Visitors to the temples of modern art in global cities will be familiar with the white cube gallery space. But when one arises in the middle of a Congolese palm oil plantation, the effect is deeply disorienting. Furthermore, it draws attention to the often overlooked ties between colonialism and the art world, for example, through the multinationals that now proudly sponsor these Western museums. This Congolese arts center is part of artist Renzo Martens’s unorthodox plan to jump-start the local economy. Former workers at the plantation make sculptures that are reproduced in chocolate, and then exhibited in New York. The plantation workers, most of whom earn a dollar or less a day, use the profits from this successful exhibition to buy back the land confiscated from them by Unilever.
Movie / 2020
Movie / 2005
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Movie / 2014
Movie / 1989
Movie / 1986
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Movie / 1898
Movie / 1993
Movie / 2013
Movie / 1989
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Visitors to the temples of modern art in global cities will be familiar with the white cube gallery space. But when one arises in the middle of a Congolese palm oil plantation, the effect is deeply disorienting. Furthermore, it draws attention to the often overlooked ties between colonialism and the art world, for example, through the multinationals that now proudly sponsor these Western museums. This Congolese arts center is part of artist Renzo Martens’s unorthodox plan to jump-start the local economy. Former workers at the plantation make sculptures that are reproduced in chocolate, and then exhibited in New York. The plantation workers, most of whom earn a dollar or less a day, use the profits from this successful exhibition to buy back the land confiscated from them by Unilever.
Movie / 2020
Movie / 2005
Movie / 2024
Movie / 2013
Movie / 1996
Movie / 2020
Movie / 2014
Movie / 1989
Movie / 1986
Movie / NaN
Movie / 1898
Movie / 1993
Movie / 2013
Movie / 1989
Movie / 2014
Movie / 2008
Movie / 1945
Movie / 2017
Movie / 2010
Movie / 2003