Correnti I - Animalia
Ella Littwitz
Elena Mazzi
curated by Giulia Bortoluzzi
exhibition views at Rita Urso artopiagallery, Milan
September 29, 2022 - November 18, 2022
Photos by Matteo Pasin
Talking about currents means imagining movements, going and returning, not necessarily in tune.
The project Correnti, which is divided into several phases of exploration and exhibition, arises from the need to reflect on these trends, be they anthropological, geopolitical, physical, historical, metaphorical, and so on. The first chapter is dedicated to animals, including humans.
Ella Littwitz and Elena Mazzi are the artists invited to complete this first navigation. With their works, they cross a part of the globe questioning themselves about the state and future of the relationship between man and the natural environment.
Littwitz follows the traces that human currents imprint, more or less consciously, on the territories they travel, showing us the evidence of this passage. Mazzi seeks the balance between the human dimension and that of the animal and plant world, relying on the harmony of a landscape in which living beings feel in greater harmony with their ecosystem. On one side the land emerged and was washed by the Mediterranean Sea, on the other, it was lapped by the North Atlantic Ocean.
Correnti I - Animalia moves, in fact, on several fronts, looking at man and the natural environment on different scales and at different latitudes. Littwitz involves us in the movements that are generated around the Mediterranean and that try to overcome its borders: the migratory routes of men across the sea and those of the sand particles in the Sahara desert. Or the “nodes”, which in navigation are units of measurement of speed and tools used to safely unite two lines, evoke the paradox of an entity that at the same time leads movement and creates stability. Mazzi gives us the intimacy of a specific personal experience in search of a renewed harmony between body and landscape, a rapprochement to the nature of one’s own body - which suffered a tragic accident responsible for the rupture of some vertebrae - through immersion in the wider nature of a fjord of Iceland. These lands reveal a rare harmony between man and the environment: the natural pools, discovered by Mazzi to practice rehabilitation, are fed with hot water from geothermal sources, specifically a volcano; The bones of the cetaceans, collected by the locals in vernacular collections of houses and gardens, create the encounter with another species in the act of rebalancing shape and matter, facing the stability of the skeleton to its own fragility.
Ella Littwitz
Born in 1982 in Israel. She lives and works in Israel.
Littwitz completed his studies at HISK (Ghent, BE) in the academic year 2014 - 2015. Her artistic research concerns the branches of archaeology, history, and botany. Littwitz investigates the political, social, and cultural landscape, appropriating the elements connected to the earth. Fundamental in his practice is the analysis of the human impulse to create supranational ideologies, drawing limits, borders, and borders, often taking control over nature. Her works echo the biblical and modern narrative, acting as examples of transition, transfiguration, and formation of political constructs. Littwitz has been featured in solo exhibitions internationally in places such as CCA Tel Aviv (IL), Kunsthalle St Gallen (CH), La Panera Art Center (ES), MWW Muzeum Współczesne Wrocław (PL), and Salzburger Kunstverein (AT). His works have been exhibited at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens (EL), the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (PL), the 12th Istanbul Biennial (TR), the Israel Museum (IL), the Tel Aviv Museum (IL) and the Kunsthalle in Tallinn (EE). Littwitz received the following awards: Ministry of Culture - Creative Encouragement (IL), Dr. Georg and Josi Guggenheim Foundation (CH), Botin Foundation (ES), Stiftung Kunstfonds (DE), as well as being awarded the Artist Grant for Exceptional Work in Uncertain Times (IL). Her works have been acquired by the Israel Museum (Jerusalem, IL), the Zurich Kunsthaus (Zurich, CH), The Vehbi Koç Foundation (Istanbul, TR), the Tel Aviv Museum (Tel Aviv, IL), and S.M.A.K., the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art - Ghent (Ghent, BE).
Elena Mazzi
Born in 1984 in Reggio Emilia. She lives and works in Turin.
After studying at the University of Siena (IT) and the IUAV of Venice (IT), she spent a period of training at the Royal Institute of Art (Konsthögskolan) in Stockholm (SE).
Starting from the examination of specific territories, in her works, she revisits the cultural and natural heritage of the places intertwining stories, facts, and fantasies transmitted by local communities, in order to suggest possible resolutions to the human-nature-culture conflict. Her working methodology, close to anthropology, favors a holistic approach aimed at repairing the fractures in society, which starts from observation and proceeds by combining different knowledge. Her works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, in institutions such as der TANK in Basel (CH), MADRE in Naples (IT), ar/ge kunst in Bolzano (IT), Sodertalje Konsthall in Stockholm (SE), Whitechapel Gallery in London (UK), BOZAR in Brussels (BE), Museo del Novecento of Florence (IT), MAGA of Gallarate (IT), gamec in Bergamo (IT), mambo in Bologna (IT), albumarte in Rome (IT), Sonje Art Center in Seoul (KOR), Palazzo Fortuny in Venice (IT), Fondazione Golinelli in Bologna (IT), 16. Quadriennale in Rome (IT), GAM in Turin (IT)14 Istanbul Biennale (TR), 17. BJCEM Biennale del Mediterraneo, COP17 in Durban (ZA), Istituto Italiano di Cultura in New York (USA), Bruxelles (BE), Stockholm (SE), Johannesburg (ZA) and Cape Town (ZA), Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa of Venice (IT). She is the winner, among others, of Cantica21 promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, and of the 7th edition of the Italian Council promoted by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. Elena Mazzi is currently pursuing a PhD at Villa Arson in Nice (FR).