Adolfo Ruiz Tosar is an artist, researcher, and educator who investigates issues of contemporary entanglement and human-environmental relations through drawing, artist books, installation and film. His work is informed by arts-based research projects that he co-creates with various urban and subarctic communities. Since 2012 he has worked with elders, educators and youth from the self-governed Tłı̨chǫ Dene region (Canadian subarctic) in ongoing cultural initiatives involving oral history and land-based learning.

Adolfo’s work in the north was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His writing is published in the Journal for Artistic Research, and he holds degrees in Design and Human Ecology from the University of Alberta, as well as an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is Associate Professor of Design at MacEwan University in Edmonton (Amiskwacîwâskahikan), Canada.

As part of the AiR 351 residency he intends to develop research and artwork that is based on the relationship between environment and cultural memory in Cascais. The dynamic urban setting and coastal geography of the municipality offers a rich opportunity for this type of project. Qualitative and arts-based research will inform the development of this work.