Friederike RUFF
Visual Artist
"I see with my hands
Things unknown to my mind."
NEW
Kano Cards: Feelings are finally printed and ready for purchase! We are so proud to present you our association card set. It is both and art work as well as a tool, designed for therapists, coaches, teachers, managers and all professionals whose work is to inspire others and to support them on their personal and professional journey.
© Friederike Ruff, 2024. All rights reserved.
About
bio
Friederike Ruff is a Berlin based collage, painting, and textile artist who believes that through creative inter-connections we can bring up new ideas, meanings, and opportunities.Apart from working in her studio and exhibiting her art works in galleries and museums, she engages in social art projects that help people discover and explore their creativity.With a deep interest in psychology, sociology, and metaphysics, in her personal artwork she engages with symbols, patterns, archetypes, and rhythms of life.She is focused on topics such as the connection between individual and collective, as well as the body in a physical and metaphysical sense. She combines concepts derived from natural science with philosophical ideas, creating unexpected and surprising meanings, thus shedding new light on basic concepts of life such as growth, change, and transformation.Her desire to bring art closer to people led her to the creation of Kano Cards – collage-based
association cards that help people use art and creativity for reflection and self-discovery
contact
Artist statement
I am a collector and proud maximalist. I like all kinds of things. I gather usual and unusual items such as toys, religious objects, boxes of torn magazines, stuffed or plastc animals, dolls and other ephemera that gain an afterlife in my creations.I am an incubator of ideas. I engage in research, reflect and seek information about topics spanning from psychology, philosophy, metaphysics, natural science, literature, history and politics.I am a collector of memories. Traveling and encounters are essential constituent of my
artwork. The impressions and experiences gathered throughout my journeys often become the
starting point of stories that develop on canvas or paper in miraculous ways.I am a traveler to the unknown. I regard the process of image creation as an elevator to the
underworld, where I encounter my personal and collective subconsciousness to discover and
reveal hidden meanings.I am an artist using techniques such as painting, embroidery, and installation. I like my creative
process to be playful and experimental. I enjoy working with different materials, using strong
colors, and mixing everything with each other.I see art as a way for building connections. Beyond the realm of my personal art practise I am deeply committed to nurture creativity and empower individuals to share their unique stories through creative methods. With a playful approach that blends collage, textile art, participatory photography, I create inclusive and supportive workshops for people from all walks of life.
I believe that everybody has creative treasures that are waiting to be encountered.I bring art to closer to people’s everyday life.
Deeply convinced that art is not something that can be exclusively found in galleries and museums, I collaborate with a professional educator Kasia Kowalska with whom I created and published KANO Cards.
The association cards based on the technique of collage combine artistic skills and psychological knowledge to help people use art and creativity for self-exploration and reflection.
Work
Artworks
I think making art is a miraculous process.
It is a caleidoscope of infinite possibilities
and a collaboration with forces I don't understand.
It is a game that has no beginning and no end,
a microscope and telescope at once,
a winding path to places not discovered yet.
Participatory Art Projects
I believe each and everybody has a unique perspective, multiple stories to tell and creative gifts that are waiting to be revealed and shared.
I run art based workshops where people engage with their individual talents in a framework of play, experimentation, communal learning and collaboration that creates magic.
Participatory Art Projects
Although I love creating art and working alone in my studio, I’ve always felt the need to be more engaged and connected to others through art and creativity. I wanted to go out of the rigid frameworks and old structured that were based on the idea that art is something
exclusive.I had a very strong wish to bring art closer to people by collaborating with others – artists, NGO activists, educators, and other like-minded people – to create inspiring workshops and participatory projects.It is important for us to create a safe space where people can freely
express themselves, that is why we base all our workshops on principles of non-formal education.I collaborate with NGOs from different countries with whom we run local and international projects funded by the Erasmus + Program of European Commission, GIZ, Anna Lindh Foundation and other donors.Over the years my colleagues and I developed several formats of projects and workshops based
on different creative methods, including collage, participatory photography, and textile art.
Projects
Mapping Stories – participatory media project in Brandenburg (2020-2021)
In this 14 months long project we worked in a local community of Henningsdorf, inviting children and teenagers to explore their neighborhood, reflect on their lives, and represent themselves visually through photography and collages. We engaged both youngsters who were born there and those who newly arrived from different parts of the world.
Art works created by participants were exhibited in a public urban space. Setting up the exhibition in the central square of the neighborhood gave young people a chance to present their unique perspectives and to share their experiences with their community.
The project was implemented by Social Visions with the funding from "Kultur macht Stark".The Dome (2018)
The project "The Dome" in Erbil, Iraq, was implemented in collaboration with a local NGO called ArtRole with the funding from GIZ.
It was a 10 day long workshop for female carpet weavers employed at a local factory. I worked with them to build up a sculpture consisting of individual pieces created by each participant separately. The pieces, done as textile collages, represented the women’s personal values and interests. They were combined to create a dome visualizing the interconnections and the strength of the community.
The final artwork was exhibited in the Kurdish Textile Museum in Erbil, Iraq."Unframed-Participatory Visual Art practices in Rural Areas"
The project brought together professionals working with youth in Ukraine and Germany who met for a 10 days long training in Pustomyty, Ukraine. The aim was to teach them new methods of participatory art practices and to implement a local workshop with children to put the trainers newly gained skills in practice.
