VIDEO:Ebbe Stub Wittrup-Who Owns Culture?

“I try to translate things”, says Danish artist Ebbe Stub Wittrup who in his practice reflects upon one of the most pondering issues of our time – who is owning what?

“I am interested in the concept of ownership or renegotiation of ownership and the change of power. I hope that if you pan across this selection of mudras, Indian hand gestures that are all covered by gloves, you will somehow pick up the sensation that these are two different elements that are not normally connected. It’s a sort of key that allows you to explore the question: What are these two doing together? What is going on? There is a certain subject matter hidden here which calls for me to try and understand it.”

Ebbe Stub Wittrup works across a wide range of media – from photography to sculpture. He invests a lot of energy into researching his projects and seeks to find parallels for example in the botanical and historical world.

“I think it stems from a certain kind of interest. An interest in the world. Nothing is only one thing or the other. It contains a double question. In this case about ownership and the existence of two cultures within one object.”

Ebbe Stub Wittrup (b. 1973 in Aarhus) lives and works in Copenhagen. Photography is a central part of his practice, but he also works with mediums such as film, sculpture and installation.

Stub Wittrup graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1999 and has exhibited in both Denmark and abroad, including solo exhibitions at Copenhagen Contemporary (DK), Gl. Holtegaard (DK), Kunstverein Braunschweig (DE), Kunsthalle Saõ Paulo (BR), ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum (DK), Kirchner Museum (CH) and Overgaden Institut for Samtidskunst (DK). His works can be found in international collections such as Albright-Knox Art Gallery (US), Thyssen-Bornemisza Contemporary Art Foundation (AT), Collection Munich-RE (DE), Statoil Art Collection (NO), and Art Foundation Mallorca (ES). In Denmark, Stub Wittrup is represented in important collections such as SMK – the National Gallery of Denmark, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, New Carlsberg Foundation, Nykredit, the National Museum of Photography, and the Danish Arts Foundation. In 2010, the artist received the Danish Arts Foundation’s three-year work grant. Furthermore, he has taught as an associate professor in media art at the Jutland Art Academy in the years 2013-2019.

Ebbe Stub Wittrup was interviewed in his workshop in Christianshavn/Copenhagen (Denmark) in April 2021, Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard & Kåre Broe, Edited by Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen, Produced by Marc-Christoph Wagner, © Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2021, Supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond.