CV

Adelheid Mers
adelheidmers@gmail.com

Education

student at large, University of Chicago, Graduate School, Committee on the Visual Arts, in association with a grant from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)
MFA, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany
Additional course work: University of Düsseldorf (German Literature), University of Cologne (German Literature, Linguistics, Philosophy), Germany

Teaching

2008 - present, Associate Professor. Department of Arts Administration and Policy, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2011/12, 1214 - 2017, since 2020, Department Chair, Department of Arts Administration and Policy, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1996 - 2007, Adjunct Associate Professor. Foundations, Sculpture, VCS, Art History, Arts Administration and Policy, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

2018/19: Visiting Lecturer; "Performative Diagrammatics as Artistic Research", Block Seminar Sequence, Department of Media Environments, Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany
2018/19: Visiting Lecturer; "Theories of Art Production and Organizations", Arts and Cultural Management Master (online), Leuphana Universität Lüneburg/ Goethe Institut, Germany
2013: Visiting Lecturer, Seminar: "Diagrammatische Ansätze in der Kulturnutzer-Forschung", Leuphana Universität, Lüneburg, Germany
2012: Visiting Lecturer, Institut für Kulturmanagement und Kulturwissenschaft (IKM), University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria
2012: Visiting Lecturer, Fachhochschule Potsdam, Studiengang Kulturarbeit (Cultural Management Division), Blockseminar: "Critical Cultural Discourses - Diagrams and Discussions", Potsdam, Germany

2001, 2002, Visiting Lecturer. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1999, Visiting Lecturer. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
1998, Visiting Lecturer, Alfred University, BAFA program, Alfred, NY
1997/98, Visiting Professor. Illinois State University, Normal, IL
1994 - 1997, Lecturer. American Academy of Art, Chicago, IL

list of courses

Exhibitions/Performances (selections)

