"Die Summe meiner Daten – Off Series, No. 20"

pigmentbased inkjet print on Hahnemühle paper

signed, titled, dated and numbered on verso

The traces marks and fingerprints in the photographs of "Elias Wessel: The Sum of My Data" result from a functional interaction between the human being and our todays communication devices. From the everyday use of smartphones and tablets, from typing and wiping, writing emails, texts or WhatsApp messages, booking train tickets or using other functional apps. Artistic strategies make perceptible the seemingly hidden in a combination of photography and gestural painting. The superimposing structures on the displays culminate into palimpsest-like, painterly-appearing photographs that document the simultaneity of digitization, surveillance and identity. The work cycle consists out of three consecutive series (Off-, On- and B/W Series) with a total of 52 images. All colors evolve from an analog process. Printed onto uncoated photo paper.
(Dr. Jenny Graser, Kupferstichkabinett Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz)

>> Text by Dr. Stephan Berg, Artistic Director of the Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2019 (PDF)