Viktor Mácha

Viktor Mácha (born 1984) is a Czech photographer specializing in industrial photography and architectural photography. He has been working on the project The Beauty of Steel, within which he aims to document heavy industry and industrial landscapes around the world.

Life and work He was born in Prague and is the grandson of composer Otmar Mácha. He studied theology and religious studies at Charles University. He became interested in photographing heavy industry during his teenage years; a key influence was his encounter with the Třinec Iron and Steel Works, which he later described as a defining life experience.

Since 2006, he has been traveling worldwide at his own expense, documenting industrial operations, especially steel production and related technologies. He primarily photographs active heavy industry sites such as blast furnaces, steel mills, rolling mills, and coke ovens. His work is predominantly documentary in nature and focuses on technological processes as well as working environments. He concentrates on capturing operations that are gradually disappearing or undergoing major transformation in many regions. He has photographed hundreds of industrial sites in more than thirty-seven countries, including the Ukrainian Azovstal.

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions 2025 – The Beauty of Steel, Industriemuseum Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany 2025 – The Beauty of Steel, LWL-Museum Henrichshütte, Hattingen, Germany 2024 – The Mills, Zabytkowa Kopalnia Ignacy, Radlin, Poland 2024 – The Mills, Ferdinand Colonnade, Mariánské Lázně 2024 – The Mills, Cross Club Café, Prague 2023 – The Mills, Jiří Mahen Library, Brno 2022 – Železiarne, srdce priemyslu, Košice, Slovakia 2022 – Huty, Museum of Metallurgy, Chorzów, Poland 2021 – The Mills, Centrul de Cultură Urbană Turnul Croitorilor, Cluj-Napoca, Romania 2021 – The Mills, Muzeul Cineastului Amator, Reșița, Romania 2021 – Industriekultur, Haus der Fotografie, Husum, Germany 2021 – Krajiny práce, Ostrava 2020 – The Mills, Prague 2019 – The Mills, Prague; Ostrava; Brno 2018 – The Mills, Ostrava; Vinařice; Prague

Group exhibitions 2023 – Žofín Ironworks in Moravian Ostrava 1873–1972, Ostrava 2022 – 1st Auction Art and Photo Salon, Prague 2020 – Workers Die But Work Lives On''', Gallery of Fine Arts, Ostrava 2017 – HOYM Industry Festival, Poland 2016 – Industrial Photography Festival, Poland 2016 – Industrial Sights, Prague 2016 – Et Cetera, Galerie 1, Prague 2014 – Industrial Topography / Architecture of Conversions, Czech Republic 2005–2015, Jaroslav Fragner Gallery, Prague 2009 – INDUSTRIALife, Ostrava 2009 – 170 Years of Třinec Ironworks, Třinec 2009 – Vestiges of Industry, Prague

Publications Železo v krvi: ťažký priemysel východného bloku'' (Čierne diery, Bratislava 2025, )