The artist lectures on the work of the Institute for Human Activities, an organization dedicated to increasing living standards in the Congo through artist-initiated gentrification. The project centers on a former Unilever plantation 800 miles north of Kinshasa on the Congo River.
This lecture will be webcast live on the Walker Channel.
About the Artist
Dutch artist Renzo Martens (b. 1973), who lives and works in Brussels and Kinshasa, is known for his satirical and disturbing video documentaries in which he travels to war-torn countries and places himself narcissistically at the center of the action, demonstrating how Western spectators consume distant trauma. In 2012, Martens helped found the Institute for Human Activities and initiated its five-year Gentrification Program.