Renzo Martens (born 1973 in

Terneuzen Terneuzen () is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With almost 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland. History First mentione ...

) is a Dutch artist who currently lives and works in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

. Martens became known for his controversial work, including Episode III: Enjoy Poverty (2008), a documentary that suggests that the Congo market their

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

as a

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

. In 2010 Renzo Martens initiated the art institut
Human Activities
that postulates a

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

program on a

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

plantation in the Congolese rainforest.

Biography

Renzo Martens studied Political Science at the

University of Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century ...

and art at the

Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Ghent ( nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Gent, KASK) is an art school that is one of the oldest art schools in Belgium. It is now part of the Hogeschool Gent. History The Academy was founded in 174 ...

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

and the

Gerrit Rietveld Academy The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, also known as Rietveld School of Art & Design and Rietveld Academy, is an art academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The academy was founded in 1924 and offers programs in fine arts and design. History In 1924, the In ...

in Amsterdam. In 2010 Martens got approved as an artist-in-residence at the ISCP program in New York. In 2013 the artist attended the

Yale World Fellows Yale World Fellows is an international fellowship program at Yale University for rising global leaders. World Fellows come from around the world and from diverse disciplines. They are selected through a competitive application process. Each year ...

Program, the leadership program of

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Martens is currently working on a PhD in the arts at the

in Ghent. Martens has given lectures on art, economy and representation at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, Goldsmiths (University of London), Städelschule Frankfurt, HEAD Genève,

KASK Kask or KASK may refer to: *Kask (surname) *Kask, Kerman, a village in Kerman Province, Iran *Kask, Zanjan, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran *Asta Kask, a punk band from Töreboda, Sweden *KASK, an American radio station See also * Cask (disamb ...

and

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Museo may refer to: * Museo, 2018 Mexican drama heist film *Museo (Naples Metro) Museo is a station on line 1 of the Naples Metro. It was opened on 5 April 2001 as the eastern terminus of the section of the line between Vanvitelli and Museo. O ...

in Madrid. Renzo Martens and CATPC are the Dutch entry for the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

2024. The curator is Hicham Khalidi.

Work

Episode I

Martens made his first film, ''Episode I'', in 2000 in

Grozny Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a pop ...

, in Chechnya's war zones. The film is an atypical documentary in which footage of a war zone is mixed with a personal (love) story of the artist. Martens is in search of himself; with the camera self-centered, he questions the Chechens on what they think of him.

Episode III: Enjoy Poverty

''Episode III: Enjoy Poverty'' articulates a comment on the political claims of contemporary art by referring to its own strategy. This film opened the

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

(IDFA) in 2009. The film was shown in art events and venues such as the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, The

Berlin Biennial The Berlin Biennale (full name: Berlin Biennale für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art) is a contemporary art exhibition, which has been held at various locations in Berlin, Germany, every two to three years since 1998. T ...

, Manifesta 7, The Moscow Biennial,

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, 19th

Biennale of Sydney The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and ...

and several film festivals. Azu Nwagbogu (Founder and Director of African Artists’ Foundation and Director of

Lagos Photo LagosPhoto Festival is the first international art festival of photography in Nigeria, launched in October 2010. It is organised by the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) as part of an ongoing project designed to use art in public spaces, as a ...

) called the film "The

Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...

of our time."

Human Activities

Martens is commissioned as the artistic director of the art institut
Human Activities
founded in 2012. HA's goal is to prove that artistic critique on economic inequality can also do something about this inequality materially, instead of only symbolically. Human Activities attempts to improve the lives of people around the art center by effectuating a 'reverse gentrification program'. Since 2014, it works in close collaboration with the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC), a cooperative of plantation workers that develops new ecological initiatives based on the production of art. CATPC operates from a former

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

plantation, where they built a fully equipped arts center designed by OMA. The plantation workers who cannot earn a living from production labor, live off of their artistic engagement with plantation labor. The profits from the art sales are partly used to buy back the land, which has been exhausted after 100 years of

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale are ...

. Subsequently, a lot of work is done to make the land fertile and usable again. This way, the residents regain control of the means of production on the plantation.

Opening Seminar

In 2012, Human Activities organised an opening seminar on a palm oil plantation in Boteka, DR Congo. Congolese and international speakers gathered at the plantation to discuss the history of the plantation, gentrification, and the possibilities for art to deal meaningfully with the conditions of its own existence. For two days, two-hundred people from the local community participated in a conference with art historian

TJ Demos T.J. Demos is an art historian and cultural critic who writes on contemporary art and visual culture, particularly in relation to globalization, politics, migration and ecology. Currently a Professor in the Department of History of Art and Visua ...

