holds an AA Diploma from the Architectural Association School of Architecture

Image credit:

1. Chris Zhongtian Yuan, Two Improvisations: A Punk Musical (2026), 2-channel film. Commissioned by esea contemporary. Film still courtesy of the artist.

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 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.

Learn more at: www.eseacontemporary.org

Photo by Joe Smith.

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