Adam Brooks
Born 1959, New York, New York
Lives and works in Chicago, Illinois and Somerset, England

Selected Exhibitions and Performances, both solo and as Industry of the Ordinary (IOTO)

Ongoing
http://www.industryoftheordinary.com

2026
Conjugate Desire, interactive IOTO public project

2025
Materialities, Driehaus Museum, Chicago, Illinois

2024
Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO solo exhibition)
Not Just A Pretty Face, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois (commission)
STNDRD, Granite City, Illinois (IOTO solo exhibition)

2023
Compound Yellow, Oak Park, Illinois (public installation)
Absurdity: In DADA We Trust, Highland Park Art Center, Highland Park, Illinois

2022
Walking Shadow: Abraham Lincoln in the Modern Imagination, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, the Springfield Art Association,
and the UIS Visual Arts Gallery, Springfield, Illinois
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow…, Design Museum, Chicago (organized)
Disclaimer, Comfort Station, Chicago, Illinois
To The Fairest, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Illinois (performance)

2021
Not Just A Pretty Face, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois (commission)

2020
If you've got a blacklist, I want to be on it, Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO solo public performance and week-long interventions)
Ordinary Relic, site specific permanent installation, Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago, Illinois

2019
A History of Anchor Graphics, Hokin Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Togetherism, Lumpen, Chicago, Illinois
Seeing the familiar for the first time, Filter, Chicago, Illinois (curated)

2018
Industry of the Ordinary – Demo(cra)tic, Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California (IOTO solo show)
Tourist/Refugee & Genuflect, DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO solo installation, performance)
Lachrymose, Daley Plaza, Chicago, Illinois (solo public performance)
Future History, WERK, Birmingham, England
Work in Progress, Chicago Artist’s Coalition, Chicago, Illinois
Demo: demolition, Demo projects, Springfield, Illinois

2017
History and Forgetting, Silent/Funny, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO solo performance sculpture and public work for the City of Chicago Year of Public Art)
There is Always an Alternative, Platform 102, Moonens Foundation, Brussels, Belgium
The Subject Is Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois
Trader, Tourist, Refugee, San Luis Obispo, California
Body Work, Loyola University Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Rapid Pulse: 5 Years, Defibrillator, Chicago, Illinois

2016
Whiskey and Kisses, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado (IOTO solo performance)
The Greenlands Project, Birmingham, England (IOTO solo residency and permanent installation)
Industry of the Ordinary, Antena, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO solo show)
Industry of the Ordinary, Chamber, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (IOTO solo show)
Prayer (for Springfield), Demo projects, Springfield, Illinois (IOTO solo show)
Nothing is Impossible, Defibrillator, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO)
Prayer (for Bentonville), Inverse Performance Festival, Northwest Arkansas
Sports in Art, Maloney Art Gallery, Morristown, New Jersey
Synapse, Inner Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

2015
Relative, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO solo performance)
Water in Art, Water After Borders, UIC Institute for the Humanities, Chicago, Illinois

2014
Venetiaanse Gaanderijen, Ostend Pavilion, Ostend, Belgium (project identity and principal image)
Tragedy, Missoula and Ordinary, Bozeman, Montana (IOTO solo performances in Montana)
RISK: Empathy, Art and Social Practice, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (catalog available here)
I ❤️ NSA, Lumpen, Chicago, Illinois

2013
Guns and Butter, UIS Gallery, Springfield, Illinois (IOTO solo show)
Emerging Tactics, RECESS, Portland, Oregon
Good Service/Potage, Studio Gang, Chicago, Illinois
Rube Goldberg’s Ghost, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

2012
Industry of the Ordinary: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, mid-career survey, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO solo exhibition/residency/series of performances and collaborations, ran until February 2013)
Memory Over Forgetting, Exposition Chicago opening night performance, Chicago, Illinois
Drawing Breath for Sight and Sound, Billboard Art Project, Richmond, Virginia
United Nations for Performance Series, British Consul General’s residence, Chicago, Illinois
Body Language, Thaw, Link’s Hall, Dank Haus, Chicago, Illinois
Starving Artist, Chicago Artist Coalition, Chicago, Illinois
Butter Raiser, Maria’s, Chicago, Illinois
Evil is Interesting, Antena, Chicago, Illinois
Arts and Crafts, Public House, Chicago, Illinois
Color Bind: The MCA Collection in Black and White, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

