Pietro Ruffo (*1978, Rome) studied Architecture at the University of Rome before receiving a reasearch fellowship at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University, New York, in 2010. He won the Cairo Prize in 2009 and the New York Prize in 2010.
The relationship with the image is, for him, a means of approaching research that arises from a series of philosophical, social, ethical, and developmental considerations through a profound dimension and a connective thread derived from his training as an architect.
His drawing and artistic practice are tools of research that analyze historical and contemporary dynamics, where attention is focused on observing environmental changes, social processes, urban transformations, and landscapes generated by constellations, geometries, traces, and writing. The result is a stratified work in which multiple readings and semantic layers investigate the boundaries of universality, particularly the digital and individual sphere.
In recent years, his major museum exhibitions have included: Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; the Venice Biennale, Italy; Musei Vaticani, Vatican City; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de la Universidad de São Paulo, Brazil; Galleria Borghese, Italy; Zhejiang Art Museum (ZAM), Hangzhou City, China; MUSA Museo de las Artes Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico; IA&A AT HILLYER, Washington DC, USA; MAXXI-Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Italy; Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Italy; The Bardo National Museum, Tunis, Tunisia; Indian Museum, Calcutta, India; Reggia Contemporanea, Villa Reale di Monza, Italy; Triennale di Milano, Italy; Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City.
His works are part of numerous public and private collections, including the Vatican Museums, MAXXI, the Farnesina Collection (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation), the Art Collection of the Quirinale – Presidency of the Italian Republic, MIMS, Fondazione Roma Tre, UniCredit, Deutsche Bank, and the Embassies of Italy in Washington, Canberra, and Vilnius. He has received various grants and commissions, helping to expand his work in public spaces on an international scale. Among his achievements are a site-specific installation for the Quirinale Library, the Murales dei 640 metri quadrati in Piazza Venezia in Rome, a major installation for the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, and a series of works commissioned for Expo Osaka in Japan.
