Name Renzo Martens | ||
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Movies Episode III: Enjoy Poverty People also search for Peter Kruger, Jonas Staal, Jos de Putter, Wim Van Rompaey, Jan De Coster | ||
Artist talk renzo martens and the institute for human activities
Renzo Martens is a Dutch artist who currently lives and works in Brussels, Amsterdam and Kinshasa. Martens became known for his controversial documentaries ‘Episode I’ (2003) and Episode III: Enjoy Poverty (2008). In 2010 Renzo Martens initiated the Institute for Human Activities (IHA) that postulates a gentrification program in the Congolese rainforest.
Contents
- Artist talk renzo martens and the institute for human activities
- Idfa 2008 interview renzo martens
- Biography
- Episode I
- Episode III Enjoy Poverty
- Institute for Human Activities
- Awards
- References
Idfa 2008 interview renzo martens
Biography
Renzo Martens (1973, Terneuzen) studied Political Science at the University of Nijmegen and art at the Royal Academy of 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 Fellow Program which is the signature leadership program of Yale University that aims to cultivate and empower a network of globally engaged leaders committed to positive change through dialog and action.
Martens is currently working on a PhD in the arts at the School of Arts in Ghent. Martens gave lectures on art, economy and representation at: University College London, London School of Economics, Yale University, Goldsmiths (University of London), Städelschule Frankfurt, HEAD Genève, HISK and KASK in Ghent.
Episode I
In Chechnya's war zones Renzo Martens is in search of himself . With the camera self-centered, he questions the Chechens on what they think of him. Episode I is an atypical documentary in which footage of a war zone is mixed with a personal (love) story of the artist .
Episode III: Enjoy Poverty
This film opened the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2009. Episode III: Enjoy Poverty articulates a comment on political claims of contemporary art by referring to its own strategy. 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, 19th Biennale of Sydney and several prestigious film festivals.
Institute for Human Activities
Martens initiated The Institute for Human Activities in 2010 and is commissioned as the artistic director of the institute. The Institute, which is located in the Congelese interior, aims to mobilizes the modalities of art production and seeks to acknowledge the economic mechanisms through which art has the greatest impact on social reality. The IHA attempt to improve the lives of people around the art center by effectuating a gentrification program.
Martens has given lectures on the IHA in Walker Art Center Minneapolis, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Wiels Brussels and University College London.