Adelheid Mers

Adelheid Mers (born 1960, Düsseldorf, Germany) is a visual artist, Associate Professor, and the Chair of the Department of Arts Administration and Policyat the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. As a visual artist her practice involves: drawing; digital design; animation; and diagramming texts, events and organizations. Her research interests include: Art Based Research, New Media Policy, and (Visual) Discourse Analysis. Mers' overlapping areas of expertise as a visual artist and a professor of arts management come together in the organograms, or maps of institutions, that she creates. These visualizations, based on theory and research, are a particularly creative way for institutions to assess themselves.

Mers received an MFA in 1986 from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany. She studied with Tony Cragg, Klaus Rinke, Günther Uecker and did course work in German Literature, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pedagogy, Didactics, Philosophy at University of Düsseldorf, University of Cologne, Germany. Mers continued her studies in 1989-1990 at the University of Chicago where she was a student at large, Graduate School, Committee on the Visual Arts, in association with a grant from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).

• ChicagoArts Interview with Artist Adelheid Mers
• art21 Inside the Artists Studio
• Inside the Artists Studio 2

• ChicagoArts Interview with Artist Adelheid Mers
• Inside the Artists Studio Part 1
• Inside the Artists Studio Part 2 Archived April 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.

I make diagrams that map paths through existing formations—books or essays by particular authors, but also institutions and organizations. As a compulsive learner, something I do well is to make out relations, and to hold in mind multiple points of view. Mostly, my diagrams are specific to a site or to an occasion. Most are closely related to the arts, dealing with the artist as citizen and with beliefs and habits that permeate art worlds. This may sound solipsistic, but as the arts have since the sixties been increasingly framed in relation to economy, sciences and politics, this is an entry into a wide range of issues. What fascinates me in any context is how people make sense, myself included. The emphasis is on the activity, not on the result. Beliefs—cultural, political, religious—may initially be products of indoctrination and of habit, but once scrutinized, they tend to squirm, to shift, to make away, in short, they reveal themselves as being in flux. That of course is one reason why to examine how one makes sense can be upsetting, and why techniques to affect and arrest critical thinking are employed by those seeking power over others. I am making work that is intended to provoke audiences to give it a shot, or to at least watch how I not only struggle through the underbrush, but also have fun with it. I don't think that the gumption to try to discern "the rules" as much as one's own tenets, and then to take responsibility for one's understanding, is necessarily tied to class, or even to education. The levels of sophistication may vary, but the impulse seems to arise in many contexts. Thus, I feel that I can work with many audiences, if I can only get exposed to them.I have no shortage of subject matter, since each arising opportunity carries that in it. How to offer more effective entries into my work now occupies my attention. The documentation that best captures my work includes the people who participate in it. If I want to continue to present diagrams, which I do, I need to increasingly present instances of their uses as well. I am scheduling more opportunities for formal and informal conversations. My experience is that most viewers are interested in inserting themselves. Diagrams are testing grounds for scenarios that may or may not turn out to be convincing. I am seeking ways to emphasize this open-endedness, to document it with video, make it available not just for the duration of a presentation, but also as representation that can exist in conjunction with a diagram later, as a mode of its use. By opening up my ways of making sense for public scrutiny, by mingling my points of view with those of others, I am framing myself as an artist who explores contemporary techniques of learning and of teaching through the arts. These techniques emphasize not to teach "down", but to respect and in turn learn from those one encounters. I am not an activist who supports a particular subject, but an artist who supports a particular mode of being in the world—respect, responsibility and, as much as possible, fearlessness. - Adelheid Mers

• Moral Politics and World of Art'
• Fractal 3Line Matrix - Granting for Arts Organizations and Individual Artists, seen from Artists' Perspectives.
• The Artist as a 3-Line Matrix

• Moral Politics and World of Art Archived March 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
• Fractal 3Line Matrix - Granting for Arts Organizations and Individual Artists, seen from Artists' Perspectives Archived March 4, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
• The Artist as a 3-Line Matrix

