adrian wood

Statement

I make work that centers the ear, using sounds of water and wind, howls, whispers, seismic vibrations, and archival echoes to explore invisible forces and histories that shape our social ecology. My work takes the form of live performance, video, writing, and sound compositions.

Listening is essential to the work I make. To listen is to risk being transformed. I aim to create conditions where listening can lead to transformation that can disrupt harmful patterns and precipitate collective joy. I do this by making work that helps people remember to connect to themselves, each other and the places we share through strategies of affective modelling, emergent processes and site responsiveness. I want offer ways for participants and audiences to self-determine our bodies and our sounds in symbiotic relationship to one another. I want us to co-create the moments we inhabit.

Bio

Adrian has shown work in the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Institut für Alles Mögliche (Berlin), Hundred Years Gallery (London) 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, 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, Wood 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 United Campus Workers - UVA, the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology, Association of Independents in Radio, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and Trans Journalists Association.