Entry
£10 low income / £14 standard
Date
Fri 11 Dec 2026, 6–9.00pm
Time
6–9.00pm (bar open from 5.30pm)
Location
Foyle Rooms, Turner Contemporary
An evening of live performance, sound and collective improvisation, bringing together RIEKO and Margate’s creative communities to celebrate the finale of her SEANCES residency at Turner Contemporary.
SEANCES by RIEKO: Ensemble Performance
RIEKO invites collaborators Ezekiel, Ted Rogers and Raven Bush to present works-in-progress developed during her residency at Turner Contemporary. The evening also features collective performances by SEANCES participants, embodied healing communities Solstice Studio and Queer Fight Club, and special guests, all brought together through improvisational scores performed by a curated ensemble of local musicians.
SEANCES by RIEKO: Ensemble is the public finale of a four-part workshop series exploring intuition through somatic meditation, automatic writing and sound. The event celebrates the diverse creative communities in Margate that continue to inform and inspire RIEKO’s artistic and relational practice.
Metanoia: Live performance and film premiere
During the evening, RIEKO will premiere a live performance of Metanoia, her forthcoming audio-visual project, alongside a screening of the film's visuals, currently in post-production.
Written over several years along the coasts of Kent and her hometown in Southern California, Metanoia is co-directed by Ezekiel, with movement direction by Ted Rogers and violin composition by Raven Bush.
The 2027 release is the final EP in RIEKO’s mythology-themed world-building trilogy, following Regenesis (2023) and Zakuro (2026). Inspired by historical accounts of an encounter in 1803, in which a mysterious woman washed ashore on the coast of Japan inside an unidentified submerged vessel, now referred to as utsurobune, the work explores themes of identity, belonging and transformation.
In RIEKO's own words, 'Metanoia considers the experience of personal alienation – as an immigrant, an outsider, a woman and an artist – and how this feeling can be transformed into a navigational north star towards a greater collective calling'.
Filmed entirely on analogue 16mm across psychogeographically charged sites including Reculver Towers and the Shell Grotto, the visuals bring together the sonic, cinematic and supernatural in an anachronistic coastal gothic opera. The project will be released in spring 2027 via Diasporas Now.
Programme
5.30pm – Bar opens in the Sunley Gallery
6pm – Doors open in the Foyle Rooms
6–6.30pm –Welcome and soundscape
An opening soundscape created from sessions two and three of the SEANCES workshops, with synth and production support by Clémentine Blue, followed by a welcome from RIEKO.
6.30–7pm – SEANCES collective performance
A live collective performance, recorded, looped and choreographed in real time, with movement direction by Ted Rogers and accompanied by the musical ensemble.
7–7.10pm – Intermission
Spoken word and somatic meditation by Ted Rogers.
7.10–7.30pm – Queer Fight Club
A Muay Thai and spoken word performance accompanied by the ensemble, with creative direction support from RIEKO.
7.30–7.40pm – Intermission
Activation by Tolu Oshodi.
7.40–8pm – Solstice Studio
A pole performance accompanied by the ensemble, with creative direction support from RIEKO.
8–8.10pm – Intermission
A soundscape drawn from the SEANCES collective performance.
8.10–8.30pm – RIEKO: Metanoia
A live performance by RIEKO, accompanied by a screening of Metanoia, with violin by Raven Bush, drums by Graham Godfrey and movement direction by Ro Taylor, incorporating floor work and pole.
8.30–9pm – In conversation
RIEKO is joined by Ezekiel and Ted Rogers for a conversation and audience Q&A.
9pm – Event ends
RIEKO
RIEKO (Rieko Whitfield) is a Japanese-born ritual composer who merges live art and experimental music into large-scale ceremonies, taking the form of participatory performance, public programming and artist-led cultural infrastructure. She has piloted R&D programmes at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, with her organisation Diasporas Now, and Turner Contemporary, following residencies at Tate Modern and Tate Britain.
