White Cube
by Renzo Martens
6 oct. at 6.30pm
8 oct. at 2pm
Cinéma Le Mondial
Cinematography: Renzo Martens, Dareck Tuba, Hans Bouma, Maarten Kramer, Daan Wallis, Remco Bikkers, Louise van Assche, Eric Vander Borght, Jean Counet, Deschamps Matala, Lisa Perez, Boaz van der Spek
Editing: Boaz van der Spek, Eric Vander Borght, Jos de Putter, Jan de Coster
Sound: Papy Bambole-Kandole, Dareck Tuba, Philippe Benoit
Sound Design: Ranko Paukovic
Special thanks to: Human Activities
In collaboration with Irène Kanga, Matthieu Kasiama, René Ngongo and all of the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC).
Pieter van Huystee pour Pieter van Huystee Film
Coproduction : Peter Krüger/Inti Films, VPRO
Video
White Cube is a powerful and provocative dissection of art, class and decolonisation. The film follows the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC), a plantation workers’ cooperative based on a former Unilever plantation in the Congolese town of Lusanga, as they attempt to end the destructive system of monoculture on their lands – by building upon it a gallery, the ‘white cube’ of the title.
By presenting and selling art within this new space, the collective attempt to raise sufficient finances to buy back their land from international plantation companies – and secure it for future generations. From the violence of the plantation system to the aesthetics of the gallery, this multi-layered and fascinating film posits that galleries and museums can only become decolonised and inclusive if the benefits accrued from them flow back to the workers whose labour financed – in some cases, continue to finance – their foundations.
