ABOUT

Elias Wessel is an artist whose conceptual work moves between photography and painting, extending into site-specific installation, moving image, and sound. His research-based practice investigates how contemporary systems—digital, political, economic—and their societal effects can be translated into images, visual structures, and material traces, while extending the historical dialogue between photography and painting. He has been based in New York City since 2008, with an additional studio presence at Stiftung Insel Hombroich / Raketenstation in Germany.

ARTIST’S BIOGRAPHY

Born in Bonn, Germany
Lives and works in New York City

1999–2000 Studies in art history at Heidelberg University
2000–2003 Studies in visual communication and photography at the Faculty of Art and Design, University of Mannheim
2003–2007 Studies in photography, theory of perception, and theory of visual communication at the University of Art and Design Offenbach am Main [Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main]; diploma thesis: »Die Amoralität des Ästheten« [The Amorality of the Aesthete]
2008 Moves to New York City
2026–present Additional studio presence at Stiftung Insel Hombroich / Raketenstation, Germany

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)

• On the Threshold. CS Art Partners, Old Greenwich, CT, USA, June 15–July 15, 2026.

• NFM (News Finds Me). Digital Art Space, Munich, Germany, February 26–April 8, 2026.

• It’s Complicated. Picture Theory, New York, NY, USA, August 2–September 7, 2024.

• Delirious Images – Photographs for the Next Society. Kunstsammlung im Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, Germany, March 4–May 7, 2023.

• Sprung in die Zeit. Web-based exhibition project, sprungindiezeit.com, launched January 1, 2023; ongoing.

• It’s Complicated, Is Possibly Art. 1014, New York, NY, USA, September 7–23, 2022.

• I Don’t Care. I Love My Phone. Kunstsammlung SAP, Walldorf, Germany, January 28, 2021–April 30, 2022.

• La somme de mes données. Palais Beauharnais, Paris, France, January 28–December 28, 2020.

• Die Summe meiner Daten – Digitalisierung, Überwachung, Identität. Kunstverein Speyer, Speyer, Germany, December 2, 2018–January 13, 2019.

• Werke aus »Die Summe meiner Daten«. Ruttkowski;68, Cologne, Germany, September 1–30, 2018; presented as part of Internationale Photoszene Köln.

• In the End, Though, Nothing Is Lost. Deutsches Haus at NYU, NYU Arts & Science, New York, NY, USA, April 6–May 26, 2018.

• History of Touches. Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, New York, NY, USA, November 10–December 15, 2017.

• Die Geschichte vom Vergessenen. Heinrich-Hoffmann Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, February 24–July 19, 2017.

• Stuck Together Pieces! 1014, New York, NY, USA, November 2, 2016–May 31, 2017.

• Spuren der Wirklichkeit. Goethe-Institut, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, August 5–October 5, 2016.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)

• HEAT. Galerie Burster, Berlin, Germany, August 7–September 5, 2026.

• Liminal Spaces. International House, New York, NY, USA, May 1–31, 2025.

• ISCP’s 30th Anniversary Benefit Auction. Almine Rech, New York, NY, USA, March 9, 2025.

• Transformationen. Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany, June 5–August 11, 2024.

• Would You Share Your Gold Medal? School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, USA, November 1–8, 2023.

• PULSAR. Internationale Photoszene Köln, Cologne, Germany, May 12–21, 2023.

• Das Objekt im Fokus. Karl Blossfeldt, Alfred Ehrhardt, Walker Evans, Candida Höfer, Günther Selichar, Josef Sudek, Michael Wesely, Elias Wessel, Edward Weston, Erwin Wurm, and others; SpallArt Collection, Salzburg, Austria, August 1, 2020–May 7, 2022.

• zu mir und zu dir. Franz Jyrch, Maria Sainz Rueda, Elias Wessel; Former Synagogue Walldorf, Walldorf, Germany, June 25–July 24, 2022.

