f The heart of darkness

Examining the controversial art practice of Dutch artist Renzo Martens, this article examines the ‘heart of darkness’ beating within contemporary social practice. Written for a collection of texts on the theme of ‘exchange’ and concentrating on Martens’s most recent project, the Institute for Human Activities (IHA), based on a Congolese plantation, this piece asks what is really exchanged through participation in social art and who really benefits.