Marissa Lee Benedict (b. 1985, Palm Springs, CA, US) and David Rueter (b. 1978, Ann Arbor, MI, US) live and work between Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Berlin, Germany.
Working across video, installation, and performance, Marissa Lee Benedict and David Rueter stage encounters between industrial processes, professional grammars, and the human body — arranging what might be described as unlikely meetings between estranged landscapes. Rooted in the legacy of 1960s and 70s US conceptual art but driven by a distinctly contemporary engagement with infrastructure, algorithms, and administrative power, their practice takes professional and technical operations — legal, logistical, architectural — and recasts them as performances, probing the boundaries of what such systems can and cannot absorb. Objects and videos serve as documents of these interventions, which unfold across sites where the built environment, bureaucratic procedure, and psychic life overlap. The work begins from a simple proposition and spirals outward, surfacing the mythological dimensions latent in the supposedly mundane, and creating temporary spaces where the resonances of collective experience can be felt.
Benedict and Rueter began their collaborative partnership in Chicago, IL (US) in 2014. Their work has been exhibited at:
The 34th Bienal de São Paulo, BR / The US Pavilion for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale (IT) / The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (US) / The Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, US) / The Arts Club of Chicago (US) / Msheireb Museums (QT) / Ditch Projects, Springfield, OR, USA / Jan Van Eyck Open Studios, Maastricht, NL / EXPO Chicago, Chicago IL, USA / P/////AKT (NL) / Contemporary Art Brussels, Brussels, BE.
Their work has been funded by:
the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts / the National Endowment for the Arts (US) / the Mondriaan Fund (NL) / the Lithuanian Council for Culture (LT) / the Oregon Arts Commission / the Museum of Contemporary Photography / the Ford Family Foundation / the Joan Mitchell Foundation (US)
Benedict and Rueter have published a book on their collaborative work with Daniel de Paula, deposition (2018–ongoing), with Mousse Publishing (2023). They have participated in numerous international artistic residencies including Rupert (LT), the Banff Centre (CN), the Jan van Eyck Academie (NL), The Headlands Center for the Arts (US), and Air Berlin Alexanderplatz (DE). Currently, they are Fellows at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam (DE).