• Objects. Stories. Experiences: Extraordinary Things. Assembly Required, Brooklyn, NY, USA, October 2–30, 2021.

• I Am All of Glass – Marianne Brandt & the Art of Glass Today. Sächsisches Industriemuseum, Chemnitz, Germany, September 28–December 1, 2019.

• Werke aus der AXA Sammlung – Adolf Luther, Günther Uecker, Elias Wessel. Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland, June 12–17, 2018.

• Grieger Relaunch. Thomas Demand, Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, Elias Wessel, and others; NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany, November 28–December 4, 2017.

• Doll Parts. Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA, May 18, 2017.

• Wiesinger, Stünkel, Wessel: Sichtbarkeiten. Museum Heylshof and Museum Andreasstift, Worms, Germany, August 2–September 27, 2015.

• Being Changed – A Group Exhibition of International Contemporary Art. MOCA Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan, March 8–April 14, 2013.

PUBLICATIONS (selected)

• Isaac, Gwyneira; Kordasiewicz, Stanisław; Ngo, Sylvia; Wicherkiewicz, Tomasz; Takasaeva, Kyunney, eds. (2026): Naming and Being: Knowledges, Identities, and Cultural Politics. London: Routledge.

• Wessel, Elias et al. (2023): Ästhetik des Konflikts / Aesthetics of Conflict. Dortmund: Verlag Kettler.

• Robinson, Carl, ed. (2022): Painting, Photography, and the Digital: Crossing the Borders of the Mediums. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

• Wessel, Elias et al. (2022): Textfetzen. It’s Complicated: Texte aus einem a/sozialen Netzwerk 2019–2021. Ist möglicherweise Kunst. Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos. [English title: Textfetzen. It’s Complicated: Texts From an Anti/Social Network 2019–2021. Is Possibly Art.]

• Wessel, Elias; Berg, Stephan; Graser, Jenny (2020): Elias Wessel: La somme de mes données. Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Paris, ed. Berlin–Paris: Phoebe Verlag. [German title: Elias Wessel: Die Summe meiner Daten.]

• Wessel, Elias; Graser, Jenny (2018): EliasWessel. Die Summe meiner Daten – Digitalisierung, Überwachung, Identität. Kunstverein Speyer e. V., ed. New York–Speyer: Phoebe Verlag.

• Wessel, Elias et al. (2018): Landscapes – In the End, Though, Nothing Is Lost. Deutsches Haus at NYU, NYU Arts & Science, ed. New York: Phoebe Verlag.

• Wessel, Elias; Gisbourne, Mark (2017): Elias Wessel. Photographische Arbeiten aus den Jahren 2014–2017. 1014 and Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany New York, eds. New York: Phoebe Verlag. [English title: Elias Wessel. Photographic Works Between the Years 2014–2017.]

ESSAYS (selected)

• Nachtigäller, Roland (2026): »Geborgte Wirklichkeiten – Zur Anemoia-Serie von Elias Wessel.« [Forthcoming.]

• Seidl, Chiara (2026): »The Hand That No Longer Writes.« [Forthcoming.]

• Zhao, Billy (2025): »In Response.« [Forthcoming.]

• Zami, Layla (2025): »Extended Experience: Shapes of Sonic and Visual Interventions.« [Forthcoming.]

• Gronert, Stefan (2024): »Performative ›Fotografie‹? Bildtheoretische Bemerkungen zu Elias Wessel.« [Forthcoming.]

• Wappler, Friederike (2024): »Ersehntes Glück. Zerkratzter Schein – Über die Werkserie Nostalgia von Elias Wessel.« [Forthcoming.]

• Khazam, Rahma (2024): »Sprung in die Zeit: Close Encounters between Space and Time.« [Forthcoming.]

• Park, Chunbum (2024): »On Elias Wessel’s Art: A Thesis on Social Media’s Bastardization of the Holy and the Sacred.« Full-length online publication, October 2024. Shorter version published as »Elias Wessel: Exposing Social Media.« Two Coats of Paint, August 20, 2024.

