Helmut Smits

Born in Roosendaal, Netherlands, Helmut Smits now lives and works in Rotterdam.

I mean, really... when was the last time you saw "anti-war art" as good as this? 

Never, that's when.



In 2004, you made a sculpture titled, Photo Tip… how did that idea originate?  What have been some reactions to it?  I imagine it might be very insulting to the colleagues and loved ones of kidnapped  
journalists…

Don’t get me wrong. I find it horrifying that people get taken hostage. I was asked to make an installation at an old fortress from the first  World War (also used in the 2nd WW). At that time a lot of people got  
taken hostage in Iraq and the news was covering this all the time so we got familiar with these images.
During the exhibition I found out that some hostages broadcasted by the media were not real and had been put together. The work is more about the role of the media these days and of what gets to us through them, the changing line between fact and reality. Also the fact that you have these photo-tip signs (Kodak moments) in amusement parks to put your photocamera on so you don’t even have to  
think about what sort/angle of photo you have to make. Something I find absurd. I want to stimulate people to think for themselves and question the things happening around them and in the world.

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Your piece, The End, a movie as endtitles of military fatalities in Operation Enduring Freedom until December 2nd, 2006. Arranged by date of death and by country, is one of a few Iraq War pieces you’ve created. Can you speak about your thoughts on the war and how you translate your opinions into works of art?

"The End" was one of the works I made for a solo show called "Friendly Fire." It was a show based on my love-hate relationship with America and the way America dominates the world. It’s about the  
fact that war is real and real people get killed. To show a list of 3000 fatalities is very confronting, the music I chose makes it even more confronting ("The Letter" by Box Tops).

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I choose Endtitles as a link to the glorification of war in Hollywood movies and the way the US government participates in them, for example by lending  
movie makers hardware to influence the end result of the movie [to promote the army].

Your work has this poignancy and feels very of-the-moment, and yet there’s this dark humor just below the surface, this cynicism… it’s almost as if each piece comes with a built-in smirk or chuckle aimed at corporations or politics, yes?

Sometimes, if issues/things irritate me I react to them through my work. I don’t want to judge, I just want to point things out. I’m well aware of the relativity of the information that gets to me.

And then there’s your Coca-Cola-targeted pieces, specifically The Real Thing, which treads the line between scientist and artist… how does it work?

The Real Thing is an installation that filters Coca-Cola into clean drinking water. It’s a concept-piece. Coca-Cola is claiming to be The Real Thing, while water is the source of all life and the main ingredient for producing Coca-Cola. It’s about the fact that in some counties it’s easier to get a bottle of Coke than it is to get clean drinking water. For example in India where locals who live round the Coca-Cola factories don’t have access to clean drinking water anymore because of the large quantities of water that the Coca-Cola factories  
need to produce Coca-Cola.

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I’d compare your sculpture, 0.26 gallon of oil, to the works of Duchamp, this sort of found-art idea… but your works seem to have more bite to them and most of it appears to stem from a dislike (not to be disputed) of American culture and corporations. 
I guess you’re not a fan of Coca- Cola?

I’m not saying you shouldn’t drink Coca-Cola anymore, it’s just the scale of consumption that bothers me. I liked the fact that oil looks the same as Coca-Cola. One is: [one of] the product that America dominates the world with [Coca-Cola], the other is: the product that America consumes the most worldwide [oil]. This simple ready-made piece tells that story.


Yet not all of your work is sharp-edged… your public pieces like Cloud, Holland, Confetti, and Tree in Front of Billboard are much more relaxed and playful.  Does art that makes you feel good and think less have the same value and importance as art that makes you feel bad and think more?

These two things can come together. Tree in front of billboard is a good example of that. I did this work because I got fed up with the ever increasing information bombardment you get every day, recently these big billboards were placed all over the city I live in. I think it’s very important to have fun in life but that doesn’t mean you can just do whatever you like. I don’t agree that things that make you feel good make you think less.

Website

www.helmutsmits.nl

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