After conducting the local workshop with children, we presented their artwork at an exhibition that was held in a public space.
The project was a collaboration between Social Visions (Germany) and On the Wings of Art (Ukraine), funded within the "MEET UP! Deutsch -Ukrainische Jugendbewegung" und der Stiftung "Erinnerung, Verantwortung, Zukunft".
Artworks
A selection from 2016 - 2024.
THE BODY AS AN ARCHIVE
BLIND SPOT PLANET
WAVES AND PARTICLES
PANDEMIC DIARY
THE THREAD OF LIFE
KANO CARDS
THE BODY AS AN ARCHIVE
EMBROIDERY AND PAINTING ON CANVAS, 2016-2018
'The Body as an Archive' is born from my own journey through health challenges and the following research and reflection about the connection between body and mind. The series is a collection of 23 embroidered and colored artworks on canvas, each a testament of the relationship between our physical selves and the intangible realms of memory and experience.At the heart of each piece lies an organ or body part, surrounded by a unique pattern carefully chosen for its symbolic resonance with the physical and metaphysical function of that specific aspect of the body.The essence of 'The Body as an Archive' series is rooted in the belief that our bodies are containers of memory – not only our own, but also those of our ancestors and the collective human consciousness. Each life, each experience, contributes to the rich and ever growing tapestry of human existence, leaving its imprint on the body's landscape.
Blind spot planet
EMBROIDERED OBJECTS,ONGOING SERIES SINCE 2018
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” ― C.G. JungViolence is a phenomenon that seems to be ingrained in human behavior on individual and collective level. Reading about history and reflecting upon contemporary social relations makes me feel we live in a vicious circle of violence, aggression, oppression, and victimhood. Yet most people consider themselves not to be prone to violence.It is easy for us to recognize aggression in others, but we struggle to see and admit that we too have a dark side. It’s a blind spot – an individual and collective inability to recognize our own shadow.In this series of embroidered objects, I investigate phenomena related to violence, oppression, and victimhood.
Each of the pieces is devoted to one aspect.
WAVES AND PARTICLES
Mixed media on canvas, 2016-2021
"Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?"
Edgar Allan PoeQuantum physics has redefined our understanding of matter. In 1920s the wave particle duality of light was extended to include all material objects.Inspired by the idea that nothing is as it seems to be, I created a series where I explore the constant flux and change of everything that is.I use painting and collage, canvas and paper, abstract elements such as dots, rays, particles, and waves, and pure colors in combination with figures and objects.
Everything – even the most stable thing like a rock – is in movement. Things are being built, unbuilt, and rebuilt.This series is a contemplation about the miraculous ways of constant change.
pandemic diary
MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER AND CANVAS, 2020
-2021
The Pandemic Diary is a series I started creating shortly after the COVID19 outbreak. In 2020 the world suddenly seemed like an entirely different place.The possibilities to interact with
others were very limited, and from the person who was constantly on the move, traveling and exploring, I became someone whose entire world was confined in the four walls of the studio.
I took it as an opportunity for inner explorations, working many hours a day to process what I was experiencing in this time of uncertainty.Mortality and vulnerability became very tangible. The new reality revealed what had been previously hidden and shed a new light on the pressing problems of our societies: from social structures based on injustice and inequality to family relations to personal mental health challenges.
Everything we ignored because we lived too fast before. Everything we had to face when the world was standing still.The pandemic made me feel like the reality has shrunk, but it also made me realized how interdependent and interconnected we all are in this globalized world
THE THREAD OF LIFE
EMBROIDERY AND PAINTING ON CANVAS, 2019-2022
„The Thread of Life“ is an artistic attempt aiming at investigating the concept of Bestairy, by creating a collection of 50 pieces embroidered and painted compendium of animals and fantastic creatures.The Bestiary as an idea has been explored throughout history and across different cultures. Presenting animals, birds, fantastic creatures and sometimes plants or stones has been used as a way to explain the world, but also to challenge
peoples understanding of universal notions and to provide symbolic interpretation of the reality.Historical presence of Bestiaries proves that animals are universal symbols that can be understood regardless of peoples cultural, educational, and social background.In its core, the series is based on the idea of using universally understood symbols to explore reality and challenge the publics view on very contemporary topics, such as interconnection of all beings, ecosystem and climate change and cooperation as a practice of survival and evolution.My approach is based on interdisciplinary thinking stemming from the realization that all things are interconnected. In order to get a full understanding of contemporary challenges and attempt to solve them, it is needed to combine different perspectives and approaches, from science through culture and arts to politics.
KANOCARDS
REFLECTION CARDS, 2023
Kano Cards: Feelings is an association cardset, designed for therapists, coaches, teachers, managers, and other professionals whose work is to inspire others and to support them on their personal and professional journey.
Impressum
Angaben gemäß § 5 TMGFriederike Ruff
Prinzenallee 84
13357 BerlinVertreten durch:
Friederike Ruff
Kontakt:
Telefon: +49 15754467525
E-Mail: [email protected]
Internet:friederikeruff.de
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