Benjamin Francis

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Benjamin Francis

Participating Project	International Creator Residency Program
Activity Base	Amsterdam
City / Place stayed	Tokyo
Period	2026.5 - 2026.7

Purpose of the residency

During my TOKAS residency, I will pursue a participatory performance exploring how cleansing rituals shape personal power dynamics. Drawing from childhood clean-up songs and disciplinary rituals, my project investigates how acts of care blur into submission and conformity. Through material experiments at TOKAS, I will translate the sterile aesthetics of "cleanliness" into physical sculptures. Furthermore, I will immerse participants in a scripted ritual using song and gesture. By drawing parallels between Japanese purification practices and Caribbean postcolonial critiques, my purpose is to foster a cross-cultural dialogue that transforms observers into performers within these systems of control.

Plan during the residency

• I will visit Tokyo’s health and sanitation archives to study historical narratives of purification and public health. I am interested in how "hygiene" has been used historically in Japan to define the boundaries of the social body.
• Studio visit and dialogue with Tokyo-based artist.
• I will conduct field research on Tokyo’s public etiquette and automated systems of maintenance to document the "rituals of order" that define the city's daily life.
• Researching at the facilities at TOKAS, I will engage in material experiments that translate the sterile aesthetics of "cleanliness" and "order" into physical forms.

Creator Information