Rie Nakajima

On 18 April I played with Pierre Berthet @p1erreberthet in Liege (thank you for organising it @centrehenripousseur )! This day was my 25th anniversary of arriving in London and I never thought I have lived in the place for this long. Also never really thought I would have started making sound and performing in front of many small audiences that time… it’s a substantial amount of time to feel a life! Thank you 🙏 Photo and moving image by @omnimemento (with whom we celebrated 20 years of friendship this year ☺️)

We are thrilled to announce the first event at HillTalk Malvern: Live Performance in a Living Bookshop, featuring London-based sound artist and sculptor Rie Nakajima, joined by musician and visual artist Billy Steiger. Saturday 16 May Approx. 4:30–5:30pm HillTalk Malvern Ground Floor, 2nd St Ann’s Road, Malvern, WR14 4RG Free admission / walk-in welcome For this special performance, Nakajima and Steiger will activate the bookshop as a living, temporal situation of sound, place-making and duration. Nakajima’s installation is composed of motorised bricolages assembled from everyday objects: foil sheets, found materials and industrial remnants. Once activated, these small kinetic sculptures begin to behave almost like living creatures - shivering, spinning, colliding and producing fragile percussive sounds. Steiger’s violin enters this shifting environment as another fluctuating presence, moving between improvisation, folk fragments and experimental sound. His playing opens a space where melody, texture and imagination meet the delicate mechanical life of Nakajima’s objects. Set within the bookshop space of HillTalk Malvern, Live Performance in a Living Bookshop brings together books, paintings, plants, objects and sounds in a shared space of listening and encounter. It explores the hidden textures of Malvern - its landscapes, memories, magic, silences and quiet transformations. It will be unfolded in two sets - space and time. —— Rie Nakajima is a sculptor and sound artist based in London. Her work exists on the borderline between sculpture and music, using motorised devices, everyday materials, chance and improvisation. Billy Steiger is a musician and visual artist. Born in Howth in 1986, he now plays the violin. “Then he sat down by a pond and began to play a tune. As he played, the most extraordinary thing happened. One by one the fish in the pond began to jump out and fly about in the air. And what is more, they were all different colours and they were singing to the music.” Patrick, Quentin Blake. Please join us for an intimate afternoon of sound, objects, books and listening. @sophiexdottie @rierice @billy_steiger #HillTalkMalvern #Valeriewang

Don’t miss the chance to see Hyunhye (Angela) Seo of Xiu Xiu play an intimate London venue on 7 May. Angela will be supported by Rie Nakajima. Tickets on Real Sounds + DICE Hyunhye (Angela) Seo is an artist exploring experimental composition and expression of sound, creating deep turbulent soundscapes through ecstatic piano improvisations, dynamic percussion, and cavernous acoustic treatments. Her live performances are uncompromising in its open and immediate exploration of sounds, pulling from experimental noise, modern classical, avant-garde jazz, and ambient territories. She has also been writing, recording, producing and performing dozens of works for over a decade as an active member of the musical group Xiu Xiu, which has gained international recognition for experimental and avant-garde musical composition and performances, including in numerous collaborations with other musical and visual artists. In 2021, Hyunhye released her solo album, Strands, which expands into the genres of experimental modern classical and improvisational music. In Strands, she explores abstract soundscapes built with processed percussion, improvisational piano, and dark ambient material. Her 2023 release, EEL, builds on the foundations of piano and percussion, and explores sounds using both traditional and found instruments, such as gongs, sheet metal, found wood, and marble. In December 2025 Ubi KU imprint will release “Continuation” a cascading piano improvisation by Hyunhye Seo – processed in real time by Jamie Stewart and later mixed by Giuseppe Ielasi -recorded live at MAO – Museo d’Arte Orientale in Turin, Italy. On side B Phew – a pioneering figure in Japanese avant‑garde music since the late 1970s – reinterprets Seo’s work.

