Wolf Nkole Helzle (born 1950) studied painting/plastic at the University of Fine Arts in Kassel with Prof. Harry Kramer. He then worked in the hardware and software industry for twenty years. Since 1996: Freelance media artist.
Helzle works mainly with photography, video, installations and performances. Many of his works are participatory in nature: spectators, guests, passers-by and visitors become part of the artistic process. One of the central themes of his artistic work is the question of the relationship between the individual and the collective. He explores this question in national and international contexts, such as the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, the Museum Biedermann in Donaueschingen, the Ogaki Biennale in Japan and the international exhibition project media_city Seoul, South Korea. He was invited by the National Visual Arts Council, Lusaka, Zambia, the College of Art and Design, Beijing, China, Oracle Open World in San Francisco and many other international and European exhibition projects and festivals.
2000: Lectureship for media art at the University of Applied Sciences for Design, Schwäbisch Hall. 2006/2007: Studio scholarship Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, lectureship video art at the Media University, Stuttgart. 2012: Teaching position at Macromedia Academy, Stuttgart. 2015: Teaching position at the College of Art and Design, Beijing, China.
Grants from the Digital Content Fund of the Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg and the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg, among others. His works can be found in a large number of collections.
Member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund and VG BildKunst.
The Deutscher Künstlerbund e.V. writes: ‘Your work is characterised by a unique combination of media art, photography and participatory image research. With your photographic condensations and spatial installations, you create visionary approaches to the themes of identity, community and perception, opening up new perspectives on the relationship between the individual and the collective.’
Teaching Activities
College of Art and Design, Beijing, China / Hochschule der Medien, Stuttgart / Fachhochschule für Gestaltung, Schwäbisch Hall
Awards / Scholarships
2024 Residenz of the Galleria Sacchetti at the Lake Lucerne
2021 Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, of the State of Baden Württemberg
2012 Digital Content Fund MFG - Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg
2006 Atelierstipendium Künstlerhaus Stuttgart
2004 Projektförderung ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart
Exhibitions (a selection)
2025 artKarlsuhe / Stadtmuseum Crailsheim / Kantonsspital Baden, Switzerland / Petrushof Obermarchtal
2024 Galerie Reinhold Maas, Reutlingen / artKarlsruhe / Marienkirche Kohlstetten / Galleria Sacchetti, Ascona und Brunnen, Schweiz / Stadtbibliothek Reutlingen / Kunstmuseum Reutlingen
2023 artKarlsruhe / Petrushof Obermarchtal / "DER LANDKREIS LÄCHELT" Performatives Fotoprojekt mit der Bevölkerung von Reutlingen
2022 Kunstmuseum Reutlingen / 11th ASSEMBLY OF THE WCC, Karlsruhe / Grafschaftsmuseum und Schlösschen im Hofgarten, Wertheim / KULTSPACE Münsingen
2021 FACE(S) OF AFRIKA-Project /visual music performance im FranzK, Reutlingen
2020 One Artist Show art Karlsruhe; Kunsthalle Messmer; Yangpyeong Museum of Art, South Korea
2019 Paris Miki in Kyoto, Himeji und Nara, Japan
2018 Stiftung Regens Wagner, Absberg
2017 Deutscher Ev. Kirchentag, Berlin / Oracle Open World, San Francisco, USA
2016 Digital Humanities HUB - University of Birmingham, UK
2015 College of Art and Design, TU Beijing, China / JavaOne, San Francisco, USA
2014 Museum Biedermann, Donaueschingen / Hashima Namazu Festival, Japan / Werkschau im Kloster Bad Schussenried / Photographic Centre PERI, Turku, Finland
2011 Festival des Migrations, Luxembourg
2009 Museum für Kunst und Technologie, Schorndorf
2007 Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
2006 UNESCO World Youth Festival, Stuttgart
2005 National Visual Arts Council, Lusaka, Zambia
2004 Ogaki Biennale, Japan / Biennale „media_city seoul“, South Korea
1998 European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück
art fairs
art Karlsruhe 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 (One Artist Show)
Galerie Kunsthaus Fischer, Stuttgart
collections (a selection)
Museum Biedermann, Donaueschingen
Stadt Stuttgart
Landratsamt Tübingen
Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten, Baden Württemberg
Städtische Galerie Ostfildern
College of Art and Design, Beijing
publications (a selection)
"FACE(S) OF HUMANKIND" 25th anniversary of a photo art process
"'WALKS", Photographic densities
"ICH BIN WIR", Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg
"Homo universalis", Museum Biedermann, Donaueschingen
"ICH BIN WIR", Stiftung Regens Wagner
Galleries
CCAA – Centro Di Cultura e D’Arte Ascona
c/o Galleria Berno Sacchetti AG
Via Beato P. Berno 14
CH-6612 Ascona
Ansprechpartner: Pelin Karamustafaoglu
Phone: +41 91 791 20 79
E-Mail: info@ccaa.ch