HELMUT

Being brave / courageous

Are you an artist and would like to bring your project to life in a solo exhibition?

Then we look forward to receiving your application!

In 2026, we are dedicating our exhibition program to the theme of courage and the question of how we can remain strong together in politically difficult times, show solidarity and stand our ground against repression. We are looking for artistic positions in all media that deal with courage, cohesion and empowerment - whether painting, photography, video, installation, performance, sound, mixed media or other forms of expression.

We expressly welcome it if your exhibition includes interactive elements or accompanying events such as talks, workshops or discussions on the topic of courage.

The Helmut is a place consisting of a bar and gallery space in the east of Leipzig, where art, culture, education and politics find space in varying event formats. Among other things, we have been organizing a year-round art exhibition program in our 35sqm gallery for many years.

In 2026, there will be 4 solo exhibitions (or by collectives) and one group exhibition, all of which will be on display for around 6 weeks. Vernissage and finissage always take place on Fridays, otherwise our opening hours are Fridays 8-24 pm. Your exhibitions will be advertised on our website and our social media channels with texts written by you. Other events such as flea markets, solidarity evenings and KüFas will take place at Helmut for the duration of the exhibition.

As we are a non-profit organization, we can unfortunately only offer the exhibiting artists a space, but we cannot pay salaries or material costs and cannot provide sound systems or projectors. However, we always endeavor to obtain funding for the artists. We are not profit-oriented and all work on a voluntary basis to make the events possible. However, we are happy to help you find accommodation or apply for exhibition funding. We are guaranteed to find a good solution together! Important: We actively promote inclusion, oppose sexism, homophobia, racism, nationalism, anti-Semitism and other ideologies of inequality and do not tolerate them. Any statement or action in this direction will result in the loss of your place in our exhibition program. We reserve the right to make changes to the program at any time for the above reasons.

Simply fill out the application form on our website. Please name all files with surname and project title, max. 4MB per file.

If you have any further questions, please send an e-mail to the curatorial team (helmutopencall@gmail.com).

We look forward to courageous, empowering and solidary projects!

The Helmut Team (helmutopencall@gmail.com)

Jojo, Julia, Lisa, Yana, Jennifer, Lina, Maya, Isabel & Johanna