• Qi, Zhenzhen; Wang, Yang (2024): »Representation, Reduction and Subjugation.« Essay on Elias Wessel’s Space Invaders. [Forthcoming.]

• Horak, Ruth (2023): »Elias Wessel: Im Delirium der Bilder.« In: Eggenberger, Nela et al. (2023): EIKON #121 — International Magazine for Photography and Media Art. Vienna: Österreichisches Institut für Fotografie und Medienkunst. [English translation: »In the Delirium of Images.«]

• Saunders, Matt (2022): »Connoisseur of Chaos: Wessel’s Broken Picture Space.« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2023): Ästhetik des Konflikts / Aesthetics of Conflict. Dortmund: Verlag Kettler. [German translation: »Connaisseur des Chaos: Wessels zerbrochener Bildraum.«]

• Isaac, Gwyneira (2022): »Mind the Gap. Elias Wessel’s Ereignishorizonte [Event Horizons] and the Thermodynamics of TikTok.« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2023): Ästhetik des Konflikts / Aesthetics of Conflict. Dortmund: Verlag Kettler. [German translation: »Mind the Gap. Elias Wessels Ereignishorizonte und die Thermodynamiken von TikTok.«]

• Horak, Ruth (2022): »Der Bildschirm ist nie leer.« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2023): Ästhetik des Konflikts / Aesthetics of Conflict. Dortmund: Verlag Kettler. [English translation: »The Screen Is Never Empty.«]

• Kratzer, Nikolaus (2022): »Images Through an Algorithmic Lens – Zur Visualisierung der Wirklichkeit.« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2023): Ästhetik des Konflikts / Aesthetics of Conflict. Dortmund: Verlag Kettler. [English translation: »Images Through an Algorithmic Lens: On the Visualization of Reality.«]

• Guerin, Frances (2021): »Unsettled in the Interstice: Elias Wessel’s Die Summe meiner Daten.« In: Robinson, Carl, ed. (2022): Painting, Photography, and the Digital: Crossing the Borders of the Mediums. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

• Wolff, Frank (2020): »Jenseits des digitalen Versprechens: Virtuelle Gemeinschaften und Demokratie in der jüngsten Zeitgeschichte.« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2023): Ästhetik des Konflikts / Aesthetics of Conflict. Dortmund: Verlag Kettler. [English translation: »Beyond the Digital Promise: Virtual Communities and Democracy in Recent Contemporary History.«]

• Berg, Stephan (2020): »Die Spur des Körpers.« In: Wessel, Elias; Berg, Stephan; Graser, Jenny (2020): Elias Wessel: La somme de mes données. Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Paris, ed. Berlin–Paris: Phoebe Verlag. [English translation: »The Trace of the Body.« French translation: »La trace du corps.«]

• Graser, Jenny (2018): »Abstrakte Realitäten. Elias Wessel – Die Summe meiner Daten.« In: Wessel, Elias; Graser, Jenny (2018): EliasWessel. Die Summe meiner Daten – Digitalisierung, Überwachung, Identität. Kunstverein Speyer e. V., ed. New York–Speyer: Phoebe Verlag. [French translation: »Réalités abstraites. Elias Wessel – La somme de mes données.«]

• Wolff, Frank (2017): »Die beruhigende Kraft der Geschwindigkeit: Elias Wessels Landscapes in der Kulturgeschichte der russischen Raumwahrnehmung.« In: Wessel, Elias et al. (2018): Landscapes – In the End, Though, Nothing Is Lost. Deutsches Haus at NYU, NYU Arts & Science, ed. New York: Phoebe Verlag. [English translation: »The Soothing Power of Speed: Elias Wessel’s Landscapes in the Cultural History of Russian Space Perception.«]

• Gisbourne, Mark (2017): »Visions of Synthesis. The Photography of Elias Wessel.« In: Wessel, Elias; Gisbourne, Mark (2017): Elias Wessel. Photographische Arbeiten aus den Jahren 2014–2017. 1014 and Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany New York, eds. New York: Phoebe Verlag. [German translation: »Visionen einer Synthese. Zur Photographie von Elias Wessel.«]

TALKS, LECTURES (selected)

• Seidl, Chiara; Wessel, Elias (June 14, 2026): »On the Threshold.« Artist talk, CS Art Partners, Old Greenwich, CT, USA.

