Exhibition text
For the production of numerous products we use in everyday life, landscapes are excavated for the necessary raw materials. For example, in Heerlen there is a quarry where silver sand is extracted. This kind of excavation, which sometimes takes place for years and kilometers wide and/or deep, causes the landscape to change drastically.
How we interact with our environment and the landscape can also be seen in the video work Assembly II. This work is composed of videos shared on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. On one side, you see how large machines work the landscape. On the other hand, you see how humans sometimes take over the role of machine, or collaborate with it.
In response to the question "Where are we now?" Luuk Smits delved into this kind of changing landscape. He set out in and around the quarry in Heerlen to explore the history and future of the place, where several features and stories caught his attention.
Sand quarries often create a lake. The water that collects in such a pit connects in many ways to the development of such an area. The disastrous image caused by the excavation is in sharp contrast to the beneficial effects of the lake that is created, for example for the local ecosystem and recreational purposes. The work in Smits' exhibition As long as it lasts focuses on the complexity of the various consequences.
The work in Smits' exhibition "As long as it lasts" focuses on the complexity of the various consequences of such an excavation. The sand exploitation company Sibelco that has a production site in Heerlen will leave in 2032. At the same time, it is considering ways to reshape and repurpose the landscape. Without making a statement about what is good or bad, Smits tries through his work to draw attention in a visual way to what is happening and in doing so also raises questions. For example, in the exhibition space of Greylight Projects, the raft 'ZAND' and the raft 'WEG' were built on the spot.
After all, where are they going? Do they refer to an apocalyptic vision of the future as in stories such as Noah's Ark? Or, on the contrary, do they give an idea about the usefulness of a local lake? Or is it mainly a call to be curious about the origins of everyday products? Through Smits' exhibition, are we following the path of the sand, or is the sand already gone?
