Ella Littwitz at basis

Artist: Ella Littwitz

Exhibition title: Red Mercury

Curated by: Christin Müller, Felix Ruhöfer

Venue: basis, Frankfurt, Germany

Date: February 9 – April 30, 2023

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and basis, Frankfurt

In her installations and objects, Ella Littwitz (b. 1982, Haifa, Israel) addresses the permanence, legitimacy and prevailing over borders as well as their historical, cultural and political meanings. Her working method is characterised by a fundamental doubt about these markers as immovable entities that are erected by humans on the basis of certain traditions, political interests, or religious beliefs.

The question of how a place is defined, what its borders look like and change over time serves as the starting point of Ella Littwitz’s artistic practice, which thematically often deals with the borders between Israel and the adjacent territories.

Ella Littwitz’s objects are testimonies and are composed of former, appropriated components or replicas of territorial demarcations. They are stones, plants, signs, buoys or other objects that have been transformed into demarcation markers by human hands. Removed from their original contexts, their abstractness and artistic appearance conjures up a poetic language and aesthetic that stand in striking contrast to the real threats and conflicts in disputed border zones. Through the artistic modification, relocation and transformation of border markers, she exposes the mechanisms of political constructs and traditional narratives with a particular interest in the ruptures that arise between a real and conceptually imagined place and its borders.

Contrary to humanity’s seemingly endless desire to create borders, dominate nature, and preside over the surrounding landscape, Ella Littwitz’s objects show the inherent transience of those selfsame artificially constructed barriers by subtle allusions and the juxtaposition of ideological ideas.

Ella Littwitz exhibited internationally including solo shows at CCA Tel Aviv, Kunsthalle St Gallen, La Panera Art Center, MWW Muzeum Współczesne Wrocław, and Salzburger Kunstverein. Her works featured in exhibitions at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST), MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, the 12th Istanbul Biennial, The Israel Museum, The Tel Aviv Museum, and the Tallinn Kunsthall. Littwitz received The Ministry Of Culture – Creative Encouragement Award (IL), Artis Grant for Exceptional Work in Uncertain Times (IL), Dr. Georg and Josi Guggenheim foundation prize (CH), the Botin Foundation Prize (ES), Stiftung Kunstfonds (DE) and more. Her work has been acquired by The Israel Museum (Jerusalem, IL), Kunsthaus Zürich (Zürich, CH), The Vehbi Koç Foundation (Istanbul, TR), Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Tel Aviv, IL), Centre Pompidou (Paris, FR) and S.M.A.K., the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art – Ghent (Ghent, BE).

Installation view Red Mercury at basis e.V., 2023, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, A High Degree of Certainty, 2020, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and alexander levy, Berlin, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, A High Degree of Certainty and The curse and the blessing (or region bounded by two functions), 2020 and 2021, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and alexander levy, Berlin, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, The curse and the blessing (or region bounded by two functions) (Detail), 2021, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and alexander levy, Berlin, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, Autonomous, 2022, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, Edith, 2022, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy collection Maximilian Stützer, photo: Bernd Euring

Installation view Red Mercury at basis e.V., 2023, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, Facts on the ground, 2020, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and Cøpperfield, London, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, Red Mecury, 2022, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy private collection, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, The Path, 2021, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, photo: Bernd Euring

Installation view Red Mercury at basis e.V., 2023, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, All at Sea, 2021, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist, Cøpperfield, London and Davídsdóttir collection, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, Bnei Adam (humans), 2022, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, Bnei Adam (humans) (Detail), 2022, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, photo: Bernd Euring

Installation view Red Mercury at basis e.V., 2023, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, This Line, 2020, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels; Cøpperfield, London; alexander levy, Berlin, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, The Promise, 2019, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, The Unknown Land of the South, 2017, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, If everything that exists has a place, place too will have a place (left) and Uproot (right), 2020 and 2014, , installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy private collection and Courtesy the artist and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz Uproot, 2014, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz, If everything that exists has a place, place too will have a place, 2020, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy private collection, photo: Bernd Euring

Ella Littwitz Semiology of the Underground, 2021, installation view basis e.V., 2023, Courtesy the artist and alexander levy, Berlin, photo: Bernd Euring