, philosopher Marcus Steinweg, activist

René Ngongo René Ngongo (born October 1961 in Goma, Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville), Republic of the Congo) is a Congolese biologist, environmentalist and political activist. Ngongo graduated from the University of Kisangani with a bachelor's degree ...

, architect

Eyal Weizman Eyal Weizman MBE FBA (born 1970) is a British Israeli architect. He is the director of the research agency Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London where he is Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures and a founding director t ...

, economist Jérome Mumbanza, curator Nina Möntmann, anthropologist Katrien Pype, and artist Emmanuel Botalatala. Urban theorist

Richard Florida Richard L. Florida is an American urban studies theorist focusing on social and economic theory. He is a professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a Distinguished Fellow at NYU's School of Professional Studies. ...

delivered the keynote lecture via satellite.

Exhibitions

Human Activities has facilitated the global dissemination of works by CATPC in the art world, which resulted in exhibitions in places such as the

Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () is a museum of modern and contemporary art in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel River. Established in 1936, the museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe, who loved modern art and wanted ...

in Eindhoven,

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art MIMA, or Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, is a contemporary art gallery based in the centre of Middlesbrough, England. The gallery was formally launched on Sunday 27 January 2007; since 2014 it has been part of Teesside University. His ...

Artes Mundi Artes Mundi (Latin: ''arts of the world'') is an international arts organisation based in Cardiff. Established in 2002, it is committed to supporting international contemporary visual artists whose work engages with social reality and lived experien ...

in Cardiff, and Kunst-Werke in Berlin,

WIELS Wiels is a contemporary art centre situated in Forest, in the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is border ...

in Brussels,

EYE Film Institute Netherlands Eye Filmmuseum is a film archive, museum, and cinema in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands. Location and history Eye Filmmuseum is located in the Overhoeks neighborhood of Amsterdam in t ...

in Amsterdam,

M HKA The Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp ( nl, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, commonly abbreviated as ''M HKA'', previously ''MuHKA'') is the contemporary art museum of the city of Antwerp, Belgium. Its current director is Bart de Baere. Overview ...

in Antwerp,

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach; Hong Kong and from 2022, Paris. Art Basel works in collaboration with the host city's local institutions to help ...

Kunsthal Charlottenborg Kunsthal Charlottenborg is an exhibition building in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the official exhibition gallery of the Royal Danish Academy of Art. History Charlottenborg Palace was constructed in 1672–83 as a residence for Ulrik Frederik G ...

in Copenhagen,

Murray Art Museum Albury Murray Art Museum Albury (abbreviated MAMA) is a contemporary art museum located in Albury, Australia. Formerly known as the Albury Regional Art Gallery it was renamed as part of a $10.5 million refurbishment which included renovations to the for ...

, the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

in Sydney,

Mori Art Museum The is a contemporary art museum founded by the real estate developer Minoru Mori (1934–2012) in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in the Roppongi Hills complex both of which he built in Tokyo, Japan. The exterior architect of the museum's gall ...

in Tokyo, Hayy Jameel in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

an
KOW gallery
in Berlin. In January 2017, the cooperative opened its US debut at the

SculptureCenter SculptureCenter is a not-for-profit, contemporary art museum located in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. It was founded in 1928 as "The Clay Club" by Dorothea Denslow. In 2013, SculptureCentre attracted around 13,000 visitors. History Fou ...

in New York. After earlier reviews in

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

and

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

by amongst others

Claire Bishop Claire Bishop is a British art historian, critic, and Professor of Art History at The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York where she has taught since September 2008. Bishop is known as one of the central theorists of participation in visual art and ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

professor Chika Okeke-Agulula heated the debate by questioning if this was "The latest frontier in the Western art world’s self-congratulatory and all-too-sporadic missionary work?" Meanwhile,

added the exhibition to their list of 'The Best Art of 2017'.

