COVID-26: Bad Bias in the Body

What remains in the body after COVID-era anti-Asian racism? A multidisciplinary event exploring how anti-Asian hate during COVID registered in the body and how it might be released together. A curated three-act programme of movement, film and sound performance. With live performances from Ming Chin Hsieh and Angela Wai Nok Hui.

Presented by: Bad Bias

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0	LONDON: The Horse hospital
P	Monday 30th March, 2026
N	7:30pm

Event information

COVID-26: Bad Bias in the Body explores what remains in the body after COVID-era anti-Asian racism and how it might be released together.

During the pandemic, East and Southeast Asian communities became highly visible targets of racism worldwide. While many of these experiences remained unaddressed and were treated as isolated incidents, they left traces that continue to shape how people perceive and move through the world.

COVID-26: Bad Bias in the Body begins from the recognition that these experiences continue to linger in the body as residues, and therefore explores them through a shared sensory and physical experience.

Bringing together artists from diverse East and Southeast Asian backgrounds, Bad Bias revisits these experiences through artistic experimentation in 2026, transforming what once felt scattered and individual into a collective moment of reflection and release.

Programme

The evening unfolds across three acts. Audiences are encouraged to experience the full programme.

Act 1 : Movement (Ming Chin Hsieh)

The Weight of a Word is a contemporary dance performance responding to anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through rope, spoken words and facemasks, the piece explores how language, fear and bias can restrain and dehumanise the body, while gradually opening a space for reflection and resilience.

Act 2 : Short Film Programme

A curated programme of four short films exploring pandemic memory and anti-Asian racism. Moving from specific experiences to broader historical and social contexts, the films situate these stories within longer histories of racism while reframing ESEA identities through ESEA perspectives.
Films line up: COVID Dystopia (2023), Wuhan Driver (2021), Centuries and Still (2021), Sunny (2020)


Act 3 : Sound Performance (Angela Wai Nok Hui)

The Church Bell Cancels is a live sound performance centred around the resonance of a church bell. Through vibration, silence and the echo of the room, the work transforms the space into a shared sonic environment where personal and collective stories resonate through the body.


Bad Bias is a London-based organisation producing multidisciplinary events centred on East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) arts and culture. Through curated programmes and experimental formats, we collaborate with ESEA creatives to create safe and creative spaces where artists and audiences can engage with ESEA cultures and stories.

@badbias.official
badbias.uk@gmail.com