• Patton, Fitz; Wessel, Elias (April 6, 2026): »Sound and Time.« Guest lecture, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Savannah, GA, USA.

• Wessel, Elias; Wimmer, Karin (March 3, 2026): »Poetry in Business.« Guest lecture moderated by Christina Merl, Gottfried Koppensteiner, and media ethicist Michael Graf. TGM – Technologisches Gewerbemuseum, Exnersaal, Vienna, Austria.

• Wessel, Elias (November 17, 2024): »Aesthetics of Conflict.« Open artist talk by invitation of Stiftung Insel Hombroich / Raketenstation, Neuss, Germany.

• Pittas, Antonis; Wessel, Elias (September 7, 2024): »It’s Complicated.« Artist conversation on the occasion of the exhibition Elias Wessel: It’s Complicated, Picture Theory, New York, NY, USA.

• Carey, Brainard; Wessel, Elias (August 23, 2024): »Yale Radio: Elias Wessel.« Yale University Radio / Museum of Non-Visible Art, New Haven, CT / New York, NY, USA.

• Wessel, Elias (February 1, 2024): »Ästhetik des Konflikts.« Artist talk at the event series Kunst.Pause, Kunstsammlung AXA, Cologne, Germany.

• Saunders, Matt; Wessel, Elias (December 11, 2023): »Artists at Work: Aesthetics of Conflict — Elias Wessel with Matt Saunders.« Artist talk, International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn, NY, USA.

• Wenk, Rüdiger; Stein, Christian; Wessel, Elias et al. (November 7, 2023): »Cybernetic Auditive Association.« Lecture performance, Berlin Science Week 2023, Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Institute of Art History, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Medientheater, Berlin, Germany.

• Brosda, Carsten; Wessel, Elias (May 4, 2023): »Kulturgespräch: Die nächste Gesellschaft« [Culture Conversation: The Next Society]. Panel discussion moderated by Arne Schröer, organized by Kulturforum at the Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, Germany.

• Kiës, Natalia; Wessel, Elias (March 15, 2023): »Stimmbezirke.« Hosted by Dr. Layla Zami for Sonic Interventions, a podcast by the Collaborative Research Center on Intervening Arts and the Performance Studies Department at Freie Universität Berlin.

• Wessel, Elias; Wolff, Frank (March 4, 2023): »Fotografien für die nächste Gesellschaft.« Artist talk on the occasion of the exhibition Elias Wessel: Delirious Images – Fotografien für die nächste Gesellschaft, Kunstsammlung im Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, Germany.

• Huang, Sue; Suzuki, Wendy; Wessel, Elias (September 20, 2022): »Reality, Technology and Art.« Panel discussion on the occasion of the exhibition Elias Wessel: It’s Complicated, Is Possibly Art, 1014, New York, NY, USA. [Moderated by Alina Girshovich.]

• Wessel, Elias (October 22, 2021): »Aesthetics of Conflict.« Online lecture at the event DigitalPaintingPhotography, University of Derby. [With Rahma Khazam, Matt Saunders, Theresia Stipp, Clare Strand, and others.]

• Wessel, Elias (July 2, 2021): »The Sum of My Data and the Body.« Online lecture at the event The Body: To Be – Named. How We Colonize or Decolonize Through the Process of Naming, CoLing. [With partners including Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution.]