2011
Industry of the Ordinary, Watkins College of Art, Nashville, Tennessee (IOTO solo show)
Wicker Park/Bucktown Mural Project, Chicago, Illinois (long-term installation)
Two Heads, One Goal for Mash Flob performance series at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Whiskey and Kisses/Go-Betweens, MDW Fair, Chicago, Illinois
Normal for Visual Phrasing, Maloney Art Gallery, Morristown, New Jersey
Klein Bottlefor The Search, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Disclaimer for Hang In There, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, Illinois
Prayer, Billboard Art Project, Reading, Pennsylvania
Performance Series, British Consul General’s residence, Chicago, Illinois
The Narcissism Chamber for Work With Me, A+D Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Fidel, Billboard Art Project, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Out of Site, public performance series organized by Defibrillator Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, California

2010
History as Idea, Nebraska State Historical Society, 1% for Art Commission, Lincoln, Nebraska (IOTO permanent installation)
Don’t Piss on Me and Tell Me It’s Raining, apexart, New York, New York
Impermanent Collection II for ORD[i]NANCE, Urban Environment Office, London, England
Spark, Defibrillator, Chicago
ACRE: Country in the City, Heaven Gallery, Chicago
X-treme Studio, A+D Gallery, Chicago
Artist in residence, Anchor Graphics, Chicago, Illinois
Visiting artist, ACRE, Steuben, Wisconsin
Hide and Seek, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

2009
Modern Wing Opening, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO solo performance)
Super Market, Northeastern Illinois University Gallery, Chicago (IOTO solo show)
39 Verbs, Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (IOTO organized)
Supermarketing, multi-site project in the United States, England, France, Italy and India
ArtChicago, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Dis/Believer: Reconciling Science and Religion in Contemporary Art, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Site/Unseen, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois (rejected)

2008
12x12, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (IOTO solo show)
Re-Work for Allan Kaprow – Art as Life, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Journeys, Chicago Public Library Public Art Commission, Chicago, Illinois (permanent installation)
Celebrity and The Peculiar, Gahlberg Gallery, College of DuPage, Illinois (IOTO solo show) (catalog)
Reflections, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Public Address, Phaiz, Chicago. Illinois
The Drawing Show, Beverly Art Center, Chicago, Illinois
Distill for Off the Beaten Road, A+D Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Five Years on the Run, Orleans St. Gallery, St. Charles, Illinois
ArtXposium, West Chicago, Illinois

2007
Consuming War, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago (and installation on Chicago Transit Authority trains and buses)
Mapping the Self, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Imaginary Time, Waterloo Center for the Arts, Waterloo, Iowa (IOTO solo performance)
Secure for Site/Unseen, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois
Approach (curated by Research and Development), Ai Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
The Illusion of Hierarchy for D.I.Y., A+D Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
ArtChicago, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
The Art World is Flat, Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois
The Nature of Art, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, Indiana
God’s Punk, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois

2006
Faith: Industry of the Ordinary, University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois (solo show, IOTO)
Ruby Satellite, UCR/California Museum of Photography, Riverside, California
Smoke and Mirrors: Photography and Performance, Ohio University Art Gallery, Athens, Ohio
Attaining The Summit/Empire/Epilation/Batter for Takeover, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois
Manual Labor for Intimate and Epic, Lurie Garden, Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois
Basel Miami, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Miami, Florida
Fancy Dress Ball, Links Hall Exhibition Space, Chicago, Illinois (solo performance)
Society For Contemporary Art Auction, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Ballroom Blitz, James Hotel, Chicago, Illinois
@rtNight, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois

2005
PAC Edge Performance Festival, Performing Arts Chicago, Athenaeum Theater, Chicago, Illinois
Version>05, Chicago, Illinois
Early Adopters, Three Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois
Book Launch, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois

2004
Pulaski Murals, Pulaski Pink Line CTA station, Percent For Art Program project, Chicago, Illinois (permanent public installation)
A More Perfect Union, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois
Fine Words Butter No Cabbage, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Illinois
Outer Ear Festival of Sound, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, Illinois
PAC Edge Performance Festival, Performing Arts Chicago, Athenaeum Theater, Chicago, Illinois
Midwestern Photographer’s Project, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois
Faith, Sonic Performance, WLUW radio station
Open Studio, Chicago Public Art Program, Chicago, Illinois
Image/Action, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois
The Center is Anywhere: Chicago-based Artists from the MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois

2003
Strange Days, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Dropping 163 lbs:Daley Plaza, Chicago, Illinois
Not Just A Pretty Face, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois (commission)
Summer Series, Anthony Grant Gallery, New York, New York

2002
Sculpture in Chicago Now, Part II, Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois (catalog) (organized, with Corey Postiglione)
Visual Aids: Postcards from the Edge, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, New York
Renaissance Society Benefit Auction, Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois
Futures, Interviews with SAIC alumni about their careers post-graduation, Chicago, Illinois

2001   
Contextual, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
Doppelganger, NIU Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
En Avant, Grita Insam Gallery, Vienna, Austria
From Steel to Flesh, IUN Gallery for Contemporary Art, Indiana University, Gary, Indiana
Pedagogy: Beyond 'Reeling, Writhing, Uglification and Derision', Center for the Book and Paper Arts, Chicago, Illinois
Sculpture in Chicago Now, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
Home Suite Home, public art project, Chicago, Illinois

2000
Hands and Minds, Salina Art Center, Salina, Kansas (solo show) (catalog)
The Body in Photographs: A Recent Gift from Eileen and Peter Norton, Bard College, Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, New York
Agitator, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

1999   
Summer invitational, Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Butter, Margin Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

1998
DeNaturalized, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois (solo show)
Chicago Hip, Rocket Gallery, London, England
Not in My Lobby, You Don't, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago (catalog)
Word Perfect, Gallery 400, Chicago, Illinois

1997               
Adam Brooks, Robert McClain and Co., Houston, Texas (solo show)
OUT, St. James Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois (permanent public installation)
Gladys Holm Commemorative Project, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois (permanent public installation)
From a Whisper to a Scream, Ten-in-One Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Recent Glass Sculpture: A Union of Ideas, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (catalog)
Not Renoir, Sonnenschein Gallery, Lake Forest, Illinois (catalog)
Addendum, NIU Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Drawing in Chicago Now, Koehnline Museum of Art, Des Plaines, Illinois (travels to University Gallery, Carleton College, Minnesota)
Functional Objects, Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas
Navigating Spaces: Installations, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, Illinois (catalog)
Little Treasures, Robert McClain & Co., Houston, Texas

1996   
Second Sight: Printmaking in Chicago, 1935-1995, Block Gallery, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (catalog)
Drawing in Chicago Now, Columbia College Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Superconcentrated, TBA Exhibition Space, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
Untitled, Gallery 312, Chicago, Illinois
ArtChicago 1996, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1968 Now, Gallery 2, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)

1995
The Baroque and the Golden, Robert McClain & Co., Houston, Texas
Radius, The Radius Group, Chicago, Illinois
FreeSpace, Royal College of Art, London, England (catalog on disk)
Introductions, Robert McClain & Co., Houston, Texas
Visual Image, Mental Dialogue, Contemporary Art Center of Peoria, Peoria, Illinois (catalog)
SmartArt, Barneys, Chicago
Bank Job, public poster project, Washington, D.C. and New York City
Museum of Contemporary Art Benefit Auction, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
Art Santa Fe, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Public Sculpture Project, ArtChicago 1995, Chicago, Illinois
ArtChicago 1995, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