The Matter of Critique

Human Activities started the international conference series titled ''The Matter of Critique'' to address the material conditions of critical artistic engagement. Through these conferences, Human Activities brings together academics, artists, and economists, as well as the Congolese plantations workers to discuss the artistic, social, and economic scope of its activities in Congo. Human Activities initiated its first international conference in 2015 at the

KW Institute for Contemporary Art The KW Institute for Contemporary Art (also known as Kunst-Werke) is a contemporary art institution located in Auguststraße 69 in Berlin-Mitte, Germany. Klaus Biesenbach was the founding director of KW; the current director is Krist Gruijthuijsen ...

and in Lusanga. The third edition also took place in Lusanga, in 2016. The fourth edition took place at the SculptureCenter, New York, on January 29, 2017 with notably

Ariella Azoulay Ariella Aïsha Azoulay ( he, אריאלה עאישה אזולאי; born Tel Aviv, 1962) is an author, art curator, filmmaker, and theorist of photography and visual culture. She is a professor of Modern Culture and Media and the Department of C ...

Simon Gikandi Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

David Joselit David Joselit is an American art historian who is currently Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University, and also a published author, including being an editor of ''October''. Career Joselit received his PhD from Harvard Univ ...

Michael Taussig Michael T. Taussig (born 3 April 1940 in Sydney) is an Australian anthropologist and professor at Columbia University. He is best known for his engagement with Karl Marx, Marx's idea of commodity fetishism, especially in terms of the work of Walt ...

and CATPC artist Matthieu Kasiama.

The Repatriation of the White Cube

On April 21, 2017, Human Activities and CATPC opened a White Cube on the site of Unilever's first ever palm oil plantation, in Lusanga (formerly Leverville) in the Congolese interior. Designed by OMA, this White Cube is the cornerstone of the Lusanga International Research Centre for Art and Economic Inequality (LIRCAEI). During the opening, plantation workers held discussions on the benefits of a White Cube for a plantation with philosopher Suhail Malik, curator

Clémentine Deliss Clémentine Deliss (born 1960) is a London-born curator, researcher and publisher. Biography Clémen Mary Deliz born in 1960 in London to French-Austrian parents. She studied art in Vienna, Austria, and holds a B.A. in Social Anthropology and a ...

, curator Azu Nwagbogu, the president of CATPC

, and the Indonesian plantation workers union Serbundo. In a discussion broadcast by ZDF with the artists Monica Bonvicini,

Hans Haacke Hans Haacke (born August 12, 1936) is a German-born artist who lives and works in New York City. Haacke is considered a "leading exponent" of Institutional Critique. Early life Haacke was born in Cologne, Germany. He studied at the '' Staatlic ...

, and Renzo Martens, curator at large of dokumenta 14 Bonaventure Ndikung commented on this project that "Africa does not need a White Cube". On

Designboom ''Designboom'' (stylized as ''designboom'') is a daily web magazine covering the fields of industrial design, architecture, and art internationally. Launched in 1999, and headquartered in Milan, the publication was the first web magazine to focus ...

, the White Cube was listed as one of the 'TOP 10 museums and cultural venues of 2017'.

Inaugural exhibition "The Repatriation of the White Cube"

CATPC curated the inaugural exhibition of the White Cube in a network of Kisendus – traditional huts, especially built for the show, dedicated to arts and social events – linked to the White Cube. Different pieces referred to the D.R. Congo's rich history but had until then never been exhibited in the Congo. Participating artists included:

Kader Attia Kader Attia (born 30 December 1970) is an Algerian-French artist. Early life Attia was born in Dugny, France to Algerian parents and was raised in Paris and Algeria. He studied at the '' l'école Duperré de Paris, l'école des arts appliqués ...

Sammy Baloji Sammy Baloji is a photographer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He works in Lubumbashi and Brussels, and held exhibitions in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Bilbao, Cape Town and Bamako.Témoin Africa''Sammy Baloji Né le 29 décembre 1978. ...

, Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo,

Marlene Dumas Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter currently based in the Netherlands. Life and work Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had ...

, Michel Ekeba, Eléonore Hellio,

Carsten Höller Carsten Höller (born December 1961) is a German artist. He lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.Alice Rawsthorn (January 2012)"Cliff Hanger - The Ghanaian home of artists Carsten Höller and Marcel Odenbach goes above—and beyond" ''W Magazi ...

, Irène Kanga, Matthieu Kasiama, Jean Katambayi, Jean Kawata, Mbuku Kimpala, Thomas Leba, Jérémie Mabiala, Daniel Manenga, Mega Mingiedi, Eméry Mohamba, Cédrick Tamasala, Pathy Thsindele and

Luc Tuymans Luc Tuymans (born 14 June 1958) is a Belgian visual artist best known for his paintings which explore people's relationship with history and confront their ability to ignore it. World War II is a recurring theme in his work. He is a key figure ...

