Rudi-Lee McCarthy is a 24-year-old multidisciplinary artist interested in caring culture, commoning, our relationship to urban spaces, and socially engaged practice.

In 2023, he was named one of Ireland’s top 50 young artists to watch. Building on this success, Rudi embarked on the innovative Porto Aperta project. This nomadic restaurant experience offered free dinners to the public while delving into investigative journalism on the stark realities of the European food production industry.

In addition to Porto Aperta, Rudi actively participated in esteemed artist projects such as the EcoShowboat, led by artists Anne Cleary and Dennis Connolly, and Distant Light from Future Stars, led by artist David Beattie. Behind the scenes, Rudi also served as the junior curator for the Science Foundation Ireland-funded Plant Science Festival, hosted at Ireland’s Botanical Gardens.

Beyond his career as an artist, Rudi has a background in the culinary arts. He trained under his mentor, Colin Shipp, at the award-winning Boyne Valley restaurant The Bective. This experience laid the foundation for Rudi’s current artistic practice, instilling in him the values of efficiency and the character-building nature of hard work. Following his apprenticeship under Colin, Rudi worked in some of Ireland’s top restaurants, including the 4-star establishment The Headfort Arms, the favoured restaurant of musician Bono, L’Gueuleton, and the highly recommended Irish restaurant Library Street, as noted by The Washington Post. While Rudi primarily focuses on his art practice, he views his time as a chef as a means of legitimising his art.

Rudi later stepped away from the kitchen to focus on his socially engaged artwork. The first step in this transition saw him travel to the Arctic fishing village of Berlevåg. There, he worked directly with fishermen, fishmongers, factory workers, and local schoolchildren to develop a body of work that critiqued the laissez-faire climate policies that failed to recognise the need for financial and job solutions for workers affected by the decline of their industries.

On returning to Ireland, Rudi developed three strands of research. The first, under  Fulacht, explored the role of relational aesthetics and hospitality (commoning), sociology, and how Pierre Bourdieu’s theories could inform his art practice. The second strand focused on economics, asking whether we should build within the shell of capitalism and if a circular economy is the way forward.

In May, Rudi travelled to Paris to advance his sociological practice, exploring how the public reacts to urbanisation. Using the work of Marc Augé, he captured the concept of Non-Lieux through a Lacanian gaze in his artwork. During this time, he completed a residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais. Returning to Ireland between June and November, Rudi conducted research on behalf of Trinity College Dublin on circular economy and food production, culminating in an event hosted for Science Week that engaged the public.

As an emerging artist, Rudi now takes steps towards a more fleshed-out practice that ties together his developed skills and acquired knowledge. Currently, he is studying for a Master’s degree at the National College of Art and Design (Ireland), where he is investigating the effects of gentrification on one of Dublin’s long-standing working-class communities: Meath Street. Meath Street serves as his case study, representing a historical and contemporary place that practised circular economy principles within its food economy, clothing, and leisure industries. Using his research in sociology, his Master’sproject sets out to investigate what socially engaged urban design looks like and the psychological effects of gentrification on a population that historically existed outside the economic norms of Dublin city..