Born in the Netherlands, Renzo Martens gained international attention for his film Episode III: Enjoy Poverty, which premiered in 2008. The documentary challenged traditional humanitarian narratives by suggesting that poverty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is marketed as a resource, forcing viewers to confront the ethics of representation and the global art market.

In 2010, Martens founded the research institute Human Activities. This ongoing project focuses on a palm oil plantation in the Congolese rainforest, where he has implemented a gentrification program intended to redirect the economic value generated by the plantation back into the local community through artistic production and infrastructure development.