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RENZO MARTENS

RENZO MARTENS

b. 1973, Netherlands
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Renzo Martens Biography

Renzo Martens is an artist that devises methodologies through which critique can miraculously resolve inequality. Martens studied political science and art.

After having made the films Episode I and Episode III: Enjoy Poverty, Martens established Human Activities and its ‘reverse gentrification program’ on a plantation in the DR Congo. Together with the plantation workers of the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC), he employs artistic critique to build a new world – not symbolically, but in material terms.

Together, they opened a White Cube that is meant to repatriate capital and visibility to communities of plantation workers. White Cube, Martens’ latest film, shows how Congolese plantation workers set a new precedent: they successfully co-opt the concept of the ‘white cube’ to liberate their land and turn it into sacred forests.

Text courtesy Buro Stedelijk

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Representative Artworks

Renzo Martens, White Cube (2020). Film still depicting CATPC members (from left) Olele Mulela Mabamba, Huguette Kilembi, Mbuku Kimpala, Jeremie Mabiala, Jean Kawata, Irene Kanga, Ced'art Tamasala and Matthieu Kasiama. Copyright Human Activities, 2020.
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Renzo Martens, White Cube (2020). Film still depicting Matthieu Kasiama in front of the White Cube. Copyright Human Activities, 2020.
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Renzo Martens in Ocula Magazine

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