Ruth Levene

I am an artist, convener, constructor, conceptualiser & digger based in Sheffield, UK. My practice takes a deep dive into the systems and infrastructures we live by and see through, often working in collaboration with non-art institutions — wheat farming and food systems, water and flooding, schooling and pedagogies, policy and decision making.The research examines how we have internalised these industrialised systems into our ways of thinking, disconnecting us from what it means to be fully human, and asks how we might collectively reimagine and practice them differently.

Drawing on histories, archives and the knowledge of people working both in and at the edges of these systems, I create conditions for dialogue, collective experimenting, listening and play. The work manifests as live events, performance, video, publications, mapping, installations and walking — often combining several of these together. Each project grows from ongoing conversation and collaborative research.

The work moves slowly and seeks the details, often returning to the same places and people over time, valuing long-term relationships over quick outcomes. I'm continually exploring how art can hold complexity without resolving it — offering new ways to see, feel and act within the systems we depend on.