Renzo Martens (b.1973, Sluiskil, Netherlands), lives in Amsterdam

Dutch artist Renzo Martens rose to fame with controversial films such as Enjoy Poverty (2008), suggesting how Congo could profit from its own poverty. He is the founder of the Institute for Human Activities (IHA), that uses art as a tool to fight economical injustice. In collaboration with the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) he initiated an art centre on a former palm oil plantation in Lusanga. Renzo Martens received his PhD in the arts in Ghent and was a fellow in the prestigious Yale World Fellow Program at Yale University. He lectures on arts, economics and self representation on several schools and universities, including the London School of Economics. Renzo Martens and his cooperation recently had solo exhibitions at the Sculpture Center (New York, 2017), Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art (2016), Galerie nächst St Stephan (Vienna, 2015), Kunst-Werke (Berlin, 2015) and The Box (Los Angeles, 2014). The artist is represented by Gallery Fons Welters (Amsterdam).

Image: Renzo Martens, Institute for Human Activities, Lusanga, DR Congo