Join us to celebrate the opening of Vincen Beeckman’s latest exhibition, ‘Table for One’ at IC Visual Lab. All are welcome but please reserve a free ticket via headfirst.

THE EXHIBITION:

In 2011, Vincen Beeckman was invited to create a project in the town of Dudelange, Luxembourg. On his first day, he stopped for lunch at Hang Chow, a local Chinese restaurant named after Hangzhou district. During his meal, Beeckman had an idea: he would eat lunch and dinner at Hang Chow every day for a week, letting the waiters choose his dishes. At the same time he would collaborate with staff, making pictures and gathering family photos, postcards and ephemera. What began as an experiment unfolded into a multi-chapter project, involving restaurants from Iran to Brazil and Rwanda.

Each restaurant tells a layered story of place, migration and belonging, with menus that speak to home provinces in China, as well as global events that have led to waves of emigration. While restaurants trade on authenticity, they are engaged in a constant dance, reshaping dishes to meet local tastes, while still providing a sense of home comfort for the diaspora. These intricate stories of authenticity and adaptation, memory and reinvention, are central to the work.

In 2024, Beeckman spent a week in Bristol, eating lunch and dinner at Dragon’s Delicacy, St. Werburghs. The restaurant’s cavernous banquet hall serves as a meeting place for the city’s East Asian diaspora. High backed chairs and cut-glass chandeliers nod to the grandeur of Cantonese culture. Specialising in Dim Sum, the menu speaks to these roots, yet there are also signs of northern influence, with earthy spices, chillies and peppers appearing across many dishes. The exhibition will draw upon Beeckman’s time in Bristol, alongside a wider selection from across the project.

ARTIST TALK:

Before the exhibition, Vincen will be giving an artist talk next door at East Bristol Books. The exhibition opening is free but the talk requires paid tickets - please book here: https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/east-bristol-books/thu-20-nov-table-for-one-by-vincen-beeckam-artist-talk-140813#e140813

Entry requirements: no age restrictions — Read more — Read less