Ragnhild May (b. 1988, Denmark) graduated with an MFA from Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, New York and is completing her Ph.D in Artist Research at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. Sound sits at the core of the Danish multidisciplinary artist and composer Ragnhild May's work, which draws upon sculpture, installation, and performance to inquire into the cultural and social history of musical instruments. Her work encompasses technology, science fiction, feminism, and sound theory with conceptual rigor, sensitivity and humor, as her work draws on the specificity and history of sound.
May has exhibited with solo shows at Kunsthal 6100, Haderslev (2025); SPOR Festival, Aarhus (2025); Regelbau 411, Thyholm (2023); Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen (2022); Tabakalera - International Centre for Contemporary Culture, San Sebastián (2022); SOL, Nexø (2021); VEGA Arts, Copenhagen (2019) and Die Raum, Berlin (2018).
Her works has been shown in group exhibitions at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, Copenhagen (2025); OTP Gallery, Copenhagen (2025); Landscape, Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen (2024); Urban Sound Art, Kråkerøy (2023); Vizura Aperta Festival (2023); Rønnebæksholm, Næstved (2021) and Gammelgaard Museum, Herlev (2020). Furthermore, May has performed at several venues including Organ Sound Art Festival, Copenhagen (2025); Festival d'Automne, France (2025); MAPS Museum For Art in Public Spaces, Copenhagen (2025); Museum of Copenhagen (2025); Arken Museum for Contemporary Art, Ishøj (2025); Église Saint-Eustache, Paris (2025); SMK - the National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (2023 and 2015); Bauhaus Museum, Berlin (2022); Gl. Holtegaard Museum, Holte (2021); The New Museum, New York (2020); Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, Copenhagen (2019); Roulette, New York (2019); Hopkins Center For the Arts, Hopkins (2018); Overgaden Institute for Contemporary Arts, Copenhagen (2018); SuperDeluxe, Tokyo (2017) and SMK - the National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (2023 and 2015).
She is a recipient of the Carl Nielsen Talent Award and scholarships from the Danish Art Foundation and Fulbright. She was selected by the Danish Arts Foundation to take part in their career development program 'The Young Artistic Elite' from 2020-2022. In 2022, she created the work Lutter Ører for public commission of Helsingør Health Center. Her works can be found in public collections including Odense Municipality Art Collection, Fuglsang Art Museum, Copenhagen Municipality Art Collection, 1000 Scores (digital collection), Museum for Contemporary Art Roskilde (digital collection), Horsens Art Museum, and the New Carlsberg Foundation.