Mónica Ruiz Loyola works from the memories and narratives embedded in spaces and people that shape everyday experience. Her practice explores how objects, sounds, and images function as traces of time, carriers of personal and collective memory.

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Through the gathering of these traces, she constructs immersive installations in which objects are activated as narrative agents. For Ruiz Loyola, objects operate as memory triggers: the act of remembering through them functions almost as an automatic mechanism. This mechanical quality translates into installations where objects come to life through movement, light, sound, or digital processes, becoming the primary storytellers.

Her work spans video, photography, sound, found objects, installation, and digital media. Research is central to her practice. She integrates fieldwork, interviews, and investigations into historical events tied to specific places or territories. This process allows her to examine how collective memory is constructed and spatialized. The installation becomes both a space for immersion and a space for reflection, one that activates perception and emotion.

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Ruiz Loyola holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, a Master’s degree in Digital Arts from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, and a Postgraduate Degree in Curatorial Studies in Contemporary Art from KASK & Conservatorium, School of Arts Ghent (Belgium).

Between 2008 and 2013, she organized and coordinated workshops and conferences on Art and Technology in Mexico City, collaborating with national and international artists at institutions such as Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Centro Cultural de España en México, Centro de Cultura Digital, Ex Teresa Arte Actual, and other cultural platforms.

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Her work has been exhibited internationally in contemporary art spaces including Centro Ex Teresa Arte Actual (Mexico City), Espai d’Arts Roca Umbert (Spain), TPK Art i Pensament Contemporani (Barcelona), Contemporary Art Center (Quito), Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (Grand Rapids), among others. She has also participated in light festivals such as Lichtfestival (Ghent), FILUX (Mexico), TAVA – Radical Light (Tartu), and Lux Helsinki (Finland).