2020: Micro-Practices for a New Gentleness, Field Day Symposium, SAIC, Chicago, IL (postponed)
2020: Micro-Practices for a New Gentleness, Index Art Book Fair, Kurimanzutto, Mexico City
2020: Micro-Practices for a New Gentleness, Vorspiel/transmediale, Vilém Flusser Archiv, Berlin, Germany
2020: The Chicago 400. A Legislative Art Project. The Drawing Center, New York, NY.
2019: Institution as Form, with Study Center for Work Group, Tenthaus, Oslo, Norway
2019: Faculty Projects, presenting the Performative Diagrammatics Lab and initiating Micro-Practices for a New Gentleness, Sullivan Galleries, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2019: "Performative Diagrammatics Lab @ Membrane", with facilitators Sarah Hermanutz, Maud Canisius and Ruo-Jin Yen (BUW) and Joseph Lefthand, Vero D. Orozco, Caroline Kawen Ng,(SAIC), Workshops: "The Braid", "Performative Topologies", and "Fractal 3-line Matrix", VJ + Custom Code Robert Woodley; Kunstverein Tiergarten Nord, Berlin, Germany
2018: Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; Gala Activation, Performative Topologies/Performative Diagrammatics Lab, Facilitators: Joseph Lefthand, Vero D. Orozco, Caroline Kawen Ng, Gianella Tavano; VJ+Custom Code Robert Woodley;
2017: "WOUND", exhibition, Commons Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
2016: "WOUND a practice space for the mending of time and attention”, exhibition and laboratory, Caroline Woolard, and Stamatina Gregory, Cooper Union, New York, NY
2015: "Plague of Diagrams", exhibition, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK
2014: "Enter the Matrix", solo exhibition. Chicago Cultural Center, Michigan Gallery; Chicago, IL
2013/14: Faculty Projects, Sullivan Galleries, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Chicago, IL
2011: “Talking about Creativity”, a week of Lecture Performances with prepared Whiteboards, as part of the “Interactions” series in the Exhibition “Without You I’m Nothing”, curated by Tricia Van Eck, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
2011: "Write Now,” curated by Nathan Mason, City of Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2011: “Mutualisms”, curated by Kirsten Leenaars and Lise Haller-Baggesen, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, IL
2011: “Mash-ups”, curated by Eli Robb, Sonnenschein and Albright Galleries, Lake Forest College, IL
2010: Effervescent Condition", curated by Fang-Tze Hsu, part of "The Power of Copying", Xuzhou Museum of Art, Xuzhou, China, and Gallery X, SAIC, Chicago
2009: Picturing the Studio, curated by Michelle Grabner and Annika Marie, Sullivan Galleries, SAIC, Chicago, IL
2009: “Response: Art and the Art of Criticism”, I-Space, Chicago, IL
2008/09: “America Today”, curated by Elizabeth Smith and Tricia van Eck, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
2008: “Peck School of the Arts Organogram 2008”, Interview Project and Solo Exhibition, Inova Institute, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
2007/08: “Mapping the Self”, curated by Tricia van Eck, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
2007/08: “Fast Forward”, curated by Jim Yood and Lisa Wainwright, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL
2006: “Negotiated Localities”, curators Claire Pentecost and Cindy Coleman, Betty Rymer Gallery, SAIC, Chicago, IL
2006: “Takeover”, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
2006: “New Cartographies”, LoBot Gallery, Oakland, CA
2004: “backgrounds and conversations - reading George Lakoff before an election”, solo exhibition, Open Studio Project, City of Chicago, Chicago
2004: “Looking at/Looking through”, (re-installation of Lakoff diagrams and backdrops) Anderson Gallery, Drake University, Des Moines, IA
2004: “Im Spiel - Images after Texts by Vilém Flusser”, solo exhibition, Jan Frühsorge Galerie für Zeichnung, Berlin, Germany
2003: “Operation: Human Intelligence”, Contemporary Arts Council, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; (catalog); traveling to: Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
2003: “Home - Images after Texts by Vilém Flusser”, solo exhibition and acquisition as part of the collection of the Vilém Flusser Archive at the Hochschule für Medien, Cologne, Germany; 2003: “Home - Images after Texts by Vilém Flusser”, digitally exhibited at the IN OUT 2003 Festival, Prague, Czech Republic
2003: “Home - Images after Texts by Vilém Flusser”, Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, IA,
2003: “Home - Images after Texts by Vilém Flusser", Dorman+Torluemke, Hammond, IN
2002: “nubo wave map (space) bubble”, Illinois State University Galleries, Normal, IL
2001: “What they half created”, Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
2000: “Site Works”, Gallery 312, Chicago
1998: “Not in my lobby, you don’t”, curated by Chuck Thurow and Ruth Horwich, Hyde Park Art Center and LaSalle Street Bridge House, Chicago, IL
1998: “Sculpture in Chicago: The Next Generation”, UIC Gallery 400, Chicago, IL
1998: "You need to bring a gift to attend this exhibition", solo exhibition, Tough Gallery, Chicago, IL
1998: "Fiat Lux - for Hélio from Adelight", solo exhibition, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
1997: "The Truth", solo exhibition, Illinois State University Gallery, Normal, IL
1997: “Faculty Biennial”, Illinois State University Gallery, Normal, IL
1997: “Current”, in conjunction with ISEA, Tough Gallery/Uncomfortable Spaces, Chicago, IL
1997: “Saldo - Klaus Rinke Alumni Exhibition Project”, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany
1996/97: “Art in Chicago 1945-1995”, curated by Lynne Warren, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
1996: "Acts/Projections", solo exhibition, Tough Gallery/Uncomfortable Spaces, Chicago, IL
1995: "Portable Landscapes", solo exhibition, Tough Gallery/Uncomfortable Spaces, Chicago, IL
1979: "MusiCircus", Bonn, Germany

Studio and Co-creation Projects (selections)

2019: Micro-practices for a New Gentleness @ Performative Diagrammatics Lab, with Christine Shallenberg, Noël Jones, Ben Zucker, Daniel Quiroz, Lenny Moore, Doreen Chan, Yujie Shangguan, and others, Chicago, IL
2018: Performative Topologies Sessions @ Performative Diagrammatics Lab, with Joseph Lefthand, Vero D. Orozco, Caroline Kawen Ng, Giannella Tavano, Edward Trujillo, and others, Chicago, IL
2016: Talking Whiteboards Sessions, 48 participants; facilitated by Asha Iman Veal; Chicago, IL

Consulting/Commissioned Projects (selections)

2019: "Performative Diagrammatics Lab", facilitating Collective Impact projects (Interior University Research Coalition, United Way/TRU Xchange Lab) among community, university and government partners; Thompson River University, Kamloops, BC, Canada
2018: "Artist as Problem Solver Convening", Big Car Collective, Indianapolis; the Joyce Foundation, Chicago, IL
2014: "Arts Ecologies in North Lawndale"; Commissioned Research, Homan Square Foundation and SAIC, Chicago, IL
2013/14: "Arts Ecologies in 5 Chicago South side neighborhoods"; Commissioned Research, South East Chicago Commission, Chicago, IL
2013: "Granting for Arts Organizations and Individual Artists, seen from Artists' Perspectives"; Commissioned Research, 3Arts, Chicago, IL
2008/09: Embedded Artist, City of Chicago, Department of Innovation and Technology; Chicago, IL

