A D R I A N W O O D
My work falls into three overlapping categories: image, sound-based projects, and prose. I make performances, videos, drawings and sound compositions that deal with themes of political power and subversion in modes that are sometimes autobiographical. I aim to navigate the psychological terrain of power through gesture and markmaking on surfaces and in space.
My works often use historical texts as a ground to render subjects, including audiences, as figures. Ultimately, my interest is in the moments when figures connect with ground – in this metaphor, when audiences and subjects, including myself, blur with the histories and traditions that propel our movements, then re-emerge as more of ourselves than we were before.
Bio
Adrian has shown work in the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Union Docs, Institut für Alles Mögliche (Berlin), Hundred Years Gallery (London), the University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary. Adrian’s work has been featured in online broadcasts and publications including Hyperallergic, WHRO, small audio art, Viral Ecologies and Jupiter Review. Adrian has been recognized and awarded through institutions including UnionDocs, The University of Michigan, Experimental Sound Studio, Robert Wood Johnnson Foundation, Johns Hopkins Peabody School of Music and the University of Chicago.
Adrian plays music and live sound as Sugarlift. Find their music and live sound works here on Soundcloud.
In their role as Multimedia Producer with the University of Virginia's Repair Lab, Adrian wrote and produced the podcast The Repair Lab. Season 1, Wading Between Two Titans, won two 2023 Signal Awards in the categories of Sustainability & Environment and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Season 2, Crosswinds, was shortlisted for a Press Gazette Future of Media award in 2024.
Adrian received a Masters in Fine Art in Sound from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BA in Art & Art History with a minor in Environmental Science & Policy from the College of William & Mary.
Adrian is a member of Studio 23, Association of Independents in Radio, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and Trans Journalists Association.