• Wessel, Elias (December 8, 2020): »Photography, Truth and Painting.« Online lecture, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York, NY, USA.

• Wessel, Elias (January 28, 2020): »The Sum of My Data.« Lecture at the invitation of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to France, Palais Beauharnais, Paris, France.

• Wessel, Elias (July 5, 2019): »Die Summe meiner Daten.« Lecture at the event Psychoanalytische Reflexionen digitaler Virtualität, International Psychoanalytic University (IPU), Berlin, Germany.

• Wessel, Elias (December 5, 2018): »Die Summe meiner Daten – Digitalisierung, Überwachung, Identität.« Lecture for the Johann Joachim Becher Gesellschaft, Kunstverein Speyer, Speyer, Germany.

• Baro, Hana; Wessel, Elias (January 23, 2018): Artist talk at the event series Zu Gast: Elias Wessel, Baustelle Schaustelle e. V., Düsseldorf, Germany.

• Duhon, Peter; Wessel, Elias (November 9, 2017): »Digitization, Surveillance, Identity.« Artist talk on the occasion of the exhibition History of Touches, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, New York, NY, USA.

• Wessel, Elias (November 1, 2017): »Visions of Synthesis.« Lecture, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York, NY, USA.

• Duhon, Peter; Wessel, Elias (April 6, 2017): »In the End, Though, Nothing Is Lost.« Artist talk on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name, Deutsches Haus at NYU, New York, NY, USA.

• Schoen, Christian; Wessel, Elias (December 19, 2016): »Zum Wesen der Bilder: Elias Wessel in Conversation with Christian Schoen.« Artist talk on the occasion of the exhibition Sprung in die Zeit, Raum für Kunst und Gegenwart, Ansbach, Germany.

• Tabassomi, Nina; Wessel, Elias (November 2, 2016): »Stuck Together Pieces!« Artist talk on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name, 1014, New York, NY, USA.

• Vessel, Ed; Wessel, Elias (December 2, 2015): »Elias Wessel and Ed Vessel in Conversation.« Moderated by Wendy Suzuki for the lecture series Art Meets Brain, New York University, New York, NY, USA.

COLLECTIONS (selected)

• Kunstsammlung des Deutschen Bundestages, Berlin, Germany (2020)

• Kunstsammlung im Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, Germany (2023)

• SpallArt Collection, Salzburg, Austria (2019, 2021)

• Kunstsammlung AXA, Cologne, Germany (2015, 2021)

ARTIST RESIDENCIES

• Stiftung Insel Hombroich / Raketenstation, Neuss, Germany. Guest artist by invitation, November 1–December 30, 2024.

• International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn, NY, USA. July 1–December 31, 2023.

WORKS (selected)

• Serials, 2022–2026

• Anemoia, 2024

• Nostalgia, 2023–2024

• Space Invaders, 2023

• Sprung in die Zeit – Online Experience, 2023

• Deepfakes – Image Swap, 2021–2022

• Deepfakes – Privacy, 2021

• Ereignishorizonte, 2021

• Quick Response, 2021

• Textfetzen, 2021–2022

• Ist möglicherweise Kunst, 2020–2021

• Schöne neue Welt – The Moving Images, 2020–2021

• Schöne neue Welt – The Photographic Images, 2019–2020

• It’s Complicated, 2019–2021

• Images Through an Algorithmic Lens, 2018–2019

• Die Freude am Rest – Zur Entmaterialisierung der Bilder, 2018

• Die Summe meiner Daten – On Series, 2017

• Die Summe meiner Daten – B/W Series, 2017

• Die Summe meiner Daten – Off Series, 2017

• Hinter den Dingen, 2017

• Jejune, 2016

• Liebst, 2016

• Feral, 2015–2016

• Aithḗr, 2015

• Cityscapes, 2014–2015

• Landscapes, 2014

• Sprung in die Zeit, 2014