Visual art · Film · Artistic research
Studio Dimitri Madimin is the platform for the artistic practice and collaborative projects of Dimitri C. Madimin, a Dutch-Surinamese visual artist, filmmaker and artistic researcher. Working across film, photography, sound, installation and performance, his practice examines postcolonial identity, migration, extractivism and the transmission of cultural memory.
Biography & practice →The studio
Rooted in documentary practice and poetic speculation, Madimin’s work draws on fragmented archives, oral storytelling, embodied memory and lived experience. His projects connect personal narratives to the historical, political and economic structures through which migration, labour and cultural identity are shaped.
Archival research, fieldwork and collaborative production are integral to this approach. Working with historians, performers, musicians and local knowledge keepers, Madimin examines how colonial trade systems, plantation economies and displacement continue to shape contemporary social relations. Listening, exchange and the reconstruction of overlooked histories form an essential part of the artistic process.
His research is grounded in relationships between Suriname and the Netherlands and develops through international collaborations. The Sugar Free projects and the Geneva residency, the Oaxaca programme Compelled to be Here, and commissions and presentations in Dutch museums and archives provide distinct settings for this sustained inquiry. Each project is developed in relation to its historical sources, local context and participating communities.
Read the biography and chronology →2026
Artistic research connecting Amsterdam, Java and Suriname through the history of Javanese indentured labour and the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij. The installation is in development for the Amsterdam City Archives exhibition announced for March 2027.
Portfolio
2022–2023 · Exhibitions
Research and public programme at La Clínica, Oaxaca, developed with designer and curator Ramon Jimenez Cardenas. Exhibition, music and discussion situated research into colonial commodity routes within the specific context of southern Mexico.
11 September–14 November 2021 · Exhibitions
Installation at TENT Rotterdam. Tracksuits printed with scenes from Renaissance painting place European representations of violence in dialogue with the treatment of hip-hop culture. Initiated by Dimitri Madimin and Philip Powel.
October 2021 · Sound
Live soundscape collaboration with Maya Rochat for the Foam × ADE presentation at Westerpark, Amsterdam. The performance brought sound into dialogue with Rochat’s projected imagery and live painting.
2017 · Exhibitions
Performance and archival image work at De Bazel, Amsterdam. Stamps brings portraits of Javanese indentured workers into a contemporary artistic examination of colonial labour and commodity histories. Piezography on paper, 40 × 50 cm.
2017 · Exhibitions
Soft sculptures made from recycled jute sacks, presented at Circuit, Lausanne, and Amsterdam City Archives. The work relates the circulation of material to the representational language of flags and banners.
2016 · Exhibitions
Performance and action with Zen Marie at Place des Nations, Geneva. A critical examination of the political language and ritual of international conventions.
Moving image & sound
Film, composition and music production form a sustained part of Madimin’s practice. His work includes music videos, audiovisual installations, live soundscapes and releases through Ruyzdael Music, including his collaboration with Pablo van Wetten as Bordello Roses.
The chronology brings these works together with their credits and release records.
Explore films and recordings Ruyzdael Music ↗Research archive
Archival research into the 1926 voyages, Javanese indentured labour and the histories of Sanwiradji and the Madimin family. The research brings together migration records, contemporary newspapers and family testimony.
Research archiveCollaborative projects
Studio Dimitri Madimin develops projects with artists, filmmakers, musicians, researchers and cultural institutions. These collaborations take the form of exhibitions, films, sound works, curatorial programmes and research commissions.
Project records identify Madimin’s contribution alongside the roles of collaborators and commissioning institutions. The studio provides a shared platform for this work while retaining the distinct authorship of each participant.
Selected collaborations include Ramon Jimenez Cardenas for Compelled to be Here; Maya Rochat for Universal Law of the Matrix; Philip Powel for By All Means Necessary and Vinyl Confessions; Pablo van Wetten as Bordello Roses; and Zen Marie through Sugar Free.
Browse projects and credits →Work in progress, exhibition documentation and updates from the studio.
Follow @dimitrimadimin ↗For exhibitions, commissions, screenings, artistic research and institutional collaboration.
dimitrimadimin@gmail.com