Post-Plantation

The opening of the White Cube museum marked the end of Human Activities' first research programme on

. The institute has now started a new research programme on the creation of the "post-plantation": a new ecological and economic model based on art.

Balot NFT

With the support of Human Activities, the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) launched a collection of 306

NFTs The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2021 ranking by ''The Hollywood Repor ...

in response to the

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the su ...

(VMFA)'s refusal to loan a Congolese sculpture, the "Diviner's Figure representing Belgian Colonial Officer Maximilien Balot" from 1931, for an exhibition at CATPC's White Cube museum. CATPC is one of the first to use a digital means of art restitution by employing NFTs. With the sale of the NFTs, the collective will buy back and restore land that has been exhausted due to

in Lusanga, Congo. There is

controversy Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

surrounding the project due to the alleged

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

of the VMFA's photographs of the sculpture, which CATPC used to create the NFTs, with press coverage in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

and more. The VMFA claims that the use of the photographs “violates our open access policy and is unacceptable and unprofessional”. In an article in

The Art Newspaper ''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments ...

, CATPC member Cedart Tamasala responds to the debate, stating that:

“The sculpture has been in
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...
for a long time,” Tamasala says. “Keeping it and not sharing it is a form of
violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...
. We come from a country that has perpetual
war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
. We don’t want war. We do not want to oppose the museum. We are not here to have a conflict with them. The only thing we want is to rekindle a relationship with the sculpture. It is important to us. But we can only know it from afar. We want to change that.” - Cedart Tamasala (CATPC)

White Cube

In Renzo Martens’ latest film ''White Cube'' (2020), created in collaboration with the Cercle d'Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC), he follows the plantation workers as they co-opt the concept of the ‘

white cube White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Centra ...

’ to buy back their land from international plantation companies and secure it for future generations.

“Land or art. If I would have to choose, I would choose both. But if I really have to choose only one, I would choose the land. Where can I put my chair and start making art, if I do not own the land?” – Matthieu Kasiama (CATPC) in ''White Cube''.

The film premiered simultaneously at the

(IDFA) and in Lusanga, D.R. Congo, after which there was a 'global museum launch' in which ''White Cube'' was screened and discussions were held at multiple art institutions around the world, amongst others including the National Museum in Kinshasa,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art in

Tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tamale ...

, African Artists’ Foundation in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

MPavilion MPavilion is a temporary pavilion in Queen Victoria Gardens, Melbourne, erected annually since 2014. The event is sponsored by philanthropist Naomi Milgrom. Initially the project was planned for four years, but later it was extended by another tw ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, and

Museum MACAN The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara or Museum MACAN is an art museum at Kebon Jeruk in Jakarta, Indonesia. The museum is the first in Indonesia to have a collection of modern and contemporary Indonesian and international art. ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

. About the film,

Holland Cotter Holland Cotter is an art critic with ''The New York Times''. In 2009, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Life and work Cotter was born in Connecticut and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He earned his A.B. from Harvard College in 1970, wh ...

wrote in

"In short, the project, de-exoticizing and re-exoticizing, is politically problematic on almost every level, and it’s fascinating for that reason. It raises questions about imbalances of power based on race and class that are at the very foundation of modern Western culture, but that our big museums have resolutely refused to address, never mind tried to answer."

Awards

* 2021: 18th Seoul Eco Film Festival (Audience’s Choice) * 2021: “Tutta un’altra storia” Award at Biografilm Festival 2021 * 2017: Visible Award (shortlisted, with the Cercle d'Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise) * 2015: Witteveen+Bos-prijs voor Kunst+Techniek * 2015: Amsterdamprijs voor de Kunst (category "Best Performance") * 2013: Yale World Fellow * 2013: Culture Documentary Stipend * 2010: Flanders cultural award for Film * 2010: Incentive Price of Dutch Film Fund

Criticism

In 2017 art collective Keeping It Real Art Critics published the critical movie 'Kirac 6' about Martens' approach to make art. In the movie they question the moral and motives of Martens related to the subject of poor African people he chooses for his projects.

Solo exhibitions and screenings

''White Cube'' and ''Episode III: Enjoy Poverty'' screening

Palazzo Grassi Palazzo Grassi (also known as the Palazzo Grassi-Stucky) is a building in the Venetian Classical style located on the Grand Canal of Venice (Italy), between the Palazzo Moro Lin and the campo San Samuele. History First owners During the 16th cen ...

