I am Helmut Dick (born 1969, Germany), a visual artist based in Amsterdam. My work contains different mediums and strategies such as performance, workshops, sculptures, installation, video and photography. I studied Fine Arts at the Sandberg Institute (Master degree) and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (both in Amsterdam). I got nominated for the Prix de Rome Netherlands 2003 in two categories and won the basic prize sculpture. My works and projects have been shown internationally at expositions, film festivals or in the public space. I made monumental works for among others the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment in Leeuwarden (Netherlands), participated at the Biennale Krasj 4 in Ninove, (Belgium) and showed my work at the Photoforum Pasquart (Switzerland) and the Moscow International Film Festival (Russia). Beside my work as an artist I am an experienced teacher and commissioner currently working as senior lecturer at the Amsterdam University of the Arts.
The main theme of my artistic work in the last years is our complex and changing relationship to ‘nature’. As a trained gardener holding a Master degree in Fine Arts I am especially interested in plants and their role in the ongoing transformation of our self- image in the face of man-made ecological crisis. (I also use the umbrella term ‘Psychobotanical’ for related works and projects). One of our noticeable reactions to the threatening events could be described as an inner wish of being ‘healed by’ or ‘heal with’ plants (or nature in a broader sense). This probably also archetypical turn comes to expression on many practical levels but also in more mentally and spiritually motivated behaviour: using ‘green’ energy, using sustainable vegetable products, eating more plants instead of meat, excessive collecting of tropical foliage plants during the lock downs, rediscovering shamanism or fighting for new (and equal to human) rights for animals, plants or whole ecosystems. These examples show the urge to redefine the general meaning of a nature that we are a part of and that is surrounding us (in a ecological and ethical sense) as well as the more personal (psychological and spiritual) character of our personal, inner nature at the same time.
A detailed CV can be provided on demand.