CV
Benjamin Francis
(b. 1996, SR & NL)

Guard gates
Mirror, metal, aluminium, laundry detergent 30 l

Tower itself is 1.20m x 1.20m x 2.20m ( space around it is 4mx5m)

Artist statement

My work examines how bodily discipline and linguistic correction shape our perceptions of right and wrong. As a dyslexic Dutch-Surinamese artist, my lived experience of constant correction underpins my practice. I investigate how language, hygiene, and bodily control have historically served as tools of conformity, especially within colonial, educational, and

institutional spaces.

Through installations, videos, and performances, I create site-specic environments like bathrooms, classrooms, autopsy rooms where care becomes coercion. Projects like Am I, an object use satire to question authorship and originality within death rituals, while The Smell of Boundaries confronts cleanliness as a ritual of separation.

My work stages environments of discomfort and repetition to uncover the hidden power structures that shape how we learn to distinguish right from wrong. By foregrounding linguistic errors, bodily mess, and systemic rigidity, my practice challenges dominant binaries and asks: Who decides what is correct and what is excluded in the process?

My work examines how bodily discipline and linguistic correction shape our perceptions of right and wrong. As a dyslexic Dutch-Surinamese artist, my lived experience of constant correction underpins my practice. I investigate how language, hygiene, and bodily control have historically served as tools of conformity, especially within colonial, educational, and institutional spaces.

Through installations, videos, and performances, I create site-specic environments like bathrooms, classrooms, autopsy rooms where care becomes coercion. Projects like Am I, an object use satire to question authorship and originality within death rituals, while The Smell of Boundaries confronts cleanliness as a ritual of separation.

My work stages environments of discomfort and repetition to uncover the hidden power structures that shape how we learn to distinguish right from wrong. By foregrounding linguistic errors, bodily mess, and systemic rigidity, my practice challenges dominant binaries and asks: Who decides what is correct and what is excluded in the process?

Residency

2026

Tokyo arts and space (tokas), tokyo, jp

2025

De Singel, Antwerpen, BE

2022

Hotel Maria Kapel Soloshow, Hoorn, NL

2022-2024

Het HEM, Zaandam, NL

Solo Projects

2026

Tokyo arts and space (tokas), tokyo, jp
Solo.Projectspace, bucharest ro
Unfair2026, amsterdam nl

2025

de singel, antwerpen, be
Secondroom antwerpen, antwerpen, be
June art fair, represented by no man's art gallery, basel  swi
Christine könig galerie at koenig2 by_robbygreif, vienna au
No man's art gallery, a foot between the door, amsterdam, nl

2024

Punt WG - Am i an Object?, Amsterdam NL

2023

MÉLANGE, Cologne, DE

2022

Singular Art Gallery, Zero, Nijmegen NL
Hotel Maria Kapel Soloshow, Hoorn - A body without it’s Flesh, NL
SECONDroom Antwerpen , Antwerpen, BE

2021

P/////AKT,Amsterdam,Netherlands - The removal of the eye, NL
P/////AKT, Amsterdam, Netherlands - A body without it’s flesh, NL

Group shows

2026

Art Rotterdam Prospects, NL
Valkhof Museum, Nijmegen
Kunstplatform LINK, Zwolle NL
CBK Zuidoost

2025

Minor Attractions, represented by No Man’s Art Gallery & Season 4 Episode 6, London UK
Brutus, Wild summer of art, curated by Jeanette Bisschops & Yannik Güldner, Rotterdam NL
Art Rotterdam, represented by No Man’s Art Gallery NL

Minor Attractions, represented by No Man’s Art Gallery
Brutus, curated by Jeanette Bisschops & Yannik Güldner, Rotterdam NL
Art Rotterdam, represented by No Man’s Art Gallery NL

2024

Luther Museum Amsterdam, NL
Art Antwerp, represented by Harlesden High Street & Season 4 Episode 6 BE
Ballroom-project, represented by No Man’s Art Gallery BE

2023

(Video Library), Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, FR/DE
If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam - Open Rehearsal, curated by Mini Maxwell, NL
Joey ramone - limassolartwalks , Cyprus, curated by Kiki Petratoul, CZ
Mutter Halloween Biennale

2022

Kunsthuis SYB, Beterzwaag -The Sybren Hellinga Art Prize, curated by Titus Nouwens, NL
Het HEM, Detail - Zaandam - curated by Rieke Leonie, NL
NDSM Museumnacht - curated bij Jarwo Gibson
Nieuw en meer, Amsterdam, Show me what you got, curated by Chantal van Lieshout, NL
Tinimini Room - Dordrecht, NL

Kunsthuis SYB, Beterzwaag - Art Prize, curated by Titus Nouwens, NL
Het HEM, Detail - Zaandam - curated by Rieke Leonie, NL
NDSM Museumnacht - curated bij Jarwo Gibson
Nieuw en meer, Amsterdam, curated by Chantal van Lieshout, NL
Tinimini Room - Dordrecht, NL

2021

Mutter, Amsterdam, Blood sea, curated by Angels miralda, Amsterdam, NL
P/////AKT, Amsterdam - Duo show with Tessa Langeveld, NL
Het HEM, Zaandam, All In curated by Rieke Leonie, NL
W139, Amsterdam, Love For Sale, NL
Allél0n, London - Maundy, UK
This art fair, represented by Singular art gallery, NL
Tinimini Room - Dordrecht, NL

2021

Productiehuis Plaatsmaken, Arnhem, curated by Fleur Lamers, NL
Omstand Arnhem, Arnhem - Curated by Fleur Lamers, NL

Forever becoming
Aluminium, latex, clay, stainless steel, kit

160m x 0,45m x 0,55m

Maakgemeenschap De hoop
Barndegat 6
1505 HN Zaandam

Amsterdam based Artist

Maakgemeenschap De hoop
Barndegat 6
1505 HN Zaandam

Amsterdam based Artist