Public Art

2016: "Spectrum of Knowledge - 14 subjects from the Library of Congress card catalog", Richard M. Daley Library, Humboldt Park, with Patrick McGee, Chicago, IL
2005: “Heliosphere, Biosphere, Technosphere", Exelon Pavilion, Millennium Park Welcome Center, with Patrick McGee, Chicago, IL
2004: “Firefighters’ Choice”, photo/aluminum mural of images selected with firehouse crew, Fire Station #3, with Patrick McGee, Evanston, IL

Conferences (selections)

2020: Talk: The Performative Diagrammatics Laboratory – On Co-Creating Knowing, Doing and Being, and Workshop: Micro-practices for a New Gentleness – A Performative Communication Facilitation Instrument. Performance Studies international 26, "Crises of Care: Act Respond Engage", Rijeka, Croatia (postponed)
2019: Workshop: The Braid; Performance Studies international 25, School of Creative and Performing Arts, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2019: Workshop presentation, Performative Topologies/Performative Diagrammatics Lab, with Facilitators Sarah Hermanutz (BUW) and Hanne Pilgrim (MDW), Annual Conference Fachverband Kulturmanagement, University of Music and Performing Art, Vienna, Austria
2018: co-chair, "Diversity – Opportunities and Challenges for Innovation and Leadership in Arts Management”, Fachverband Kulturmanagement, Institut für Kultur- und Medienmanagement, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Germany
2017: Key contributor, "Retooling Critique Symposium", Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
2016: Presenter, "The Braid Diagram and A Critique Template", Art School Critique 2.0 Symposium, Teacher's College, Columbia University, New York, NY
2016: Co-convener and presenter, "Thought Catchers: on recurring themes in artistic practice", conference: Wissenskulturen im Dialog, Institute for Cultural Management/University of Music and Performing Arts (IKM/UWM), Vienna, Austria
2015: Presenter, "Some things I am figuring out"; Panelist: Diagrams as Pedagogy Section, Plague of Diagrams conference, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK
2014: Keynote: "Cultural Ecology Diagrams: 3 Chicago Case Studies" and respondent, "Making Artistic Inquiry Visible" panel, Conference: Mapping Culture: Communities, Sites and Stories Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
2013: Presenter: 3Arts Organization Granting Research, Grant Makers in the Arts Conference, and Respondent, Grant Makers in the Arts Pre-Conference, Philadelphia, PA
2013: Co-Chair, with Judith Leemann; Panel: Beyond good or bad: practice derived epistemologies of studio critique. CAA conference, New York, NY
2013: Respondent, Wissenskulturen im Dialog - Conference, Institut für Kulturmanagement und Kulturwissenschaft (IKM); University of Music and Performing Arts (UWM), Vienna, Austria
2012: Presenter, "Reverse Engineering: Towards a Taxonomy of Art Practices", AICAD Symposium "Remaking Research: Emerging Research Practices in Art and Design", Emily Carr University, Vancouver, Canada
2011: Presenter, "Doing Combat - Arts Administration Pedagogy at the Intersections of Management, Cultural Studies and Art as Research". Panel, "Beyond Administration: Experimental Pedagogies in Arts Management". Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) conference, Boston, MA
2010: Presenter (solicited key paper), “Artistic Research as Aesthetic Science?” conference in the context of the art, science & business program of the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
2010: invited participant: HUMAK Helsinki Symposium 2010, Cultural Management and Pedagogy: Discourses and Practices; Helsinki, Finland
2010: Discussant. The Feminist Art Project, “Distributing Ourselves: New Media Art, Curating, Networks, and Collaborations”. College Art Association Conference, Chicago, IL
2009: Workshop "Conversation Mapping and Collaborative Live Diagramming” Community University Research Partnership conference: “Whose Show is it, anyway? Community - engaged performance and exhibition arts in the small city", Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada
2009: Presenter, with Nick Lowe: “Ethics of Responsibility – from individual burden to organizational opportunity”, Panel: New Thoughts on Teaching Museum Ethics, chair, Janet Marstine, PhD, Seton Hall University, CAA conference, Los Angeles
2007: Panelist: “Mapping Culture and Social Change", Community University Research Partnership conference: “Mapping Culture and the Quality of Life in Small Cities”, in conjunction with the “The Last Best West” conference, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada
2007: Paper, “Foundations as Triage”; FATE Open Session, CAA Conference, New York
2007: Session chair: “Assess, Situate, Disperse – Addressing Diversity of Artistic Approaches in Foundations Teaching”, Shift • Connect • Evolve”, FATE conference, Milwaukee, WI
2005: Presenter, “Cognitive and representational preference and the Early Adopters Exhibition”, Art as Research: The Art of the Artist Statement Symposium, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada
2002: Discussant, session on giftedness and creativity. Chair, Patricia D. Stokes, Barnard/ Columbia University, NY. APA Convention, Chicago
2001: Ethics and the Arts panelist on: “Feminists Face the Arts”, led by Peg Brand and Eleanor Heartney. Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
2001: Paper: “Applied Aesthetics”, session “If one is good, why not two?, chair, Laurie Palmer
CAA Conference, Chicago
2000: Paper: “Smart Thinking, Ugly Work - Formulating a Relativist Aesthetic from Personal
Experience”; in conjunction with a workshop conducted by Elisabeth Condon; Barnard Feminist Art and Art History Conference. Barnard College, NY
1999: Performance: “Interlude”, slide talk and discussion. Art Now - Conference on Art Audience Reaction. SUNY New Paltz, NY
1999: Conference on the Arts and Humanities in Public Life. formulated and presented artist and arts organizations fall-out group results University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Funded Academic Research (selection)

2018/19: Art Research-Pilot: "Research Project on Artist Conversation and Interview Practices". In collaboration with Doris Ingrisch, Professor for Gender Studies, Institute for Cultural Management and Gender Studies, MDW/Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien, Austria
2013: Conversations about artistic practice with experimental musicians and composers. with Doris Ingrisch, Professor for Gender Studies, Institute for Cultural Management and Gender Studies, MDW/ Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien, Vienna, Austria
2010 - 2013: Contributions to Research on Artistic Epistemes. Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada

Residencies (selections)

2016: Roger Brown Residency, New Buffalo, MI
2014: Artist in Residence; Garland Gallery, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2012: Artist in Residence; Verein Bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs (VBKOE), Vienna, Austria
2012: Artist in Residence; Kunsthalle Krems/SAIC Exchange Program, Krems, Austria
2011: Roger Brown Residency, New Buffalo, MI
2008: Invited residency participant, “Making Artistic Inquiry Visible”; Banff Centre Institute, Banff, Canada

Visiting Artist/Panelist/Lecturer (selections)

2020: Workshop: "The Braid", Institute for Cultural Management and Gender Studies, MDW/ Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien; Vienna, Austria
2019: Panelist: "Publishing as a tool for the dissemination of new languages of togetherness", Index Art Book Fair, Expo Chicago, Chicago, IL
2019: Workshop: The Braid/Performative Diagrammatics Lab, Digital Arts & Sciences Division, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY
2018: Visiting Lecturer, "Chicago/US Arts Ecologies", Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar, Germany
2018: Visiting Artist, SAIC@Homan Square. Community Ecology Project with the North Lawndale Cultural and Historical Society, creating a functional neighborhood tour map and initiating an organization website. Chicago, IL
2017: Visiting Artist, Bauhaus University Weimar, New Media Division, Weimar, Germany
2017: Visiting Lecturer, Institut für Kulturmanagement und Kulturwissenschaft (IKM), University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria
2013: Visiting Lecturer, Diagrammatische Ansätze in der Kulturnutzer-Forschung. Projektseminar, Leuphana Universität, Lüneburg, Germany
2012: Artist talk, Verein Bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs (VBKÖ), Vienna, Austria
2012: Visiting Lecturer, Institut für Kulturmanagement und Kulturwissenschaft (IKM), University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria
2011: Visiting Lecturer, Fachhochschule Potsdam, Studiengang Kulturarbeit (Cultural Management Division), Blockseminar: Critical Cultural Discourses - Diagrams and Discussions, Potsdam, Germany
2011: Workshop: The Arts Organizations Diagram, CURA Community Arts Think Tank; Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada
2010: Panelist, (threewalls SALON: Cartography 2.0 with Scott Carter, Adelheid Mers, Deb Sokolow and Sara Schnadt; coordinated by Ania Szremski, ThreeWalls, Chicago, IL
2009: Presenter, Art as Research Process Diagram, Stone Summer Theory Institute, Focus on Practice, Performance Space, SAIC, Chicago, IL
2008: Visiting lecturer, Mapping the desired evolution of the department as it adds a master’s program - a faculty workshop, Hochschule Zwickau, Department of Applied Art, Schneeberg, Germany
2008: Artist talk/performance, live mapping a virtual lecture with N. Katherine Hayles, and mapping workshop with students in the Texts and Technology PhD program in the English Department; University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
2008: Artist talk, Bauhaus University Weimar, New Media Division, Weimar, Germany

