Artist
Benjamin Li
Since 2014, Benjamin has visited over 1.200 Chinese-Indonesian restaurants across the Netherlands in an endeavour to build an archive of this restaurant. During these visits he has collected menus, pieces of tableware and written memories of his encounters. Importantly, he has also taken photographs of over 250 unique Chinese-Indonesian dishes at these restaurants. Throughout the years Benjamin also traced back and collected many sugar packs, postcards, beer glasses and other objects all linked to (defunct) Chinese-Indonesian restaurants.
Benjamin finds beauty in the Chinese-Indonesian restaurant, but for him it is also a way to come to understand his Chinese roots and family history. Many of his family members, including his parents, have worked in the restaurants as way to survive and integrate into Dutch society. With his work Benjamin tries to honour the restaurant, where others at times mock it. Today he sees the significance of his work in straddling the tension between bringing out the absurdity of certain stereotypes and fostering a reappraisal of the beauty and heritage of the Chinese-Indonesian restaurant.
In Search of Perfect Orange
"In Search of Perfect Orange" is the overarching project for which Benjamin since 2014 visited over 1.200 Chinese-Indonesian restaurants across the Netherlands in an endeavour to build an archive of this restaurant. During these visits he has collected menus, pieces of tableware and written memories of his encounters. Importantly, he has also taken photographs of over 250 unique Chinese-Indonesian dishes at these restaurants. Throughout the years Benjamin also traced back and collected many sugar packs, postcards, beer glasses and other objects all linked to (defunct) Chinese-Indonesian restaurants. The extensive archive consists of thousands of objects that forms the basis for the creation of new works of art ranging from 1000-piece puzzle works, video, sculpture and print. Benjamin also creates several daily products for people to use at home, example printed mugs, and calendars. In 2022 Benjamin founded the Billy Li Bar, an artist bar named after IKEA’s famous Billy bookshelves. The bar functions as an informal meeting point where art and food come together.
In 2024 Benjamin self-published "Chin. Ind. Rest. Stickeralbum", a direct outcome of his 10 years of travel along the Chinese-Indonesian restaurants. The publication is a homage to his family and the Chinese restaurant community and celebrates the unique food culture that only exists in the Netherlands. The publication consists of archival photos of Benjamin’s parents and family in their former restaurants and old photos of beautifully carved figures and flowers from carrots. On top of these vibrant photos Benjamin invites you to stick a total of 88 stickers of Chinese dishes he photographed during his travels in the Netherlands. This interactive element is placed next to an extensive essay about the history and position of the Chinese-Indonesian restaurants in Dutch culinary landscape, the journey of his family from Hong Kong to the Netherlands and his thoughts and observations during his visits to the Chinese-Indonesian restaurants. He also responds to stereotypical and (at times) racial events that the Chinese (overseas) community(ies) often face.
Benjamin foresees that the archive of In Search of Perfect Orange keeps functioning as an inspiration for new works and daily products that fosters a reappraisal of the beauty and heritage of the Chinese-Indonesian restaurant. In itself In Search of Perfect Orange embodies Benjamin search as a bi-cultural person and artist in the Netherlands and the art world.
Bones of Graphene, Skin of Kevlar is the second chapter in Julius Thissen’s visual research project, Watch it Collapse. Its primary focus is to visualise the impact of global far-right politics and sentiments, contrasted with the fighting spirit of trans individuals across generations. Vulnerable images are combined with symbols of masculinity and postures of resistance. Graphene, Skin of Kevlar expresses a need for resilience without losing the ability to be soft and true.
Tashiya de Mel’s Bittersweet History reflects on Dutch-Sri Lankan colonial history and its absence from mainstream discussions of the Dutch empire. The VOC’s cinnamon trade violently transformed the landscape and culture of Sri Lanka, leaving traces that remain visible today. De Mel’s archival collages criticise this history, whilst images of the artists’ mother preparing sago pudding infused with cinnamon convey a more personal connection to this contested spice. De Mel uses a variety of media to subvert and reclaim colonial narratives, suggesting alternative ways of looking at a shared history.
In 1935, Nazi Germany initiated a so-called “fertility programme” to provide the Third Reich with a new generation of leaders and SS officers. Angeniet Berker’s Lebensborn reveals both its broad scale and its human consequences: children born under this programme often lived a life of shame. The project serves as a timely warning of what our societies are capable of.
Parisa Aminolahi's deeply personal work presents a generation of middle class Iranian parents – living alone, often continents apart from their children. Tehran Diary follows the artist’s mother’s life in Tehran, as well as while visiting her three children overseas. Applying black and white paint over her photographs, Aminolahi’s images connect love, family rituals and the concept of home, pondering what it means to lose these.
Benjamin Li’s In Search of Perfect Orange is an archive that spans menus, pieces of tableware and written memories of his encounters while visiting over 1200 Chinese-Indonesian restaurants. His self-published Chin. Ind. Rest. Stickeralbum is a direct outcome of 10 years of travel between these restaurants. Benjamin’s resourceful, meticulous work results in a project that both confronts and honours a distinct cultural phenomena in the Netherlands.