• 2011 “Talking about Creativity”, a week of Lecture Performances as part of the “Interactions” series in the Exhibition “Without You I’m Nothing”, curated by Tricia Van Eck, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
• 2009 “Embedded Artist”, City of Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology; mapping decision making and public policy processes; develop logo and visual executive summary for “Initiative on Digital Excellence”; create visual representations for Broadband Stimulus Fund Application; attend meetings and survey and visually interpret studies, statistics, proposals and other materials produced by other academics, government agencies and consulting firms
• 2009 finalist, with Patrick McGee, CTA Public Art Project - Fullerton Station, Chicago, IL
• 2008 “Map of Mission Measurement”, commissioned through the Hyde Park Art Center’s “Not Just Another Pretty Face” project, Chicago
• 2007 “Art 44/46”, created a map/game of Lakeview East, printed in an edition of 500, organized by Stuart Keeler, Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce, Chicago
• 2006 “Paper Frieze”, temporary installation of silhouettes created with student cooperation, National Teachers Academy, Chicago
• 2005 “Heliosphere, Biosphere, Technosphere”, permanent installation including illuminated diagrams on photosynthesis and solar technology, Exelon Pavilion, Millennium Park Welcome Center, with Patrick McGee, Chicago
• 2004 “Firefighters’ Choice”, permanent installation of photo/aluminum mural, Fire Station #3, with Patrick McGee, Evanston, IL
• 2003 “The Niche”, outdoor photo/aluminum mural, with Patrick McGee, commissioned through the Hyde Park Art Center”s “Not Just Another Pretty Face” project, Chicago

• Talking about Creativity Archived April 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.

• 2012 pARTicipate – Einladung Diagramme (weiter)zuentwickeln, VBKOE, Vienna, Austria
• 2011 “Chicago Dinners,” mapping a string of 5 curated conversations with artists, writers/journalists, collectors, non-profits and foundations, 6018 North, Chicago
• 2009 “Visual Dialog Project - Defining Museum Ethics”, Museum Ethics Conference, Seton Hall, NJ, Conference Participant Mail Art Project and Survey
• 2008 “Peck School of the Arts Organogram 2008”, Inova Institute, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
• 2008 “Diagram of the Resource Center Organizational Network”, a non-profit environmental education organization, live diagramming at a fundraising event, hosted by Caro D’Offay Gallery, Chicago
• 2007 “Diagramming Textaportation”, live diagramming event, Caro D’Offay Gallery, Chicago
• 2007 “Show [Title to be Determined by Symbols Not Yet Rendered]”, diagramming a 3-day, interdisciplinary collaboration, Roots and Culture Gallery, Chicago
• 2007 “KS(AM)EC”, drawings and diagrams in response to Kerrry Schneider’s SAIC/MAAAP thesis; in conjunction with an Arts Administration Symposium, ThreeWalls, Chicago, IL 2
• 2004 “backgrounds and conversations - reading George Lakoff before an election”, an installation of diagrams and photo backdrops, a public discussion about values (the artist was present and available for conversations each afternoon), and a website for visitor photos taken with the provided backdrops; Open Studio Project, City of Chicago, Chicago, IL
• 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, Jan Frühsorge Galerie für Zeichnung, Berlin, Germany
• 2003 “Home - Images after Texts by Vilém Flusser”, exhibited at and part of the collection of the Vîlém Flusser Archive at the Hochschule für Medien, Cologne, Germany; digitally exhibited at the IN OUT 2003 Festival, Prag, Czech Republic; prints shown at Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, IA, and at Dorman+Torluemke, Hammond, IN
• 2000 “Think Tank,” light installation, created and maintained as a project space to study diagram design and to create diagrams, also open to students for projects they wished to propose, in conjunction with a semester residency, Art Department Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, IL

• pARTicipate – Einladung Diagramme
• Peck School of the Arts Organogram 2008 Archived June 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
• Textaportation Archived April 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.

