Benjamin Francis: a correction of the norm

At Art Rotterdam (28-30 March at Rotterdam Ahoy), No Man’s Art Gallery presents a dual presentation featuring the work of Benjamin Francis and Tobias Thaens. For Francis, this marks the beginning of his collaboration with the gallery, which will continue with his solo exhibition ‘A foot between the door’, on view at the gallery in Amsterdam from 22 March until 20 April 2025.

In his multidisciplinary practice, Francis explores the hidden mechanisms of power, control and correction that shape our perception of right and wrong. Through installations, videos, sculptures, texts and performances, he exposes the underlying structures that define the individual. His work invites viewers to pause and consider: who makes the rules, and what happens when we rewrite them? Why do we seek control over our surroundings — both bodies and inanimate objects — and how does that lead to a rigid normativity and conformity?

Drawing inspiration from dance and the tension between obedience and resistance, Francis examines how subtle forms of correction — through language, body language or architecture — shape social structures and the human experience. In a society driven by efficiency, where deviation from the norm is deemed undesirable and imperfections are meticulously erased, his work creates space for doubt, discomfort and the imperfect. He investigates how errors and deviations are corrected or excluded within social, pedagogical and knowledge systems. This theme resonates with him personally: as someone with dyslexia, he experienced firsthand how spelling mistakes were treated as undesirable, subjecting him to constant correction. His work raises the question: who determines what is ‘right’, and what dogmas and power dynamics lie beneath? Does such a strict binary opposition between right and wrong even exist? Francis sees his art as a means not to conceal flaws and decay but to examine them, both in language and in material.

Language plays a central role in his research, and his work moves between object-based pieces and participatory performances, often placing the audience in unexpected situations and inviting them to become part of the installation. In a previous performance at Hotel Maria Kapel, where he completed a residency program, Francis used texts that had been repeatedly processed through translation software, revealing errors and misinterpretations. Participants were asked to read these texts aloud and relate to them, undermining the supposed objectivity and neutrality of language and exposing its entanglement with power and hierarchy. In these performances, the viewer is not merely an observer but an active participant in a constantly shifting system. In “A Claim for Your Own Good”, performed at the Luther Museum, Francis staged a fictional cleaning company that subtly exposed power dynamics through ritualised actions.

The relationship between body and memory also plays a crucial role. Our bodies make mistakes that shape our awareness. We feel things or are moved by them without always realising it. Memories are stored in our bodies, often without our conscious awareness.

A recurring motif in his work is the interplay between dirt and cleanliness. Excessive purification is bound to leaves traces. What remains is a reality that has been repeatedly polished, adjusted, corrected and purified. What does that do to a body that must constantly submit to this process, effectively becoming an archive of discipline? And how can we erase the traces of years of imposed correction, ingrained deep into our skin and minds? And what happens when cleaning is no longer just a physical act but a means of control? When purification is disguised as care — a care imposed upon you because, for whatever reason, you hold less power within the dominant system? Francis confronts the viewer with this paradoxical dynamic, where systems of power, correction and normativity are embedded in our most everyday actions.

The installations of the artist transform environments into performative spaces, making visitors acutely aware of their position within systems of discipline and normativity. A bathroom, a classroom, a mortuary, a ballet studio: functional spaces that he subtly disrupts, making them no longer ‘fit’. Their original function shifts, becomes unsettled, and gives way to tension and new meanings. In previous installations, such as “The Removal of the Eye” at P/////AKT, visitors were challenged to walk across fragile white tiles, each step leaving a mark: a direct confrontation with the tension between purity and decay, control and surrender. These fields of tension are central to his practice.

Francis continually returns to the notion of ‘the other’, those who deviate from the norm. It is a position that he identifies with personally as a queer person of colour with dyslexia. Those who do not fit into societal frameworks, for instance due to their social or economic position, are subject to greater control. By positioning ‘the other’ as the norm (the opposite of ‘othering’) he makes the norm itself visible, open to analysis and critique. He shifts the perspective: it is not ‘them’ who are questioned, but the norm itself. This process allows him to examine and challenge how these systems function and who enforces them. Authority and normativity are not fixed concepts but are constantly rewritten by the structures that uphold them.

At Art Rotterdam and in his solo exhibition at No Man’s Art Gallery, Francis explores the relationship between space and the body. 

Benjamin Francis (1996) graduated from the Fine Arts department at ArtEZ BEAR in Arnhem in 2020, with a focus on Experiment, Art, and Research. His work has previously been shown at  No Man’s Art Gallery, NL; Christine König Galerie, AU; Art Antwerp, BE; Luther Museum, NL; PuntWG, NL; Ballroom Project #6, BE; Hotel Maria Kapel, NL; If I Can’t Dance, Kunsthuis Syb, Het HEM, P/////AKT, NL; MÉLANGE, DE; Rencontres internationales, DE; SECONDroom, BE; and Mutter, NL.

At Art Rotterdam, Benjamin Francis will present his work in the booth of No Man’s Art Gallery. His solo exhibition will be on view at the gallery in Amsterdam from 22 March until 20 April 2025.

Written by Flor Linckens