Global Museum Launch White Cube
March 24 - May 15, 2021
15 institutions across 4 continents
During a six-week global museum launch, White Cube is projected daily onto the white walls of the White Cube in Lusanga, the building which features in the film.
Fifteen key art institutions worldwide will join the event, hosting a series of screenings and debates about the projects’ implications. We invite you to join in the virtual museum visits and webinars in Lusanga and across the world.
Participating institutions include National Museum (Kinshasa), KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin), SCCA (Tamale), African Artists’ Foundation (Lagos), V-A-C (Moscow), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), Wiels (Brussels), ICA (London), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Picha (Lubumbashi), MPavilion (Melbourne), Museum MACAN (Jakarta), Sharjah Art Foundation and The Africa Institute (Sharjah) and White Cube (Lusanga).
Programme:
March 24 - May 15 2021
From March 24 you can watch White Cube online through the participating institutions. The film will be available on demand throughout the six weeks of the event.
Program of screenings and debates:
24 March – KW, Berlin
Debate with Clémentine Deliss, Tirdad Zolghadr and Renzo Martens.
25 March – Wiels, Brussels and Picha, Lubumbashi
Debate with Sandrine Colard, Aymar Nyenyezi Bisoka, Jean-François Mombia Atuku and Renzo Martens. Moderated by Wendy Bashi.
30 March – ICA, London
The film will be available directly from the ICA platform to their members from 30 March 7pm until 6 April 7pm. A conversation with Azu Nwagbogu and Suhail Malik will be published on the same day.
1 April – MPavilion, Melbourne
Screening of White Cube with an introduction by Renzo Martens, David Gianotten, Cedart Tamasala, with Helen Runting and Arsene Ijambo.
10 April – African Artists’ Foundation, Lagos
A debate with Renzo Martens, Cedart Tamasala, Oluwatoyin Sogbesan and Azu Nwagbogu, in collaboration with Alliance Française de Lagos.
14 April – Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
A screening of White Cube followed by a debate (watch the debate now online here) with Charles Esche and Cedart Tamasala, moderated by Renzo Martens. (18h30 CEST)
17 April - Sharjah Art Foundation and The Africa Institute (Sharjah)
A screening and online discussion with Renzo Martens, Surafel Wondimu and Cedart Tamasala. (20:00 UAE)
22-24 April – Mori Art, Tokyo
Screening and online debate between Renzo Martens, Mami Kataoka, Cedart Tamasala, Eleonore Hellio and Hikaru Fujiii.
24 April – National Museum, Kinshasa
Daily screening of White Cube from March 24 until April 24 and a debate on April 24 with Henry Bundjoko, Franklin Mubwabu Mbobe, Pala Kamango, René Ngongo, Cedart Tamasala, Matthieu Kasiama, Mbuku Kimpala and Eléonore Hellio, moderated by Charles Tumba.
12 May - VAC, Moscow
Dialogue between curator Kirill Adibekov, Cedart Tamasala and Renzo Martens
11 May - Museum MACAN
Online debate
15 May - SCCA, Tamale
A debate with Renzo Martens, Ibrahim Mahama and Kari Kacha Seidou.
More dates to be announced soon.
About White Cube
In White Cube, Congolese plantation workers set a new precedent. They successfully co-opt the concept of the ‘white cube’ 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 white cube, the film puts forward a proof of concept: museums can become decolonized and inclusive, but only on the condition that the benefits accrued around the museum flow back to the plantation workers whose labor financed – and in some cases continues to finance – the very foundations of these institutions.
White Cube follows the Cercle d'Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC), a plantation workers’ cooperative based on a former Unilever plantation in Lusanga, Democratic Republic of Congo. The film documents CATPC’s success in ending the destructive system of monoculture on their lands.
“Land or art. If I would have to choose, I would choose both. But if I really have to choose only one, I would choose the land. Where can I put my chair and start making art, if I do not own the land?” Matthieu Kasiama, CATPC.
After a failed solo attempt by artist Renzo Martens to resolve inequality through critical self-reflection, this group of plantation workers employs the privileges associated with the white cube to get back the land that was stolen from them. From the historical foundations in indentured plantation labour of art world giants such as Tate Modern, the Van Abbemuseum and the Ludwig Museum to the gentrifying neighbourhoods around these museums, from the boardrooms of Unilever to the exhausted plantations of Congo, the film sets a new paradigm. White Cube is no longer content with mere scrutiny, it proposes a paradigm shift: practical solutions for an inclusive and egalitarian economy.
White Cube is a film directed by Renzo Martens in collaboration with CATPC.
A trailer of the film is available here.