Madeleine Aguilar tells stories, builds archives, maps spaces, constructs furniture, records histories, organizes data, catalogs objects, prints publications, creates frameworks, collects imagery, acquires trades, ties knots, re-purposes materials, imitates structures, utilizes chance, plays instruments, follows intuition, prompts participation, guides observation, leaves evidence, develops routines, takes walks, breaks habits, and makes lists. Using the archive as form, she acknowledges the passing of time by cataloging lived spaces, collected objects, familial histories, personal relationships, natural phenomena, mundane routines, and ephemeral moments.
Madeleine runs bench press, a collaborative Risograph press based in Chicago. She co-teaches a summer risography and bookmaking course called RISO-Relations + Bookish Behaviors at Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency in Saugatuck, MI where she was previously the Print & New Media Studio Manager. She has performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the DePaul Art Museum, EXPO Chicago, and Experimental Sound Studio. Her work lives in the Franklin Furnace Archive in the Pratt Institute Library, the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the 8-Ball Library in NY, New York, the VCU Art Book Library at Virginia Commonwealth University, and elsewhere.