THINGISH

Eleni Wittbrodt

12 May —3 June 2023

We welcomed Eleni Wittbrodt to Intermedia for her show THINGISH that ran from 12 May - 3 June. THINGISH brought together photographic images in a temporary sculptural setting.

Eleni told us more about the works in the show:

“Pacemakers” is a series of impressions: defined areas of white, pink and orange enclosed in darker, grey and violet fields. The colours are the result of a chemical reaction. Silver gelatin paper is sensitive to light and normally used in photo laboratory settings to produce black and white prints. Exposure to the sun tints the surface, registering the light. I produced these images in a time of studying the works of other artists, learning by observation. In the spatial logic of the studio, it made sense to short-circuit from input to output directly.

During reading breaks, I placed open books on photographic paper and left them on the desk for the sun to wander across. The books are part of my personal library, consisting mostly of work by womxn artists and writers who explore image production in expansive ways. I thought about them when I titled the series “Pacemakers”. A pacemaker is a companion in endurance sports whose task it is to help another person maintain a steady pace – not only ensuring that a certain time is achieved, but also moderating speed to avoid early fatigue.

“Smaller world” is a construction of flatpack furniture fragments, pragmatically stacked and assembled to create miniature rooms. These creations are hybrids of play and composition, standing still for the duration of the exhibition but ready to shift shape and status again (by being returned to where they were purchased or reassembled into a useful piece of furniture). There is a certain invisibility surrounding the white particle board objects. Maybe that’s because we’ve become accustomed to the ubiquitous material, we don’t actively see it anymore, our attention drawn instead to the images within.

Mounted onto the walls of the miniature rooms are six black and white photograms, with an additional one installed at the same height on the gallery wall. These photograms display a range of blurry keyhole shapes on pieces of paper small enough to fit into the palm of one’s hand. In response to restricted access to communal and public spaces, such as studios and facilitates throughout 2020/21, I produced these images to recalibrate my practice. I would carry pieces of photographic paper in my pockets, and whenever I encountered a large keyhole, I would briefly exposed it to the light leaking through. These 1:1 imprints fantasise about photography, envisioning it as a dataset or a survey of size and shape, and suggest that images are part of a metabolism shared between body and environment.

Eleni Wittbrodt is a visual artist based in Glasgow. Her practice encompasses photographic and spatial processes which interrogate the dynamics of production and presentation. She studied Fine Art at Kunsthochschule Mainz, Germany, and at The Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.

Pacemakers (2022) | Series of unique prints, sunlight exposures on silver gelatin paper. Installed with neodymium magnets on steel nails.

Smaller World (2021/2023) | Stacked furniture fragments, white coated particle board. Series of unique photograms, exposures on silver gelatin paper.