I am a visual artist with a keen interest in body and space. In my projects, I examine debatable forms of linguistic mistakes or “dirty” environments which are subject to human control. I do this by exploring ways of subverting predominant authoritarian systems of knowledge and the dichotomy between right and wrong, good and bad.

Within my work I reflect on my lived experience of continuously being corrected for spelling mistakes, due to my dyslexia. These dissonances or errors are carefully corrected in our current-day society, as anything outside the norm is deemed unproductive and therefore excluded. By exposing the hidden dynamics of the power relations that structure and regulate the way we were taught to distinguish right from wrong, I question how those systems came into existence and who holds the position to dictate those binary oppositions.

My iterative research projects consist of installations, videos, sculptures and props that sometimes function as the stage for performances. With these site-specific environments I create echo spaces that are full of repetition, dogma and correction: like a bathroom, classroom, ballet studio or autopsy theater.
CV
Benjamin Francis, Lives and works in Rotterdam
Residency:
2019 Künstlerhäuser Worpswede
2022  Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn
2022  Het HEM, Zaandam

Eduaction:
2016 - 2020  Bear ArtEZ, Arnhem. Tutors James Beckett & Edward Clydesdale Thomson  
2012 - 2016  GLR -  Graphic design
Shows
2023
Singular art, Groupshow, Nijmegen
If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam  - Open rehearsal , curated by Mini Maxwell

2022
Singular art,Solo , Nijmegen
Kunsthuis SYB, Groningen -The Sybren Hellinga Art Prize, curated by Titus Nouwens
NDSM Museumnacht - curated bij Jarwo Gibson
Het HEM, Groupshow: Detail - Zaandam - curated by Rieke Leonie
Nieuw en meer, Group show - Show me what you got, curated by Chantal van Lieshout
Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn - A body without it's flesh part 2
Tinimini Room, Dordrecht

2021
SECONDroom Antwerpen - Crypt
MUTTER, Amsterdam, BLOOD/SEA  - curated by Àngels Miralda  
Singular Art  - This Art fair  
P/////AKT,Amsterdam,Netherlands -  The removal of the eye
P/////AKT, Amsterdam, Netherlands - A body without it's flesh
P/////AKT, Amsterdam,Netherlands - Duo show with Tessa Langeveld
Allél0n Rotterdam -  London - Maundy
Het HEM All In, Zaandam, Netherlands - Copy & Paste
W139 Group show: Love For Sale, Amsterdam - Bathouse
2020
Wentelteefjes, Arnhem, Netherlands  - Bathouse
Productiehuis Plaatsmaken, Arnhem, Netherlands   - Bathouse
Omstand Arnhem, Arnhem, Netherlands  - Graduation project  
Grants & prizes
Amarte fonds
Stichting Niemeijerfonds
Nomination for: SYBREN HELLINGA ART PRIZE
Publication

Feature
Daily Lazy - The removal of the eye
Lost painters - Eindexamenpresentaties
YYYYMMDD - The removal of the eye
KUNSTBLIJFTEENRAADSEL - Eindexamenpresentaties
Art viewer - Postcards from the edge
TrendBeheer - Rondje P/////AKT
Kuba Paris - BLOOD/SEA 
Ulay Foundation -  BODY ECSTATIC BODY ECLECTIC BODY ECCENTRIC
Metropolis M - The Real (E)State: On the Fate of Artistic and Cultural Spaces in the City

Review:
Lost painters - Eindexamen Bear
KUNSTBLIJFTEENRAADSEL – ‘A Body Without Its Flesh’ 

Interview:
tique - SIX QUESTIONS 
Kunstradar - Podcast
Glitch Magazine - How did you choose your career path?
Publication
De appel - somemerunschool 
P/////AKT- catalogue  text by: Àngels Miralda, Laura van Grinsven en Nesli Gül Durukan
ALL INN - exhibition catalogue
Artez 2020 -  ‘something where there should be nothing’ exhibition catalogue

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