Helen Brecht,Performance im Rahmen der Ausstellung ZWISCHEN WESEN – LABOR von Susanne S.D. Themlitz und Roman Jungblut, Kulturhof Kalk, Cologne, 2025; Picture: Claus Daniel Herrmann

This year’s KHM Art Sponsorship Award for female* artists (FLINTA*) goes to Helen Brecht (*1987, lives and works in Cologne). The award is sponsored by the Equal Opportunities of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) and includes a solo presentation at Museum Morsbroich from May 2026.

In her text-based work, Helen Brecht focuses on queer-feminist issues and the examination of vulnerability as a social and individual category. Helen Brecht understands text as material with performative qualities. She is interested in the interactivity of texts: their relationship to space, material, time, and the body. In her text graphics, installations, and audio pieces, Helen Brecht combines and condenses scientific research, theory, and poetics into “nests of fragility.”

Helen Brecht studied Applied Theater Studies at Justus Liebig University in Giessen and then Literary Writing at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM), graduating in 2025. She is currently pursuing a doctorate at the Institute for Theater Studies at Ruhr University Bochum.

The KHM Sponsorship Award for Artists (FLINTA*), endowed with 1,000 euros, has been established between the KHM's Equal Opportunities Department and the Museum Morsbroich since 2020. The aim of the award is to support, network and present emerging female artists* on their transition from art school to the free market and to a broad audience.

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