Screening: 4:30-6pm in Room 3416
Conversation: 6:30pm in the Skylight Room (9100)
Join Renzo Martens for a screening of his documentary, “Episode III: Enjoy Poverty” followed by a conversation with Claire Bishop and Ashley Dawson.
As Director of the Institute for Human Activities, artist Renzo Martens is working to increase living standards in the Congo through a multi-year project of artist-initiated gentrification based on a former Unilever plantation 800 miles north of Kinshasa on the Congo River. Martens has gained much critical acclaim for his earlier documentary film Enjoy Poverty, which presents the case that images of poverty are the Congo’s most lucrative export. Join Martens, whose projects have been presented at institutions including the Walker Art Center, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, ZKM in Karlsruhe for a screening of his documentary and a discussion about how academics and entrepreneurs facilitate the Institute’s mission and other non-governmental organizations working in Africa. The discussion will be moderated by Claire Bishop, Professor of Art History at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Ashley Dawson, professor of English at the College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, will respond to the discussion.