, Venice, Italy, 2022
''White Cube'' screening
Points communs, Paris, France, 2022
BALOT
(in collaboration with CATPC), KOW, Berlin, Germany, 2022
Global Launch ''White Cube''
(2021): ** ''White Cube'' debate, with Renzo Martens, Ibrahim Mahama and Kari Kacha Seidou, SCCA, Tamale, Ghana ** Online ''White Cube'' debate, with Nurhady Sirimorok and Halim HD moderated by Asri Winata, Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia ** ''White Cube'' dialogue between curator Kirill Adibekov, Cedart Tamasala and Renzo Martens, VAC, Moscow, Russia ** Screening of ''White Cube'' and debate, with Henry Bundjoko, Franklin Mubwabu Mbobe, Pala Kamango, René Ngongo, Cedart Tamasala, Matthieu Kasiama, Mbuku Kimpala and Eléonore Hellio, moderated by Charles Tumba, National Museum, Kinshasa, DRC ** Screening of ''White Cube'' and online debate, with Renzo Martens, Mami Kataoka, Cedart Tamasala, Eleonore Hellio and Hikaru Fujii, Mori Art, Tokyo, Japan ** Screening of ''White Cube'' and an online discussion, with Renzo Martens, Surafel Wondimu and Cedart Tamasala, Sharjah Art Foundation and The Africa Institute, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates ** Screening of ''White Cube'' and a debate, with Charles Esche and Cedart Tamasala, moderated by Renzo Martens, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven ** A debate with Renzo Martens, Cedart Tamasala, Oluwatoyin Sogbesan and Azu Nwagbogu, in collaboration with Alliance Française de Lagos, African Artists’ Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria ** Screening of ''White Cube'' with an introduction by Renzo Martens, David Gianotten, Cedart Tamasala, with Helen Runting and Arsene Ijambo, MPavilion, Melbourne, Australia ** ''White Cube'' Screening and conversation, with Azu Nwagbogu and Suhail Malik, ICA, London, UK ** ''White Cube'' screening and debate, with Sandrine Colard, Aymar Nyenyezi Bisoka, Jean François Mombia Atuku and Renzo Martens. Moderated by Wendy Bashi, Wiels, Brussels and Picha, Lubumbashi, DRC ** ''White Cube'' screening and debate, with Clémentine Deliss, Tirdad Zolghadr and Renzo Martens, KW, Berlin, Germany
FORCED LOVE
(in collaboration with CATPC), KOW, Berlin, Germany, 2020 * Forced Love (in collaboration with Irene Kanga / CATPC),

EYE Filmmuseum Eye Filmmuseum is a film archive, museum, and cinema in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands. Location and history Eye Filmmuseum is located in the Overhoeks neighborhood of Amsterdam in t ...

, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2020
The Repatriation of The White Cube
(in collaboration with CATPC), Lusanga, DRC, 2017
Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs des Plantations Congolaise
(in collaboration with CATPC),

, New York City, USA, 2016
Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs des Plantations Congolaise
(in collaboration with CATPC), MIMA, Middlesbrough, UK, 2015
A New Settlement
(in collaboration with CATPC), Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
A Lucky Day
(in collaboration with CATPC), KOW, Berlin, Germany
The Matter of Critique
(in collaboration with CATPC),

, Berlin, Germany, 2015
A Capital Accumulation Program
The BOX Gallery, Los Angeles, 2014 * Episode III,

Göteborgs Konsthall Göteborgs Konsthall is a museum of contemporary art in Gothenburg, Sweden. Description Göteborgs Konsthall features both Swedish and international art. It is situated in a classicistic building from 1923 at Götaplatsen in the center of ...

, 2011 * Episode III, Wilkinson Gallery, London, 2009 * Episode III,

Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA) is a project space for contemporary art in Amsterdam, Netherlands. SMBA was founded in 1993 and is part of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. It is the uccessor of Museum Fodor, a platform for young Amsterdam ...

, Amsterdam, 2008 * Episode I,

Vtape Vtape is a Canadian artist-run centre located in Toronto, Ontario. It is Canada's largest distributor of video art, and the world's largest distributor of Indigenous and First People's film and video. The organization is run as a not for profit a ...

