Cutting-edge artists team up for European anti-smoking campaign

GALLERY A partnership of health and art   Belgian artist Wim Delvoye's photographic work for the World Health Organization includes a slice of ham embroidered with the cartoon image of a boy from the 1950s smoking a cigarette

By Thurston Hatcher
CNN.com Writer

(CNN) -- A nicotine-addicted monkey, a little boy in lederhosen and an embroidered slice of ham are among the images artists have unleashed in hopes of deterring Europeans from using tobacco.

The World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe commissioned works by 20 edgy artists for its "ArtWorks" campaign, designed to raise awareness of smoking's health risks.

"We thought it was a very good opportunity to use art to give a positive health message, but also kind of counteract the way the tobacco industry has used advertising and entertainment to market their products," said Patsy Harrington, project manager for the Tobacco Free Initiative for Europe with the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations.

Tobacco products are blamed for 1.2 million deaths each year in the World Health Organization's European Region, and those numbers are expected to rise if nothing is done about the problem.

Organizers figured contemporary artists would connect with their youthful target audience, Harrington said.

In his video and photograph, Gavin Turk used a news item about a real monkey who became addicted to cigarettes

"Maybe young people will more likely to listen to modern artists than a doctor or a nurse," Harrington said in a recent telephone interview from her Copenhagen, Denmark, office. The project faced a challenge finding artists to participate, since an inordinate number are smokers, she noted.

The campaign spent $200,000 in public and private funds on the commissions -- "very little money" compared to what the tobacco industry spends to advertise its products, Harrington said.

Already exhibited earlier this year in London, the collection is scheduled to make stops in Berlin, Warsaw and Paris next spring and summer.

Posters of the works, which include sculpture, painting, photography and video, also are being distributed to doctors' offices and pharmacies across Europe.

Among the works are:

Czech artist Milena Dopitova created a 2-meter-high (7-foot) sculpture in blue velvet and satin embroidery

• Belgian artist Wim Delvoye's photo of a slice of ham embroidered with the image of a boy smoking a cigarette.
• Prague artist Milena Dopitova's 2-meter-high (7-foot) sculpture of human lungs made of blue velvet with satin embroidery.
• "Still Life" by British artist Lisa Milroy, which features clay versions of familiar smoker paraphernalia, such as matches and an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts.
• A photograph by German artist Thomas Ruff of a boy in lederhosen with the caption: "My Dad quit smoking."
• A haunting image from London artist Gavin Turk's video and photograph depicting a monkey smoking a cigarette.

The project initially is focusing on the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland, but organizers hope to broaden it.

"We want to have as widespread an impact as possible," Harrington said.

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Regional and Other Offices - World Health Organization
ArtWorks - World Health Organization

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