Rie Nakajima (@rierice ), ospite alle OGR (@ogr_torino ) per il public programme condiviso tra MAO e OGR (Evolving Soundscapes, @leemurphymurphylee ), racconta la sua pratica tra mottainai, materiali di scarto e casualità. L’intervista è online per #MAOTempoPresente su Il Giornale dell’Arte (@ilgiornaledellarte ), a cura di Chiara Lee e Alessandro Muner (@alemuner ). 📌 Scoprila al link in bio. . . Rie Nakajima at OGR for the joint public programme by MAO and OGR (Evolving Soundscapes) reflects on her practice through mottainai, discarded materials, and chance. The interview is now online for #MAOTempoPresente on Il Giornale dell’Arte, curated by Chiara Lee and Alessandro Muner (@alemuner ). 📌 More at the link in bio. #MAOTempoPresente #RieNakajima #EvolvingSoundscapes

SUPPORT ANNOUNCEMENT 📣 Rie Nakajima Will be supporting Support Hyunhye (Angela) Seo of Xiu Xiu on 🗓️7 May 2026 📍 SJQ 🎫 now on Real Sounds Rie Nakajima is a sculptor living in London. She creates sounds using a combination of motorised devices and everyday objects in the context of installations and performances. Her art exists on the borderline of sculpture and music, open to chance and the influence of others. Improvisation is at the heart of her work. The first major solo exhibition was held at IKON Gallery in Birmingham in 2018. She has also worked with Museo Vostell Malpartida (Cáceres), Annely Juda Gallery (London), Association de Le Cyclop (Milly la Forêt), STUK (Leuven), ShugoArts (Tokyo), Donaueschinger Music Festival (Donaueschinger), Cafe OTO (London) and many others. Collaboration is an essential part of her practice with frequent collaborators, Pierre Berthet, Angharad Davies, Keiko Yamamoto, David Cunningham, Max Eastley, Yuko Shiraishi, David Toop and Akira Sakata.

Thank you @eavesdropping.london , @cafeotodalston for creating such a supportive, relaxing, warm situation last night. Also thank you for bbc 3 for the careful recording of my quiet and many sound! A happy one!

Rie Nakajima (@rierice ) shares some videos of her devices and objects ahead of her performance on Sunday 22nd March at @cafeotodalston . Come along to witness more combinations of intriguing items and sounds! #rienakajima #newmusic #eavesdroppingfestival #cafeoto #musicfestival

Our closing event of the eavesdropping festival: Rie Nakajima (@rierice ) and Zosha Warpeha (@zoshazosha ) perform at Cafe OTO on Sunday 22nd March. The programming within each set is artist-led: repertoire is only announced on the night. Join us for an adventure in sound and experimental instrumentation, and to close out this year’s festival. Link in bio as always 🔗 #newmusic #rienakajima #zoshawarpeha #electronicmusıc #hardangerdamore Photos by Giorgio Perrottino and Zosha Warpeha

Host Juliet Fraser talks to Rie Nakajima (@rierice ) about trying to make sculpture, trying to be a human being and never mastering the spirit of objects. Rie will perform in the eavesdropping festival at Cafe OTO on Sunday 22 March 2026. Link to tickets and Rie’s recommended listening in bio 👂🔗 #rienakajima #newmusic #eavesdroppingfestival #cafeoto #contemporarymusic

[ LES PHOTOS DU FESTIVAL ] ​ Jeudi 12 février • Alfortville • @lamuseencircuit ​ ✦ 𝗥𝗶𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝗸𝗮𝗷𝗶𝗺𝗮 & 𝗟𝗲̂ 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗵 // 𝗖𝗿𝗲́𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Rie Nakajima @rierice • objets Lê Quan Ninh • percussions ​ © @nadegelelezec

Monday 2nd March at Cafe Oto ☝️ Akira Sakata + Yuko Shiraishi + Rie Nakajima (trio) & Akira Sakata +Yan Jun (duo) & OYAMAO (Keiko Yamamoto, Marie Roux, Billy Steiger, Rie Nakajima) words, saxophone, voice, hitting, objects, landscape, drums, bells observations, violins etc in this place, in this moment ☺️ It’ll be also live streamed! @marieroux_0 @oyamaoooo @oyamaok @billy_steiger @yukoshiraishi36 @akira8262 @yanjunbeijing @cafeotodalston