Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Maker, Fascilitator, Culturesphere, Symbiocene, Symbio(s)cene

Ingrid Rügemer is an independent designer, curator, editor and artist. Her work focuses on investigating the intricate interdependence of human-object relationships and the material agency of art, craft and design, particularly in the context of transformative change. Her creative endeavours centre on exploring the emotional dimensions of sensory experiences and their impact on our cognition – the interconnectedness of matter and mind.

Ingrid Rügemer is a member of the editorial team at the bilingual arts and crafts magazine Art Aurea, where she is responsible for the magazine’s section and global project Curators’ Choice. In this role, she contributes her international expertise in the fields of art, craft and design, moderating the selection of curators, galleries and museums worldwide, editing texts and designing articles.
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Ingrid Rügemer also co-founded Culturesphere, a design consultancy and former gallery in Munich. The venture was born from a vision to infuse the arts and artistic methodologies as a catalyst for change into diverse realms — organizational, societal, and ecological — in order to spark future-oriented ways of seeing and thinking and acting.
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Ingrid Rügemer co-founded Symbio(s)cene – a non-profit organisation with the vision to contribute to shaping a new mindset that promotes transformative change. Symbio(s)cene interconnects sciences and arts – giving space to both cognitive and emotional dimensions of knowledge – to open up new perspectives for a liveable future for all living things.
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Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor Culturesphere, Symbiocene, Symbio(s)cene, Art Aurea

ARTISTIC PRACTICE

In her artistic endeavours, Ingrid Rügemer delves into a variety of materials and explores surface qualities and textures, aiming to elevate perceptual sensitivity, to engage with the sensory dimensions of emotions, and to probe the interaction between humans and objects.

While ceramics serve as her primary medium, she incorporates elements of metal, glass, and fibers into her creations. Her objects explore diverse notions such as ‘polarity and unity’, as well as ‘sense of belonging’ – transforming abstract concepts into tangible forms.

© Photography Ingrid Rügemer


Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor Culturesphere, Symbiocene, Symbio(s)cene, Art Aurea

CURATORIAL PRACTICE

Awaré – Objects of Human-Nature Dialogue

Exhibition venue: Culturesphere Gallery, Munich
Project scope: Exhibition concept, design and curation.

The exhibition presented the sculptural and textile works of Sylvia Eustache Rools and Jérôme Pereira for the first time in Germany. The French duo collaborate under the name “Awaré”, which stands for the English word “aware”, meaning to be conscious and attentive. It is also based on the complex Japanese term “mono no aware”, which expresses the joy of the ephemeral beauty of life and at the same time the acceptance of the passing of all things.

Exerpt exhibition text: Sylvia and Jerome share a deep fascination for geology and a sensitivity for the aesthetics of natural processes of change. Sylvia’s textile works are dedicated to the phenomena of oxidation, and through her multi-layered methods she creates chromatic landscapes that blur the boundaries between artefact and nature. Jérôme brings a scientific understanding from his studies in physics and geophysics together with a poetic sensitivity to matter and the forces of nature to his rough yet graceful wooden sculptures.

As a duo, the two artists create sculptural artefacts that represent an inspirational dialogue between natural transformation processes and the human hand. Their unique objects also convey the constructive collaboration of two artistic personalities who, with their individual approaches and materials, explore permeable boundaries and create new connections.


Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor Culturesphere, Symbiocene, Symbio(s)cene, Art Aurea

CURATORIAL PRACTICE

Phytophilia

Exhibition venue: Culturesphere Gallery, Munich
Project scope: Exhibition concept, design, curation and co-hosting panel talk.

The exhibition presented sculptural objects by Sara Martinsen alongside her material encyclopaedia on the subject of plant fibres. Martinsen explores the aesthetic and functional potentials of plant fibres, which are of great relevance for the fields of product and textile design, applied art and architecture, especially with regards to transformative change. The exhibition was complemented by an international panel talk. Speakers: Sara Martinsen, Dr. Kirsten Scott, Dr. Svenja Keune, Jess Redgrave.