1994               
Adam Brooks, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (solo show)
Adam Brooks, Muranushi Lederman Productions, New York, New York (solo show)
Freedom Wall, Chicago, Illinois (permanent public installation)
Public Interventions, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (video catalog)
One Night Stand, Muranushi Lederman Productions, Art Hotel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Public Inquiries, Uncommon Solutions, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Glom, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
The Rag Trade, InterArt Center, New York, New York
Home for the Holidays, Muranushi Lederman Productions, Art L.A.
Influx, Gallery 400, Chicago, Illinois
New Pier Show, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

1993   
Critical Moments, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
What You Are About To See Is Real, Muranushi Lederman Productions, Art Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Sculpture Garden, New Pier Show, Chicago, Illinois
Flotilla, Ogden Slip, Chicago, Illinois
Barneys Artist Windows, Chicago, Illinois (organized)
Car radios and other great stuff stolen from past Art Expos'...Funny/Not Funny, Beret International Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Renaissance Society Benefit Auction, Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois
Randolph Street Gallery Benefit Auction, Randolph Street Gallery, Illinois (catalog)

1992                  
Adam Brooks, Dart Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (solo show)
Technorama, Barbara Toll Gallery, New York, New York (catalog on disk)
Ten Steps, Muranushi Lederman, New York, New York
Grit and Polish, Art and Space, State of Illinois Art Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
From America's Studio: Drawing New Conclusions, Betty Rymer Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
Editions: Functional Objects by Artists and Architects, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Misadventures, University Gallery, Eau Claire, Wisconsin (catalog)
New Museum Benefit Auction, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, New York (catalog)
1.5, Muranushi Lederman, New York, New York
Wall Project, Sculpture Center, New York, New York
Sentimental, Beret International Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Milwaukee Art Museum Benefit Auction, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (catalog)
Bookmarks, Northern Illinois University Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Core Sample, Southeastern College Art Conference, Birmingham, Alabama
Target Choice Benefit Auction, World Tattoo Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Multiples, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
All Plans Are Politics – Architecture for Social Change, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
Surprize, Surprize, Surprize, Beret International Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Gallery Artists, Dart Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

1991               
Adam Brooks, Abel Joseph Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (solo show)
Curators Choice: Installations for New Spaces, Chicago Cultural Centre, Chicago, Illinois
Value, 252 Lafayette & 93 Crosby, New York, New York
The Fetish of Knowledge, Real ArtWays, Hartford, Connecticut
Contextual, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Buy/Low, Prairie Avenue Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)
Counter-Proposals, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (catalog)

1990   
Designation -- Adam Brooks, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Treasure Smith, MoMing Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Made, Make, Will Make – George Blaha, Adam Brooks, Mike Hill, Prairie Avenue Gallery, Chicago
Petty Crimes for the Common Good, Lower Links, Chicago, Illinois             
Who Counts, Assessing the 1990 Census, Randolph Street Gallery, Illinois  (organized, with Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle)
FaxArt, Gallery 400, Chicago, Illinois
Around the Coyote, Chicago, Illinois

1989               
The Insoluble Partition, EMIT Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (solo show)
Inalienable Rights, Alienable Wrongs, ARC Gallery, Chicago, Illinois                     
Par Excellence, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois          
Insider, Prairie Avenue Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

Selected Awards:
City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Grant, 2020, 2017
Illinois Arts Council New Performance Forms Artist Fellowship, 2019, 2006
Illinois Arts Council, Artist Project Grant, 2012
Illinois Humanities Council, 2005
Faculty Development Grant, Columbia College Chicago, 2020, 2018, 2015, 2012, 2005
Illinois Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship Grant, 1997, 1990
Community Arts Assistance Program Grant, City of Chicago, 2005, 1999, 1996, 1993, 1990
Travel Grant, Museum in Progress, Vienna, Austrian Government, 1993

Selected Collections:
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Bard College, Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, New York
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois
Gabriel Mayer, Munich, Germany
Andreas Waldburg-Wolfegg, Chicago, Illinois
Peter Norton, Santa Monica, California
Victoria and Steven Burns, Los Angeles, California