Oskar Helcel (1995) graduated from the Department of Photography at FAMU, where he studied in the studios of Marketa Kinterová and Hynek Alt. During his studies he completed a scholastic internship in the Intermedia Studio at the Brno University of Technology’s Faculty of Fine Arts. 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 the purposes of 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.
Helcel’s work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions at venues such as Jelení Gallery and the Center for Contemporary Arts Prague as well as in the online exhibition FNA. He received an honorable mention in the European art thesis competition START POINT Prize 2020, and he was a finalist in the competition section of the 2022 PAF Other Visions festival. He is a co-founder and active member of the theatre group Akolektiv Helmut, with which he was nominated for Talent of the Year in the 2020 Theatre Critics’ Awards.