Helmut Smits is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Straightforward, critical and witty, Smits is a ceaseless producer of ideas that comment on society and situations in a frank and often humorous way.

Contact
Helmut Smits
mail@helmutsmits.nl
+31 6 145 06 889

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Selected Exhibitions
2020  KIKK Festival, Namur BE (upcoming)
2020  We have a problem with water, Gdynia Design Days, PL (upcoming)
2020  De Nacht, de Warande, BE (upcoming)
2020  Studio away from Studio, Brooklyn, NY (upcoming)
2020  Descart, Rotterdam (upcoming)

2020  We=Link: Ten Easy Pieces, Chronus Art Center, CN
2019  Something In-Between, centraal station Breda
2019  3 x 3 at V2_Lab for unstable media, Rotterdam
2019  Flop Art, KK Outlet at Vans store London, UK
2019  Screen Time, Testsite Meent
2019  DNA IKEA, de Cacaofabriek
2019  Art The Hague, Bcademie
2019  The Shareholders' Meeting 4, with Maarten Bel
2019  Use Me, Abuse Me, KK Outlet at Vans store London, UK
2019  Dutch Art with text & Humor? No Thanks!, AG Space for new art and media, Utrecht
2019  ReReply, Editorial Concreta, Valencia, ES
2019  Rulers, Coco Hunday, Tampa Florida, US
2019  WaterSchool, Studio Makkink & Bey, Z33 Hasselt, BE
2019  WaterSchool, Studio Makkink & Bey, Atelier LUMA, Arles, FR
2019  Torrance Art Museum, CO/LAB 4, LA, US
2018  Family, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
2018  Uncertainty Principle, Desfours Palace, Prague, CZ
2018  the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial with Studio Makkink & Bey, Istanbul, TR
2018  Connected - East Meets West, TOP Gallery, Berlin, DE
2018  IKEA Hacked, Our Products, Your Ideas, IKEA Museum, Almhult, SE
2018  Bien Urbain Festival, Besancon, FR
2018  Artist Flags for 'De Mastplanters', 019 Ghent, BE
2018  Enter the Past and See the Future, Hotel Droog
2018  Ticket to de Toekomst, Villa Zebra
2018  When Attitudes Becomes Form, Rome, IT
2018  Stream Capture, MCAD, Minneapolis, US
2018  All Our Friends, KK Outlet, UK
2017  The Embasy of Food, DDW 2017
2017  Change the System, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
2017  Stickey Business, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
2017  Brno Art Open 2017, CZ
2017  Zero Footprint Campus, Utrecht Science Park
2017  You Say You Know You Will You Do, Fresh Window Gallery, NY
2017  Fabulous Failures, Museum Le Botanique, BE
2017  Frame's KitchenLab, IMM, Cologne DE
2016  Dream out Loud, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
2016  Fabulous Failures, Les Recontres d'Arles, FR
2016  Measuring: This much, That much, How much?", Songshan Cult. Park, Taipei, TW
2016  Domestic Affairs, Doha, QA
2016  Domestic Affairs, Shenzhen, CN
2015  Romantik, August, Cologne, DE
2015  Cuckoo festival, Ostrava, CZ
2015  TodaysArt Festival, The Hague
2015  Volta 11, Fresh Window, Basel, CH
2015  Happy Birthday, The Israel Museum, IL
2015  Measuring: This much, That much, How much?", 21_21 Design Sight, JP
2015  Domestic Affairs, Passagen Cologne, DE
2014  Sense Nonsense, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
2014  The Value of Nothing, TENT, Rotterdam
2014  Eternal September, Institute for Contemporary Art Ljubljana, SI
2014  Game Changer, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, CO, US
2014  Construct – de – construct, Droog Gallery, Amsterdam
2014  Designing Scarcity, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
2014  First Eleven, KK Outlet, London, UK
2014  Outrun, Fresh Window, Brooklyn, NY
2013  Design in Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
2013  Small Gestures, MU, Eindhoven
2013  Petites résistances, Weltkunstzimmer, Düsseldorf, DE
2013  Welcome to the Real, Temp, New York, US
2013  Money's Worth, Gallery Sofie Lachaert, BE
2013  Some Things, Beginnings Gallery, New York, US
2012  Identity Land - DroogLab, Z33, BE
2012  Swedish for Argument, UTS Gallery Sydney, AU
2012  Skirting Board Sunset for The Sculpture House, London Design Festival, UK
2012  Photogenus, University of Cincinnati, US
2012  An Exhibition of Texts, Sometimes, Cape Town, ZA
2012  Objects in Mirror, Fotodok, Utrecht
2011  Arbeit Nervt, Künstlerhaus Dortmund, DE
2011  Changes, Auf AEG, Nürnberg, DE
2011  Our Complex, Generator Projects, Dundee, Scotland
2011  Analogue, The Luminary centre for the Arts, St. Louis, US
2011  Changes, Halle 14, Leipzig, DE
2011  Time Space Casuality, Bari, IT
2010  Voicemail project orchestrated by Davide Balula, Palais de Tokyo, FR
2010  Saint-Etienne International Design Biennial 2010, FR
2010  More or Less, Sofia Design Week, Sofia, BG
2010  Giant Bowl On Monuments Day, Oslo, NO
2010  Electrified II, S.M.A.K., Ghent, BE
2010  CRW - contemporary reflection on war, BKS Garage, Copenhagen, DK
2010  War / Individual, Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst Münster, DE
2009  Laughing prohibited, De Bruine Heer, Eindhoven
2009  Different Places - Different Stories, Viersen, DE
2009  Prix de Rome 2009, Witte de With, Rotterdam
2009  Repairing, Platform21, Amsterdam
2009  Hacking IKEA, The biennale de Montréal, CA
2008  YES, Mama, Rotterdam
2008  Sweet Summer Nights, Kröller-Müller Museum
2008  One weekend show II, HWW, Rotterdam
2008  Brabant Now, Museum De Pont, Tilburg
2007  Rock My Religion, OdaPark, Venray
2007  EgoArt Prize 2006, Bastart Gallery, Bratislava, SK
2007  Vitarti, Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, BE
2007  Bizarre love triangle, Fette’s Gallery LA, US
2007  Art Rotterdam, Dubbelbee Gallery
2006  Code Strate, Brussel, BE
2006  Eastern Neighbours, Babel Tower, Utrecht
2006  AEKI, KOP Foundation, Breda
2006  €10.000 Show, W139, Amsterdam