, Toronto, 2005 * Episode I, Marres, Maastricht, 2004 * Episode I, Gallery Fons Welters, Amsterdam, 2003 * Rien ne va plus, de Merodestraat, Brussel, 1999

Group exhibitions

''Selection from the last 10 years'' * KOW (in collaboration with CATPC),

, Switzerland, 2022
Time is Going – Archive and Future Memories
(in collaboration with CATPC), Dak'art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal, 2022
Made in X
(in collaboration with CATPC), Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium, 2022
Hurting and Healing: Let’s Imagine a Different Heritage
(in collaboration with CATPC),

Tensta Konsthall Tensta konsthall is a center for contemporary art in the Stockholm suburb of Tensta, northwest of the city center. The gallery works with artists from both Sweden and abroad, often in conjunction with local associations and organizations in the ...

, Stockholm, Sweden, 2022
Staple: What’s on your plate?
(in collaboration with CATPC), Art Jameel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2021
Risquons-Tout
(in collaboration with CATPC),

Wiels Wiels is a contemporary art centre situated in Forest, in the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is border ...

, Brussels, Belgium, 2021
MONOCULTURE , A Recent History

, Antwerp, Belgium, 2019
Freedom – The Fifty Key Dutch Artworks Since 1968

Museum De Fundatie Museum de Fundatie () is a museum for the visual arts in Zwolle, Netherlands. Museum de Fundatie forms part of the Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, to which Kasteel het Nijenhuis in Heino also belongs. Museum de Fundatie possesses a collection of vis ...

, Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2019
Picture Industry

Luma Foundation LUMA Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 2004 that is based out of Zurich, Switzerland. It supports the activities of independent contemporary artists and other pioneers working in the fields of art, photography, publishing, docu ...

, Arles, France, 2019 * KOW (in collaboration with CATPC),

, Switzerland, 2019
Catastrophe and the Power of Art
(in collaboration with CATPC),

, Tokyo, Japan, 2018
The Way Things Run, Part II: Cargo
(in collaboration with CATPC), PS120, Berlin, Germany, 2018
Superposition: Equilibrium & Engagement
(in collaboration with CATPC), 21st

, Australia, 2018
TRANSAKTIONEN
Über den Wert künstlerischer Arbeit HaL (in collaboration with CATPC), Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany, 2017 * The Armory Show (in collaboration with CATPC) (Focus selection), New York City, USA, 2017
Bread and Roses
(in collaboration with CATPC), Museum for Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland, 2016 * Neither Back Nor Forward: Acting in the Present, Jakarta Biennial, Indonesia, 2015
Produktion
(in collaboration with CATPC), Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria, 2015
Confessions of the Imperfect
(in collaboration with CATPC),

Van Abbe Museum The Van Abbemuseum () is a museum of modern and contemporary art in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel River. Established in 1936, the museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe, who loved modern art and wanted ...

, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2014
Artes Mundi 6
(in collaboration with CATPC),

National Museum Cardiff National Museum Cardiff ( cy, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd) is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Entry is kept free by a grant from the Welsh Go ...

, UK, 2014
Böse Clowns
Hartware Medien Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany, 2014
Manifesto! An alternative history of photography
Folkwang/Winterthur, Germany/Switzerland, 2014
Hunting and Collecting
Mu.Zee, Ostend, Belgium, 2014
You Imagine what You Desire
19th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 2014
9 Artists
MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, USA, 2014 * Arte Útil,

, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2013
global aCtIVISm
ZKM I Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013
9 Artists

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

, Minneapolis, USA, 2013 * Ghost in the system - scenarios for resistance, Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Russia, 2013
Space of Exception
Artplay, Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Russia, 2013
Either/Or
Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany, 2013 * Either/Or, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2013
Forget Fear
7th

, Berlin, Germany, 2012 * Models for Taking Part, Kenderdine Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Canada, 2012 * A Series of Navigations, Sligo, Ireland, 2012

Publications

*
Critique in Practice: Renzo Martens' Episode III (Enjoy Poverty)
', Anthony Downey (Ed.), MIT Press, 2019 *
CATPC: Cercle d'art des travailleurs de plantation congolaise
', Els Roelandt, Eva Barois De Caevel (Ed.), Sternberg Press, 2017

References

External links

Official website

Human Activities website

CATPC website

KOW gallery website

Fons Welters Gallery website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martens, Renzo 1973 births Living people Dutch contemporary artists Dutch film producers Radboud University Nijmegen alumni People from Terneuzen