SEANCES by RIEKO: Ensemble platforms RIEKO’s extended community of primarily queer, FLINTA and POC artists, reimagining conscious placemaking as artistic world-building while connecting the local to the global amid Margate’s ongoing transformation.
Ezekiel
Ezekiel is a multidisciplinary artist whose work engages with the intricacies and nuances of gender, sexuality and identity through an intimately queer gaze. Working across photography, filmmaking, curation and publishing, their practice is deeply informed by their transnational upbringing and experiences as a first-generation immigrant navigating tensions between Eastern and Western cultures. Through this lens, Ezekiel’s work critically examines the politics of modern representation and colonial frameworks, challenging a predominantly white, heteronormative visual culture.
Ted Rogers
Ted Rogers is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Margate. Their work originates in movement and expands into painting, poetry and dance workshops, which have become gathering points for the local creative community at both Tracey Emin’s TKE Studios and Turner Contemporary. Ted focuses on the deeply emotional aspects of humanity, including expulsion, failure, spaciousness and vulnerability, through an approach that is intuitive and spiritual.
Raven Bush
Raven Bush, also known by his solo project alias M2C, is an Ivor Novello Award-winning composer, a member of Speakers Corner Quartet and a South East Coast native. Drawing on his lifelong relationship with strings, he combines extended-range violins with effects pedals, modular synthesis and production to create a distinctive sound spanning classical, folk and improvisation. His collaborations include Beth Gibbons, Archie Shepp, Mulatu Astatke, Kae Tempest, Joy Crookes, Ben Howard and Young Fathers.
Tolu Oshodi
Tolu Oshodi is an interdisciplinary artist and Intimacy Coordinator with an embodied and ritualistic practice anchored in movement, photography and film. Her practice explores intimacy and the cyclical nature of human experience, with a particular interest in the sexual politics of the Black female body and erotic expression, drawing on her background in dance, psychology and involvement in the UK Ballroom scene. Her work has been presented and facilitated across cultural spaces including the National Gallery, Tate Britain, The Place, Turner Contemporary and Reference Point. Tolu is a former resident of Margate.
Ro Taylor – Solstice Studio
Ro is a multidisciplinary movement artist, specialising in pole dance and circus skills for over 10 years. In 2021, they moved to Margate to establish Solstice Studio, a safe space for celebration, inclusivity and joy. They have choreographed and performed at the Horniman Museum, the Crab Museum and Carl Freedman Gallery with artist Lindsey Mendick, alongside community events at Margate Arts Club, Faith in Strangers, Margate Festival and Margate Pride.
Liv Wilson – Solstice Studio
Liv is a pole movement artist and instructor whose journey began dancing in strip clubs before moving into work as a mental health advocate and somatic healer, connecting participants with their own sensual liberation. She teaches her signature freestyle flow at Solstice Studio in Margate, as well as at pole studios across Canterbury, Whitstable, Gravesend and beyond.
Zara – Queer Fight Club
Zara is a Broadstairs native and founder of Margate’s Queer Fight Club, where she has been “arming the dolls” by offering free Muay Thai classes to queer people since 2022, fostering safety and empowerment within the community. She has over a decade of martial arts experience and also works across poetry, including a commission by Margate Pride at Turner Contemporary in 2024, and performance, with an upcoming residency at Tom Thumb Theatre.
Clémentine Blue
Clémentine Blue is a French-born visual artist and ambient music maker currently based in Margate. Using analogue synthesisers, vocals and field recordings, Blue explores our relationship with the natural landscape through experimental sound.
Related Events
-
Workshops & CoursesSEANCES by RIEKO: In Residence
10 Oct–11 Dec 2026, Various times£100 full course / £30 individual session / £75 concessionA four-part exploration of intuition, ritual, writing and performance, culminating in a shared public presentation.
Book your place -
Food & DrinkYule! A Feast Through the History of Christmas
Thu 3 & Fri 4 Dec 2026, 7–10pm£80 including welcome drinkExplore festive traditions, art, food and folklore with Louisa Mokadem.
Learn More
