A Presentation by curator and writer Fatos Üstek was followed by presentations of finalists of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, Oskar Helcel, Judita Levitnarová and No Fun kolektiv.
Exploring curatorial practice as a platform for artistic experimentation and social advocacy Fatos Üstek reflected on her recent work with Frieze Sculpture in Regent’s Park, offering insights into the strategies that inform large-scale, public art exhibitions and the challenges of situating contemporary art in open, accessible spaces.Üstek discussed her close collaboration with artists and the evolving role of curators in shaping the intersection between art, philosophy, and viewer engagement. She spoke about her role with FRANK Fair Artist Pay, sharing how curatorial frameworks can advocate for fair artist remuneration and ethical practice across the arts sector. This presentation provided a comprehensive look at the diverse methodologies Üstek employs, highlighting her commitment to fostering both innovative artistic environments and a socially engaged, equitable art world.
Fatos Üstek
is an influential voice in contemporary art, in both UK and international art contexts. With a background in directing major art institutions like the Liverpool Biennial and The Roberts Institute of Art, Üstek has curated impactful exhibitions and biennials, such as Frieze Sculpture, London and Cascading Principles Expansions within Geometry, Philosophy and Interference, Oxford. She is the authorof The Art Institution of Tomorrow, Reinventing the Model.
Oskar Helcel
graduated from the Department of Photography at FAMU, where he studied in the studios of Marketa Kinterová and Hynek Alt. He works with the topic of “developerism” as a tool for the reproduction of capitalism and privatization of cities for profit and gentrification. His performative video essays reveal class and economic inequality, often in connection with specific locations. The broader social issues are interconnected with more intimate processes of perception such as a need for home, confrontation between the subject and corporations, and the emotional imbalance of real estate developers.
Judita Levitnerová
graduated from the University of Ostrava and then continued her studies in the Intermedia Studio at the Brno University of Technology’s Faculty of Fine Arts, where she is also currently working on a dissertation on the subject of contemporary informel as well as researching feminist issues. She works with the method of imitation as another form of approaching the subject and practices of care for forgotten artistic techniques.
No Fun kolektiv
The art research collective No Fun, was founded in 2021 and its current members are Markéta Soukupová, Alex Petrova, Ondřej Trhoň, Andrea Hubert, and Maxine Vajt. It also functions as a modular and open unit, inviting other people from a variety of disciplines. No Fun Collective explores queer subversive strategies of video games in the context of Central and Eastern Europe through theoretically informed and artistically and politically concise positions; it reflects on cis heteronormative norms while seeking effective strategies of their disruption; in collaboration with the queer and trans community as a shared practice of safe space, lecture, workshops and performance.
Moderated by Hana Janečková
Hana Janečková is a researcher and curator. She was the curator of the Czech pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. She is the Assistant Professor of Recent and Contemporary Art at the Academy of Fine Arts (AVU), and external curator at the National Gallery Prague (The heart of a giraffe in captivity is twelve kilos lighter 2024, Echoes 2025) and she works on the politics of the body, ecology, critical and collaborative curating and decolonial feminism in recent and contemporary art.
