Benjamin

OUTLINE

• Intro
• NR. 39 interview as fundament
• Link it to other works of me and others
• Conclusion

DRAFT

Intro Benjamin Li:

Benjamin Li (1985) is a Rotterdam based artist. He studied photography at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam and graduated cum laude in 2013 with his project TE KOOP. Currently Li is doing his MDes in Media Design&Communication at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. Li's main work involves photography but he also works with video and is experienced in the use of old printing techniques. With his work Li comments on questions around identity, social behavior and online communication.

EARLY WORK: TE KOOP (2013-ongoing)

In his graduation project TE KOOP Li infiltrates online commodity markets e.g. Craigslist and Marktplaats. For TE KOOP Li makes a photo of a furniture or bike in a household set. Combined with a short with a short description he turns the photo into an advertisement. With respondents Li tries to start a conversation wether this about the product seemingly offered or a personal subject elicit from the respondent. In most cases the conversation stays around product offered, in some cases the conversation transforms in friendly conversation. Pictures and conversations are equally important, the pictures does not exist without the online content generated and visa versa. In exhibitions Li shows the pictures of the products, the conversations and screenshots of the original advertisement from the different commodity markets.

With TE KOOP Li investigate the meaning of promotional images, means of looking at images and the communication between a person who offers and potential buyers. Because Li infiltrates commodity markets in different countries comparisons between countries can be made on the use of language, the amount, length and content of responses as well as demographic differences in population.

Li got his inspiration for TE KOOP from his personal experiences on commodity markets and camouflage art. When Li was in Art School he started to sell and buy products. This was for him a stressful event. Questions like 'can I trust the people who I interact with on these commodity markets?' and 'Do I really get the product I seem to buy or is it a facsimile?'. At the same time Li came across the work of Desiree Palmen, Liu Bolin and Maria Zendrera. In Palmen's work a model is camouflaged

CURRENT WORK

• NR 39-(PARTS OF) INTERVIEW

RELATION TO A LARGER CONTEXT

RESEARCH STRANDS

CONCLUSION