Madeleine Ruggi GBA

Madeleine Ruggi (b.1991) is an artist based in London who completed her MFA at Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam in 2022. Her work in sculpture, sound, print and installation considers the vast infrastructures of trade that sprawl across the globe and yet often remain largely unseen by everyday consumers.

She uses site visits, radio communications, field recordings, found objects as well as collage, metalwork and embossing to examine dizzying cycles of capital. In her research visits, Ruggi identifies small-scale, often sculptural found objects — a slice of ship exterior; a VHF radio scanner; a length of rubber tyre tread — that represent fragments of gargantuan and often obscured industries. 

Her sculptures and installations explore paths of desire: from the micro-demands of the individual to the macro-constructs of mediation and power that form complex systems on which we all, in some way, depend.

Her work has been presented at Tate Modern, London; Camden Arts Centre, London; Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam; Whitstable Biennale, Whitstable; European Cultural Centre, Venice; Guest Projects, London and Bussey Building, London, amongst others. She has received funding support from Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and The Eaton Fund. Residencies Madeleine has participated in include Camden Arts Centre, London; Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Lumsden; and POP Adriatico, Trieste.