• 2012 "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi", curated by Adam Brooks and Mat Wilson, City of Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
• 2011 D/RAFT, Art Action Field Kodra, Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, Greece
• 2011 ‘Write Now,” curated by Nathan Mason, City of Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
• 2011 “Mutualisms”, curated by Kirsten Leenaars and Lise Haller-Baggesen, hosted by Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago
• 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, Sullivan Galleries, SAIC, Chicago
• 2009 39 Verbs, Produced by Industry of the Ordinary, Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago
• 2009 “The Chacon-Soto Show”, UBS 12x12, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
• 2009 “Artists Run Chicago”, Hyde Park Art Center, 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
• 2008 “HereThereEverywhere”, curators Greg Knight and Sofia Zutautas, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
• 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
• 2007 “DIY”, curators Doro Boehme and Kevin Henry, A+D Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
• 2006 “Negotiated Localities”, curators Claire Pentecost and Cindy Coleman, Betty Rymer Gallery, SAIC, Chicago, IL
• 2006 “New Cartographies”, LoBot Gallery, Oakland, CA
• 2006 “Takeover”, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
• 2006 “Reading Blankets” with Track House Nomadic Circus Experience and Other Worldly Delights: the Great Artist Landshare Remote Backside of Aspen Mountain, Stray Show, Chicago
• 2005 “World of Art” vinyl print of game and oversized game pieces, at Yard Sale @Track House, Track House, Oak Park, IL
• 2003 “Not Just a Pretty Face”, exhibition of patron commissioned artwork; work commissioned by Jeff and Linda Mercer, an exterior mural; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (catalog)
• 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
• 2002 “context II”, Heidecksburg, Rudolstadt, Germany
• 2002 “Mind and Matter”, HDC Gallery, Hammond, IN
• 2002 “nubo wave map (space) bubble”, Illinois State University Galleries, Normal, IL
• 2001 “Magazine”, The Stray Show, with FGA, Chicago, IL
• 2001 “What they half created”, Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
• 2001 “Snapshot”, curated by Gary Sangster, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD
• 2000 “Blink/Interventions in the Salon”, curated by Brian Ritchards and Julie Charmelo, Northern Illinois University Gallery, Chicago, IL (Catalog) 3
• 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”, curated by Karen Indeck and Dennis Kowalski, UIC Gallery 400, Chicago, IL
• 1998 ART 1998 CHICAGO, The New Pier Show, Tough Gallery/Uncomfortable Spaces, Chicago, IL
• 1998 “The Harry Carey Show”, curated by Michelle Grabner/Brad Killam, Diverse Works, Houston, TX
• 1997 “Faculty Biennial”, Illinois State University Gallery, Normal, IL
• 1997 “Current”, Michael Burns, Adelheid Mers, Dan Rose, in conjunction with ISEA, Tough Gallery/Uncomfortable Spaces, Chicago, IL
• 1997 “The Art Exchange Show”, with Tough/Uncomfortable Spaces, New York, NY
• 1997 ART 1997 CHICAGO, The New Pier Show, Tough Gallery/Uncomfortable Spaces, Chicago, IL
• 1997 “Saldo - Klaus Rinke Alumni Exhibition Project”, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany (Catalog)
• 96/97 “Art in Chicago 1945-1995”, curated by Lynne Warren, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (Catalog)
• Name of Exhibition, Place, Place (2013)

• D/RAFT, Art Action Field Archived April 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
• mutualisms
• Mash-ups
• Effervescent Condition Archived November 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
• Picturing the Studio Archived April 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
• Info that shows in citations

• 2012 curator, “The Hairy Blob – how the Visualization of Time impacts resources”, with interactive, web based catalog, Hyde Park Art Center
• 2005 curator; “Early Adopters”, exhibition, discussion and web archive on art world constituents, 3Arts, Chicago, IL
• 2003 curator; “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
• 2002 organizer; “ Fusion Project”, multi-media, transgressive exhibition project with colleagues and students from the SAIC and U of C, L.I.P.A. Gallery, Chicago, IL
• 2002 co-organizer, with Annie Morse; “48 hours of action”, an abandoned office building served as site for the creation of videos, with Dorman+Torluemke, Hammond, IN
• 2001 co-curator and contributing artist; “Collaborative Fusion”, organized with Elisabeth Condon, transgressive/cooperative exhibition project with 14 invited artists and their guests, with extensive website; 450 Broadway Gallery, New York, NY, with a mirror project connected via web with Shuko Wada at Kitakyushu Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, Japan
• 2001 organizer and juror; “Face Off”, an exhibition juxtaposing formal and relational artwork, 6 Betty Rymer Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
• 99/00 advisor; Public Art Advisory Panel/Library Project, City of Chicago Percent for Art Program
• 1997 co-curator, 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