Commissions
2020  Screen print ‘The center of this print marked by the end of this sentence’ with Juste Ici, FR
2020  Sketch design for the City of Lommel, BE
2018  Chalk House for Bien Urbain Festival, Besançon, FR
2018  Sketch design for a commemorative coin ' 100 Years Wageningen University', Dutch Ministry of Finance
2017  Videoclip The Show for Janne Schra
2016  Campaign BGLF, Sue Amsterdam
2016  Onderstroom for CBK Rotterdam
2015  Outdoor wall drawing for Cuckoo festival, Ostrava, CZ
2015  the helmut smits button for MU Play&Learn
2014  Christmas tree for Neon Magazine, DE
2013  Permanent outdoor sculpture for Villa Flora Park, Gersau, CH
2013  Sketch design for a 2 euro coin, Dutch Ministry of Finance
2012  DroogLab - Identity Land
2011  Permanent outdoor sculpture for the Wooldrikpark, City of  Enschede
2010  Sketch design for ASV Arsenal / SKOR
2010  Sketch design for the City of Veldhoven
2009  Sketch design for CBKG
2009  Sketch design for a commemorative coin, Dutch Ministry of Finance
2008  Sketch design for Bureau Beyond / Leidsche Rijn Park
2008  Sketch and DO design CBKR / Doorbraak
2008  Sketch design for the City of Assen
2008  Sketch design for Stanislas College / Kunst en Bedrijf
2007  Sketch design for the City of Zoetermeer
2007  Sketch design for the City of Rijswijk
2006  Sketch design for Q4 / City of Venlo
2006  Sketch design for Avans University