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 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. In 2010 Renzo Martens initiated the art institut
Human Activities
that postulates a 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 and art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy 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 Program, the leadership program of Yale University. Martens is currently working on a PhD in the arts at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent. Martens has given lectures on art, economy and representation at University College London, London School of Economics, Yale University, Goldsmiths (University of London), Städelschule Frankfurt, HEAD Genève, KASK and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid. Renzo Martens and CATPC are the Dutch entry for the Venice Biennale 2024. The curator is Hicham Khalidi.

Work

Episode I

Martens made his first film, ''Episode I'', in 2000 in Grozny, 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 (IDFA) in 2009. The film was shown in art events and venues such as the Centre Pompidou, The Berlin Biennial, Manifesta 7, The Moscow Biennial, Tate Modern,

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 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 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, an acronym for ‘Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise’ in French translates to ‘Congolese Plantation Workers Art League’ in English. Founded in 2014 by a group of Congolese plantation workers in collaboration wi ...

(CATPC), a cooperative of plantation workers that develops new ecological initiatives based on the production of art. CATPC operates from a former Unilever 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. 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 Boteka (also known as Flandria) is a settlement in the Province of Équateur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The village is served by Boteka Airport. History The village is noted for its abandoned plantation of the same name. Refe ...

, 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 Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceram ...

, philosopher

Marcus Steinweg Marcus Steinweg (born 1971, in Koblenz) Marcus Steinweg is a German philosopher based in Berlin. His speciality is working between the fields of art and philosophy. He is an editor of the journal ''Inaesthetics''. Biography Steinweg has worked o ...

, activist René Ngongo, architect Eyal Weizman, economist Jérome Mumbanza, curator Nina Möntmann, anthropologist Katrien Pype, and artist Emmanuel Botalatala. Urban theorist Richard Florida 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 in Eindhoven, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Artes Mundi 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 in Amsterdam, M HKA in Antwerp, Art Basel, Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen, Murray Art Museum Albury, 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 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 in New York. After earlier reviews in Artforum and The New York Times 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 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, The New York Times 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, Simon Gikandi,

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 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, curator Azu Nwagbogu, the president of CATPC René Ngongo, and the Indonesian plantation workers union Serbundo. In a discussion broadcast by ZDF with the artists Monica Bonvicini, Hans Haacke, 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, 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, Sammy Baloji, Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo, Marlene Dumas, Michel Ekeba, Eléonore Hellio, Carsten Höller, 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 gentrification. 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

(CATPC) launched a collection of 306 NFTs in response to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (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 monoculture 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 of the VMFA's photographs of the sculpture, which CATPC used to create the NFTs, with press coverage in The Guardian,

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, 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. We come from a country that has perpetual war. 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 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (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,

in Berlin, Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art in Tamale, African Artists’ Foundation in Lagos, Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, MPavilion in Melbourne, and Museum MACAN in

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 wrote in The New York Times:

"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 ''Keeping It Real Art Critics'' (also known as ''KIRAC'') is a web series on YouTube and Vimeo exploring the international art world. Directed by Stefan Ruitenbeek, a Dutch artist and director, ''KIRAC'' episodes occupy the middle ground between a ...

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, 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), SculptureCenter, 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, 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), Art Basel, 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, 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
M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium, 2019
Freedom – The Fifty Key Dutch Artworks Since 1968
Museum De Fundatie, Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2019
Picture Industry
Luma Foundation, Arles, France, 2019 * KOW (in collaboration with CATPC), Art Basel, Switzerland, 2019
Catastrophe and the Power of Art
(in collaboration with CATPC), Mori Art Museum, 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 Biennale of Sydney, 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, 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, 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 Biennial, 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