Artist Name: Oskar Helcel
Dates: June – July 2025
Born: 1995
Hometown: Prague, Czech Republic
Lives & Works: Prague, Czech Republic
URL: oskarhelcel.cz | Instagram: @oskar_helcel
Education:
2015 – 2020 – BcA. + MgA, Department of Photography, FAMU – Film and TV Faculty of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
2019 – 2020 – Internship in Studio of Multimedia on Faculty of Arts in Brno
2011 – 2015 – Applied photography and new media, Secondary Graphic School
Bio/Statement:
Oskar Helcel is the laureate of the 2024 Jindřich Chalupecký Award.
Oskar Helcel is an audiovisual artist, photographer, and performer. His artistic work focuses on the mechanisms of late capitalism in the context of contemporary urban space. He has long worked with the topic of so-called “developerism” as a tool for the reproduction of capitalism, the privatization of cities for profit, and gentrification. His performative video essays reveal class and economic inequality, often in connection with specific locations to which he repeatedly returns. The broader social issues are interconnected with more intimate processes of perception such as the need for a home, the confrontation between the individual and corporations, and the emotional imbalance of real estate developers.
Oskar Helcel has participated in several solo and group exhibitions, including Background for reflection, Hraničář Public Hall, Ústí nad Labem; Clubs of the Future, Haus de Statistik, Berlin (with Martin Netočný) PAF Other Visions,Gallery XY (2023, and 2022); The topping out tree Josef Sudek Studio (2022); Argumented Reality, an online exhibition by NFA (2021); The Flow Building, Galerie Jelení, Prague (2020);. He received an honorable mention in the European art thesis competition START POINT Prize in 2020. He is a co-founder and active member of the theatre group Akolektiv Helmut.
Support: Oskar Helcel’s residency is made possible with support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
