For this series, Van Berkum created 3D scans of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century cookie moulds from the collection of the Dutch Open Air Museum. He also used scans of woodcarvings from the Royal Palace of Benin, from the collection of the GRASSI Museum in Leipzig.
Van Berkum arranges these motifs into a new visual language in which social structures are represented both figuratively and abstractly. Figures form groups, face one another, or disappear among undulating lines and decorative elements. Dutch folk art, African royal visual culture, and pastry decoration come together in these works.
The smell and taste of speculaas evoke memories of childhood, Sinterklaas, and Christmas. The spices and sugar also tell a colonial history. They are connected to the bloody trade of the VOC and WIC, the plantation economy, and slavery. Eye Candy brings together the sweet memories and violent history associated with these ingredients.