Awards and Nominations (Selections)

2020: Bauhaus University Weimar, Erasmus Grant (postponed)
2019: Research Stipend, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2019: Bauhaus University Weimar, Erasmus Grant
2018: Bauhaus University Weimar, Erasmus Grant
2018: AR-Pilot Grant: Artistic Research, MDW/Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien, Austria
2018: Artist Project Grant, Illinois Arts Council
2016: Individual Artist Project Grant, DCASE, Chicago
2015: Individual Artist Project Grant, DCASE, Chicago
2014: Finalist, Google DevArt Competition, The Face Field Project, with Robert Woodley
2013: Artist Project Grant, Illinois Arts Council
2012: Art Work (Music), Project Funding, IKM/UWM, Vienna, Austria
2010: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, (co-applicant) "Artist Statements: Making Interdisciplinary Inquiry Visible"; Funding Period 2010 - 2013
2008: Nominee, Richard Driehaus Foundation
2007: Nominee, Richard Driehaus Foundation
2007: Faculty of the Year Award, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2007: Chairman’s Award, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2005: Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council
2004: Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council
1995: Arts Midwest/NEA Regional Visual Artist Fellowship

Publications (Selections)

"The BRAID: moving across dimensions from representation to performativity", in: Birte Kleine-Benne, Elke Bippus, edts.; "Dispositiv Erkundungen, jetzt.", Logos Verlag, Berlin. In press, expected 2020

"The Gap begets Two-space: On the practice of Lou Mallozzi", Chicago Artist Writers, March 12, 2018 https://chicagoartistwriters.com/the-gap-begets-two-space-on-the-practice-of-lou-mallozzi/

"Artists’ perspectives on grant writing." in: Issue: "Einreichen", Esther Strauss, Matthias Schmidt, edts., Triedere Magazine, Sonderzahl Verlag, Wien, 2018

"Thought Catchers: An Artist Talk", in: Ingrisch, Doris et al, edts., Wissenskulturen im Dialog. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2017

"The Braid Diagram and A Critique Template: modeling studio critique as process in support of articulating evolving artistic practices in context". in: Richard Jochum, ed.: Conference Proceedings, Art School Critique 2.0, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2017

Editor, (2009) Useful Pictures, Book, Whitewalls (distributed through University of Chicago Press)

Curated exhibitions (Selections)

Curator, (2012) Hairy Blob - an exhibition about concepts of time and their impact on resource use, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL

Curator, (2005) Early Adopters, 3Arts, Chicago, IL

Curator (2003) Retrospectives, 12 artists were invited to create mini-retrospectives on their entire range of work, including administrative, educational and other endeavors; Gallery 312, Chicago, IL

Co-organizer and contributing artist, (2001) Collaborative Fusion, organized with Elisabeth Condon, transgressive/cooperative exhibition project with 14 invited artists and their guests; 450 Broadway Gallery, New York, NY, with a mirror project connected via web with Shuko Wada at Kitakyushu Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, Japan

Co-organizer and contributing artist, (1999) Millennium Fusion Project, organized with Mark Genrich and Shuko Wada, a 2-month, collaborative, light, sound and sculpture installation, a snowball project in 3 phases with 39 invited artists, A.R.C. Gallery, Raw Space, Chicago, IL

Co-curator, (1997) with Jackie Terrassa; Present, an exhibition of emerging visual artists and composers who make artwork that subtly provokes and invites audience interaction; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL

Affiliations/Service (Selections)

since 2020: co-chair, Working Group Preformance and Pedagogy, Performance Studies international
since 2019: Performance Studies international
since 2019: ICOM. (International Council of Museums); AVICOM (International Committee for Audiovisual, New Technologies and Social Media)
2016: Juror, Rauschenberg Foundation, Artist as Activist Fellowship
2015: Juror, NEA Visual Arts Panel
2015 - 2020: Editorial Board, Zeitschrift für Kulturmanagement/Journal of Cultural Management, Fachverband Kulturmanagement, Weimar, Germany
since 2010: New Media Caucus
2009 -2012: Field Editor for Books and Related Media on Arts Administration and Museum Studies, caa.reviews
since 2008: Fachverband Kulturmanagement, Weimar, Germany
since 2008: Editorial board, Small Cities Imprint, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, Canada
since 2008: Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE)
2000 - 2005: Curatorial advisory board, Gallery 312, Chicago, IL
since 1999: College Art Association (CAA)
1995 - 2010: Editorial board, Whitewalls, a journal of language and art