Renzo Martens, Norway Episode 1 2003, Norway 42’00’’

This piece is the record of Renzo Martens' activities in Chechnya, and a documentary film adopting a strategy. In order to create this piece, the artist penetrated the area, alone, illegally. On the scene, he adopts the single omnipresent role in war: that of the viewer for whose attention is being fought. Therefore, he does not ask refugees, soldiers, rebels and UN people, crying babies, ruins and attacks in the background, how they feel. He asks them how they think he feels. Thus catering to the very agenda of watching war, the film forms a metaphor for an economy of images. At the same time, the piece is being made right there: it does not reveal some outside phenomena, but the consequences of its own existence.

b. 1973 in the Netherlands. Lives and works in Amsterdam and Brussels. Solo exhibitions: 1999 Rien ne van Plus, de Merodestraat, Brussels and 2003 Galerie Fons Welters. Others: 2004 Mediamatic Supersalon, Amsterdam, Plug In, Futura, Prague, Yugoslav Biennal, Belgrade.