• 2009 editor, “Useful Pictures”, Whitewalls (distributed through University of Chicago Press)

• Useful Pictures

• Le Journal #3 de la Triennale,English pdf and French link. A visual summary of "An old imaginative and new strategic geographies", a conversation between Zoran Erić and Juan A. Gaitan, April 2012
• “Diskurs Matrix”, a diagrammatic summary and assessment of the 2011 annual conference of the Fachverband Kulturmanagement in Basel, Switzerland. in: Sigrid Bekmeier-Feuerhahn, Karen van den Berg, Steffen Höhne, Rolf Keller, Birgit Mandel, Martin Tröndle, Tasos Zembylas (Edts.) Jahrbuch 2011 - Fokus Kulturpolitik, transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, 2012
• "Reading Massumi 2002, 2011", with Saskia Janssen and George Korsmit, Proximities, Winter 2012
• "Transfer Diskurse – Einige relevante Künstlerpositionen. Kultur‑ und Kreativindustrie. Kreativität/Innovation. Ästhetik. Diagrammatik", in "Artistic Research als ästhetische Wissenschaft. Zur transdisziplinären Hybridisierung von Wissenschaft und Kunst", transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, 2011
• “Responsibility to”, September 2009, Drain Magazine, Issue 12, http://www.drainmag.com/
• “The value of didactic art and the gift economy—from object ownership to object affiliation”, Art21 Blog, July 6, 2009 http://blog.art21.org/2009/07/06/the-value-of-didactic-art-and-the-gift-economy%E2%80%94from-object-ownershipto-object-affiliation/
• “Interview with Jan Kaila and Jan-Erik Andersson, Academy of Fine Art, Helsinki, Finland”, in “Bootprint”, Vol. 2, No. 2, April 2009
• “Diagram for an exhibition: Spiegelbild”, Lido, Magazin von KIT – Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, issue 03/08, August 2008
• “Art as Research”, diagram and lecture (on DVD), “Open Letter”, Canadian Journal of Writing and Theory, Artists' Statements & the Nature of Artistic Inquiry, Thirteenth Series, No. 4: Fall 2007
• “Diagram after Duchamp’s lecture The Creative Act”, in: Sketches: Organizing Arts, Elizabeth Chodos and Kerry Schneider, Edts.; Green Lantern Press; May 5, 2007
• “Crisis of Linearity”, translation of a lecture by Vilém Flusser and “Stalking the Continuum”, essay and diagram, in “Bootprint”, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1March 2007
• "Brain Wave: A Sketch”, in: The Feminist Art Project, M /E / A/ N /I /N /G Online #4: Feminist Art: A Reassessment, edited by Susan Bee & Mira Schor. February 2007
• “Adelheid Mers on Vilém Flusser”, luckypix blog, http://www.luckypix.com/blogger/2006_09_01_archive.html, October 2006
• “World of Art”, and “Diagram after Lakoff”, in Diagram 5.1, 2005 Scale, Volume 01, Issue 8+9: Edited by Joel Swanson, Sept. 2004, select files: MP1.pdf, MP2.pdf, MP3.pd“ Diagrams”
• “Quarter After Eight”, Volume 8, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, Spring 2002
• “Applied Aesthetics” interactive CD-rom, “Publication with No Name”, Volume 2, Kopenhagen, Denmark, Fall 2001
• “A Collaborative Fusion”, with Elisabeth Condon, NYArts Magazine, September 2001
• “Present”, essay, with Jacqueline Terrassa, accompanying the exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center, 1997

