Smashing Times on filling the gap between arts and human rights

Spanish artist Pablo Picasso once said, “art is a lie that makes us realise truth.”

In a time of global upheaval, many turn to the arts to find answers, and the Smashing Times festival, which takes place in Dublin from October 11 to 20, is well-placed and well-timed to capture the public’s imagination.

The Smashing Times was first founded in 1991, and has combined arts and human rights issues ever since.

Artistic Director and CEO Mary Moynihan said that this year’s festival, which takes place all across Dublin, will focus on the work done by defenders of human rights across the world.

The festival boasts major organisations such as Trocáire, the Irish Civil Liberties Union, the Women’s Council of Ireland and the Department Of Culture, Heritage and The Gaeltacht as backers.

“It is incredibly important that people engage with the arts during themes like these; right now, we are seeing people around the world being treated with disrespect.”

“War, greed, inequality and a lack of respect for other people are the main issues that are informing the festival this year,” she said.

A playwright outside of her work with the festival, Moynihan said that the arts can serve as a gateway for substantial issues such as human rights or mental health and said that in some cases, it can serve as a voice for people.

“Ireland has a proud tradition in the arts; just look at the famous literature personalities we have produced. In my 30 years doing this, the arts has gradually become a career for people in Ireland, and I think there is also less elitism around the arts than when I was starting out.”

Moynihan said that more working class voices need to be heard and engage with the arts, and to that end, the Smashing Times organisers believe that “no one should be priced out of the arts.”

“During the pandemic a lot of us turned to the arts,” she explained, but since then the arts in Ireland has remained underfunded.

Moynihan was speaking to us the day after the Budget, when it was announced that The Arts Council will receive €140 million in funding, along with the extension of the basic universal income trial for artists across Ireland.

The Arts Council noted that the funding falls short of their request of €160 million, stating that the incremental increase associated with inflation-era budgets means that the money doesn’t go all that far in relative terms.

Moynihan said that while the arts sector in Ireland has received backing in recent times, it is still behind their European contemporaries. 

On her travels in France over the summer, she visited a cathedral and discovered that a local bishop had given a local artist a corner of the cathedral to operate in.

“It occurred to me that we used to build huge cathedrals to show power, but now they are being used to express the joy of the arts to the world; I was wondering why we are not doing something like that in Dublin?”

“Across the city, we have a lot of small to medium spaces that we are not using; obviously the housing crisis is the number one issue for people, but we are losing our edge in the arts sphere by not using these unused buildings.”

In July, research carried out by Labour Senator Marie Sherlock and her staff found that 52 arts spaces have been closed across Ireland over the last 20 years. 

Sherlock said the losses of the artist spaces have “struck a serious blow to the cultural fabric and energy of our city.”

“The reality is that artists’ studios and venues don’t stand a chance when competing against commercial interests; we need to change that.”

Moynihan pointed to a 2019 evidence-based study conducted by the World Health Organisation that found that exposure to the arts was crucial to the functioning of mental health. 

The research found “the arts can be used to communicate valuable messages across cultures and political divides, help affected communities understand the risks of certain diseases or behaviours and provide ways for affected populations to process and learn from their individual and collective experience to improve their wellbeing among other benefits.”

Moynihan said that the arts is a form of solace for some people, but it can also make other people feel more connected to the world.

“Even if you are at an art exhibit by yourself, you are still connecting to the world because you are forming a connection between you and the subject you are looking at.”

“The arts has a huge role to play in maintaining people’s mental health,” she said, saying it is the ultimate way for someone to express themselves.

She said that the lack of arts spaces in Dublin – coupled with the housing crisis – has the people for people to feel less connected with the world.

“Housing is a basic human need, we know this, but if you couple that with the lack of arts spaces in the city I get the sense that people are losing the ability to truly connect with the world around them,” she said.

Part of Moynihan’s work at this year’s festival is an exhibition titled Landscapes Of The Soul, a collaboration with Pakistani refugee Hina Khan who has become an established artist in Ireland.

Among the events at the festival this year is a talk held by the Irish Civil Liberties Union, titled 

Art As Protest: How The Arts Can Advance Human Rights.

The panel discussion, which will be held at Hen’s Teeth on October 17, will explore the links between protest, solidarity and the arts.

For punters who want something more in tune with nature, The Art Of Trees offers people the chance to engage with trees on a more meaningful level.

Flux Studios will host Trócaire’s Eye Of The Storm exhibition between October 11 and 20, with the various faces of climate change on show.

The Ireland Institute will host a night of open mic poetry and music revolving around the themes of solidarity, human rights and social justice on October 17.

October 24 will see an Anti-SLAPP conference take place in the Royal Irish Academy.

Relatively little known among the general public, a SLAPP order (standing for strategic lawsuits against public participation) is often threatened by powerful individuals or organisations with the implicit aim of wanting to silence dissent such as protestors or journalists.

The full list of events is available on the Smashing Times’ website, and for people who simply want a break from endless social media doomscrolling of the latest humanitarian crisis, this festival will give people the chance to still engage with the world in a meaningful way.