bio
For almost a decade now, Renzo Martens has been working on a series of films that try to reveal the world as a 'spectators' paradise'. The first film in this series, Episode 1, documents Martens' illegal trip to Chechnya. In this film, Martens penetrates a refugee camp, adopting the single most important, yet hardly ever defined role in contemporary war: that of its spectator.
Episode 3, better known as Enjoy Poverty, is set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, amidst the ravages caused by ethnic wars and relentless economic exploitation, Martens sets up an emancipation program that teaches the hapless plantation workers how to benefit from their primary 'capital resource': poverty. The project was bound to fail. Nevertheless, the piece was the opening film of the Amsterdam IDFA festival in 2008. Since, it was screened and exhibited at the 6th Berlin Biennial, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Van Abbe Museum, Kunsthaus Graz, etc. The piece was awarded with one of 2010 Flanders Culture Prizes.
Renzo Martens is currently working on Episode 2.
Solo Exhibitions (selection)
2009
- 'Episode 3', Wilkinson Gallery, London (United Kingdom)
2008
- 'Episode 3', Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
2007
- Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
2005
- 'Episode 1', V-tape, Toronto (Canada)
2004
- 'Episode 1', Marres, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
2003
- 'Episode 1', Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
1999
- 'Rien ne va plus', De Merodestraat, Brussels (Belgium)
cv
Group exhibtions & Screenings
2009
'Hors Pistes', Centre Pompidou, Paris (France)
2008
'Neither Either Nor Or', Wurttembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (Germany)
'To Burn Oneself with Oneself: The Romantic Damage Show', De Appel, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'L'Art en Europe', Domaine Pommery, Reims (France)
'Matter of Fact', Manifesta 7, Rovereto (Italy)
Brussels Biennial, Brussels (Belgium)
IDFA, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'Matter of Fact; Aftermath', Sao Paulo (Braqil)
2007
'Nothing Else Matters', Museum de Hallen, Haarlem (The Netherlands)
'Brave New World', Cobra Museum, Amstelveen (The Netherlands)
'Speakers', Aeroplastics, Brussels (Belgium)
'Moderne Eenzaamheid', Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
2006
'A Picture of War is not War', Wilkinson Gallery, London (UK)
'Warped Vision', Filmbanktour, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
'A Night with Renzo Martens', Platform Garanti, Istanbul (Turkey)
Frieze Art Fair, Wilkinson Gallery, London (UK)
2005
'I Love Video Art', Musee d'Art Contemporain, Strassbourg (France)
'Reprise', Marres, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
'Soft Target', Basis Actuele Kunst, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
'Undercurrents', Basis Actuele Kunst, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
'Inner and Outer Worlds', Argos Festival, Argos, Brussels (Belgium)
'Exces', Z33, Hasselt (Belgium)
2004
'Mediamatic Supersalon', Mediamatic, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'Constructing Visions', Piet Zwart Institute, TENT, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
Emaf, Osnabrueck (Austria)
Plug-In, Futura, Prague (Czech Republic)
Yugoslav Biennial, Belgrado (Serbia)
'Monitoring', Kunstverein Kassel, Kassel (Germany)
IDFA, Amsterdam (Nederland)
2003
'Urban Dramas', deSingel, Antwerp (Belgium)
Art Cologne, Galerie Fons Welters, Cologne (Germany)
'Blich zum Nachbarn', Kunstfilmbiennale, Cologne (Germany)
Etablissements d'en Face, Brussels (Belgium)
2002
'De Avonden', De Appel, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
biblio
Renzo Martens
Meerhem 87
9000 Gent, België