Exerpt exhibition text: In addition to Sara Martinsen’s sculptural pieces, the exhibition presents her extensive collection of materials from the “Phytophilia” encyclopaedia. The Danish designer has archived her collected knowledge about possible applications and ecological background information of these renewable and completely biodegradable raw materials in a digital encyclopaedia in order to make it accessible to a broad public. The fibres are shown in various states: natural and unprocessed; debarked; prepared for further processing; as ready-to-use fabric samples or building material.

The motivation for the long-term project was Martinsen’s desire to gather comprehensive information on sustainable materials and manufacturing processes for her own furniture designs. In addition to conveying knowledge, the designer is primarily interested in increasing sensitivity of the senses. Visitors are therefore invited to experience the exhibits haptically. In doing so, she wants to provide a deeper understanding and sensitivity for the properties of plant fibres and thus generate new impulses for future application scenarios.


Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor Culturesphere, Symbiocene, Symbio(s)cene, Art Aurea

CURATORIAL PRACTICE

Matter Moves Mind – Towards a New Material Culture

Exhibition venue: Culturesphere Gallery, Munich
Project scope: Exhibition concept, design and curation.

The exhibition focused on five artists and designers who, with their approaches, methods and objects, set inspiring impulses for a more sustainable material culture and encourage future-oriented perspectives. It presented works by renowned artists: Martina Dempf, Emmanuel Heringer, Zena Holloway, Cara Murphy & Jochen Rueth.

Exerpt exhibition text: The current global crises show that we need to fundamentally reconsider our ways of thinking and acting as individuals and as a society. Doing so, we must be aware that we do not act isolated from the physical world. Instead, our perceptions, emotions, social relationships and even our bodies are shaped by the material world that surrounds us, which thus has a significant impact on our thoughts and actions.

Hence, there is a reciprocal relationship between matter and mind, which manifests in our material culture. Consequently, the things we create and surround ourselves with go far beyond form and function: they embody and reflect how we think. Artists and designers have always contributed to shaping material culture, which makes them important players in the context of transformative change.


Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor Culturesphere, Symbiocene, Symbio(s)cene, Art Aurea

CURATORIAL PRACTICE

Crafting New Perspectives

Exhibition venue: Gmund – handmade-paper mill
Project scope: Exhibition concept, design and curation.

The exhibition showed contemporary craft in the context of organisational innovation and explored potential insights from creative processes and approaches of artistic practices. It presented eight renowned artists, whose individual methods and exceptional approaches trigger new thinking and make fundamental principles of innovation tangible: Michal Fargo, Stewart Hearn, Emmanuel Heringer, Susanne Holzinger, Cecil Kemperink, Richard McVetis, Laurenz Stockner, and Peter Vogel.

Exerpt exhibition text: Creative thinking, thus the ability to generate ideas and solve complex problems, is generally considered a fundamental driver of innovation. Research shows that creativity needs emotional frameworks and inspirational environments that encourage motivation and openness to change and facilitate the development of a creative attitude.

In this context, aesthetic and sensory factors, as well as symbolic qualities, play an important role. The engagement with contemporary craft, its experimental approaches, its deeply humanistic values and its focus on quality and sustainability offers here a unique proposition – especially in times of increasing anonymisation and standardisation caused by digital change.


Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor, Art Aurea, Claudy Jongstra, Zhao Jinya, China, Peter Ting, Ting-Ying Gallery, Domingos Tótora, Marina Figueiredo, Sage Culture Gallery, Jérôme Blanc, Lionel Latham, Galerie Latham, Stefania Lucchetta, Nichka Marobin
Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor, Art Aurea, Claudy Jongstra, Zhao Jinya, China, Peter Ting, Ting-Ying Gallery, Domingos Tótora, Marina Figueiredo, Sage Culture Gallery, Jérôme Blanc, Lionel Latham, Galerie Latham, Stefania Lucchetta, Nichka Marobin

EDITORIAL PRACTICE

ART AUREA ISSUE 56

Curators’ Choice Section
Project scope: Selecting curators, galleries and museums, image editing, text editing, editorial design.