• Winter 13 Diagrammatische Ansätze in der Kulturnutzer-Forschung. Projektseminar, Leuphana Universität, Lüneburg, Germany
• Summer 12 Visiting Lecturer, Institut für Kulturmanagement und Kulturwissenschaft (IKM), University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria
• Summer 10 Fachhochschule Potsdam, Studiengang Kulturarbeit (Cultural Management Division)
• Workshop (Blockseminar): "Critical Cultural Discourses - Diagrams and Discussions", Potsdam, Germany
• Spring 10 Thompson Rivers University, CURA Community Arts Think Tank; virtual presentation: “The Arts Organizations Diagram,” Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, CA
• Spring 10 panelist: threewallsSALON: Cartography 2.0 with Scott Carter, Adelheid Mers, Deb Sokolow and Sara Schnadt; coordinated by Ania Szremski, ThreeWalls, Chicago
• Fall 09 presenter: Art as Research Process Diagram, Stone Summer Theory Institute 2009, Focus on Practice, Performance Space, SAIC, Chicago
• Summer 08 Hochschule Zwickau, Department of Applied Art, Schneeberg, Germany Mapping the desired evolution of the department as it adds a master’s program; faculty workshop;
• Spring 08 University of Central Florida, Orlando Artist talk, 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;
• Winter 08 Bauhaus University Weimar, New Media Division, Weimar, Germany Artist talk, advising
• Summer 07 Kunsthochschule Weissensee, Berlin, Germany Artist talk and discussion
• Spring 07 Artists Connect lecture series, Art Institute of Chicago, IL presentation, “Adelheid Mers connects with Carl Blechen”
• Spring 07 Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL juror, MFA exhibition
• Summer 06 Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL panelist; What happens when artists take over an institution?
• Fall 05 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL Artist talk, critiques
• Spring 05 The Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center, Chicago, IL panelist, “The Art of the Artist Statement”
• Spring 05 University of South Florida, Tampa, FL Artist talk, mapping workshop, critiques
• Winter 05 Kunsthochschule Weissensee, Berlin, Germany Artist talk and discussion
• Fall 04 Drake University, DesMoines, IA Artist talk and discussion
• Fall 04 “Imaging Politics”, Presidential Debates series panel discussion, Drake University, DesMoines, IA 4
• Spring 03 DePaul University, Chicago, IL Artist talk and discussion
• Winter 03 Kunstschule Rudolstadt, Germany lecture and workshop: “Vilém Flusser: The World as Surface”
• Fall 02 Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL advisor to “curatorial projects” seminar
• Winter 02 Medienhochschule Köln, Germany Artist talk and discussion
• Winter 02 Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany presentation: “Integration of Theory and Practice in Higher Art Education”
• Winter 02 Kunstschule Rudolstadt, Germany lecture and workshop: “Fusion project”
• Spring 01 University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

