Artist Talk: Arjan Helmond & Abdelkader Benali

On October 2, the AkzoNobel Art Foundation hosted its first artist talk in the series accompanying the exhibition Beyond These Walls, with painter Arjan van Helmond and writer Abdelkader Benali.

Van Helmond's current installation is a painted reconstruction of his in-laws' garden in the Shouf mountains of Lebanon; Benali lived in Beirut in 2006. From these shared experiences, the two spoke about memory, place and storytelling, with the audience invited to join the conversation towards the end.

Arjan van Helmond (1971) is a Dutch painter known for his depictions of the unspectacular and overlooked — views of the sea, gardens, interiors and everyday objects. His work is held in collections including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

Abdelkader Benali (1975) is a Moroccan-Dutch writer, poet and journalist. His debut novel Bruiloft aan zee won the Geertjan Lubberhuizen Prize, and De langverwachte won the Libris Literature Prize.