As a member of the editorial team at the bilingual arts and crafts magazine Art Aurea, Ingrid Rügemer is responsible for the magazine’s section and global project Curators’ Choice. In this role, she contributes her international expertise in the fields of art, craft and design, moderating the selection of curators, galleries and museums worldwide, editing texts and designing articles.

On 20 pages, the Curators’ Choice section presents five artists, for the first time from five different design fields and countries: Claudy Jongstra, Netherlands, selected by Ingeborg de Roode, curator at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Zhao Jinya, China, curated by Peter Ting, co-founder of Ting-Ying Gallery;

Domingos Tótora, Brazil, selected by Marina Figueiredo, Director of Sage Culture Gallery, Los Angelas; Jérôme Blanc, Switzerland, curated by Lionel Latham, Galerie Latham, Geneva; Stefania Lucchetta, Italy, selected by art historian and curator Nichka Marobin.


Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor, Ptolemy Mann, Monique Deul, Taste Contemporary Gallery, Kate Jones, Angel Monzon, Vessel Gallery, Tiffany Vanderhoop, Bryna Pomp, Museum of Art and Design, Ori Orisun Merhav, Sarah Myerscough, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, Christoph Leuner, Barbara Schmidt, Galerie Handwerk
Ingrid Ruegemer, Artist, Designer, Curator, Editor, Ptolemy Mann, Monique Deul, Taste Contemporary Gallery, Kate Jones, Angel Monzon, Vessel Gallery, Tiffany Vanderhoop, Bryna Pomp, Museum of Art and Design, Ori Orisun Merhav, Sarah Myerscough, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, Christoph Leuner, Barbara Schmidt, Galerie Handwerk

EDITORIAL PRACTICE

ART AUREA ISSUE 57

Curators’ Choice Section
Project scope: Selecting curators, galleries and museums, image editing, text editing, editorial design.

In the autumn edition of Art Aurea magazine, the Curators’ Choice section showcases the following five inspiring and innovative artists in contemporary art, craft design, introduced by some of the most visionary curators and gallerists in the field of material culture: Ori Orisun Merhav with her avant-garde practice – exploring a new materiality that embodies a vision of hope for the future of design and material culture – presented by Sarah Myerscough, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London, UK;

Ptolemy Mann with her vibrant Thread Paintings – textile wall pieces based on a modern Bauhaus philosophy that merges art and design, underpinned by sophisticated colour theory – presented by Monique Deul, Taste Contemporary Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland; Kate Jones with her engraved glass masterpieces – telling stories of nature, transience, and the beauty of the moment – presented by Angel Monzon, Vessel Gallery, London, UK;

Tiffany Vanderhoop with her meaningful beadwork jewellery – a contemporary interpretation of traditional indigenous narratives and values – presented by Bryna Pomp, MAD About Jewelry, Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA; Christoph Leuner with his chipboard vessels – pushing the boundaries of a often low-valued material and transforming it into functional yet sculptural objects  – presented by Barbara Schmidt, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany.


INGRID RÜGEMER SHORT BIO

Born and raised in Augsburg Germany, Ingrid Rügemer started her design education at the University of Applied Arts, Augsburg, Germany and at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK. In addition to her Diploma in communication design she holds a Master’s degree in Ceramic Design from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London.

Establishing herself as a recognised designer and artist, Ingrid has cultivated a rich international background, having lived and worked in diverse locations around the globe, including Cape Town, the Cayman Islands, Barcelona, and over a decade in London, where she ran their own design studio. In 2011, Ingrid returned to Germany, setting up a ceramic studio in Munich.

In 2018, she became a co-founder of Culturesphere, a design consultancy and gallery based in Munich. Additionally, she co-founded the non-profit organization Symbio(s)cene in 2019. For both organisations, she has been responsible for developing concepts, selecting artists, hosting panel talks and curating numerous exhibitions.

In March 2024 Ingrid became a member of the editorial team of the bilingual arts and crafts magazine Art Aurea, where she is responsible for the magazine’s section and global project Curators’ Choice.


INGRID RÜGEMER CONTACT INFORMATION

To view my activities, please follow me on Instagram.
To get in touch, please send me an email: info(at)ingridruegemer.com
Or alteratively connect with me via Linkedin

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