• Spring 2013 Panelist, Outer Regions Roundtable and Panel, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
• Spring 2013 Co-Chair, with Judith Leemann; Panel: Beyond good or bad: practice derived epistemologies of studio critique. CAA conference, New York
• Winter 2013 Respondent, Wissenskulturen im Dialog - Conference, Institut für Kulturmanagement und Kulturwissenschaft (IKM), University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria
• Fall 2012 Presentation: "Reverse Engineering: Towards a Taxonomy of Art Practices", AICAD Symposium Remaking Research: Emerging Research Practices in Art and Design, Emily Carr University,Vancouver, Canada
• Spring 2011 Panel: Beyond Administration: Experimental Pedagogies in Arts Management. Paper: Doing Combat - Arts Administration Pedagogy at the Intersections of Management, Cultural Studies and Art as Research. Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) conference, Boston
• Fall 2010 invited presenter (one of eight solicited key papers); “Artistic Research Aesthetic Science?” conference in the context of the art, science & business program of the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, in cooperation with the Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen; book publication to follow conference
• Summer 2010 invited participant; HUMAK Helsinki Symposium 2010, Cultural Management and Pedagogy: Discourses and Practices; book publication to follow conference
• Spring 2010 The Feminist Art Project, College Art Association Conference, Chicago, Ill. “Distributing Ourselves: New Media Art, Curating, Networks, and Collaborations” Facilitated by Hana Iverson and led by Beryl Graham of CRUMB with curatorial responses and discussion from School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Jon Cates, Bruce Jenkins, Abina Manning, and Adelheid Mers.
• Spring 2009 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 workshop leader: "Conversation Mapping and Collaborative Live Diagramming”
• Spring 2009 CAA conference; 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
• Fall 2007 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 panelist: “Mapping Culture and Social Change” *Spring 2007 FATE Open Session, Paper: “Foundations as Triage”; CAA Conference, New York
• Spring 2007 “Shift • Connect • Evolve”, FATE conference session chair: “Assess, Situate, Disperse – Addressing Diversity of Artistic Approaches in Foundations”; Milwaukee, WI
• Fall 2005 “Art as Research: The Art of the Artist Statement”, Symposium Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada presentation: “Cognitive and representational preference and the Early Adopters Exhibition”
• Spring 2004 Pixelraiders2, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, England Paper: “Introducing: Representational Preference” (paper accepted, unable to attend)
• Fall 2002 APA Convention, Chicago discussant, session on giftedness and creativity, chair, Patricia D. Stokes, Barnard/Columbia University, NY
• Fall 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
• Spring 01 CAA Conference, Chicago speaker in the session “If one is good, why not two?, chair, Laurie Palmer paper: “Applied Aesthetics”
• Fall 2000 Barnard Feminist Art and Art History Conference paper: “Smart Thinking, Ugly Work - Formulating a Relativist Aesthetic from Personal Experience”; in conjunction with a workshop conducted by Elisabeth Condon; Barnard College, NY
• Spring 2000 Art, Media and Not-Sense series Paper: “A catholic Look at the Role of the Artist in the Age of Digital Technology ” Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

• 2013 Artist Project Grant, Illinois Arts Council
• 2010 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (co-applicant) "Artist Statements: Making Interdisciplinary Inquiry Visible" Funding Period 2010 - 2013
• 2010 Nominee, MCIC (Metro Chicago Information Center) 20th Anniversary/Data Innovation Awards 2010
• 2008 Nominee, Richard Driehaus Foundation
• 2007 Nominee, Richard Driehaus Foundation
• 2005 Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council
• 2004 Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council
• 2003 City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs Community Arts Assistance Program Grant
• 1995 Arts Midwest/NEA Regional Visual Artist Fellowship
• 1995 City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Artists International Program Grant
• 1994 City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs Community Arts Assistance Program Grant
• 1993 City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs Community Arts Assistance Program Grant
• 1989 Exhibition Grant, Goethe Institute, Chicago
• 1988 Award of the German Academic Exchange Service, (DAAD) Bonn
• 1988 Award of the British Council, London, Cologne

• Summer 08 invited workshop participant, “Making Artistic Inquiry Visible”; Banff Centre Institute, Banff, Canada
• Spring 00 visiting artist; Columbia College, Chicago, IL semester appointment to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration through slide-talks, advising, collaborative work with students and an exhibition, “Think Tank”.
• Fall 98 visiting artist, Alfred University, Alfred, NY BAFA (integrated fine arts and humanities) program, Foundations Light Workshop: 4 week workshop co-taught with Petra Soesemann and Beth-Ann Dobie ; to give lectures on, discuss theoretical context of and develop light based sculpture, installation and performance work with students.
• Spring 98 artist-in-residence; Alfred University, Alfred, NY “Light and Shadow” series; 2 week residency: artist slide-talk, advising, collaborative work with students, public slide lecture: “Square and Round - on the Rep
• 2000 Nomination, What/Who/Where

• Artist website: http://adelheidmers.org/
• Artist project: http://facefield.org/
• Artist blog: http://usefulpictures.com/
• Artist blog: https://twitter.com/adelheidmers
• Artist videos: https://vimeo.com/user4236141