Rachel Adams

Rachel Adams has been the Chief Curator and Director of Programs at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art since 2018. Past curatorial appointments include Senior Curator at UB Art Galleries, Curator-in-Residence at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (now Oregon Contemporary) and Associate Curator at Arthouse at the Jones Center (now The Contemporary Austin). Adams holds an MA in Exhibition and Museum Studies from SFAI and a BFA from SAIC. Her areas of interest are varied but focus on creating meaningful connections for artists. Projects tend to include the crossover between contemporary art and architecture, as well as sound, performance, video and new media practices. Select exhibitions include From the Great Lakes to the Great Plains: The Visible Current of Climate Change, Synchronicities: Intersecting Figuration with Abstraction, Carmen Winant: The last safe abortion, Jennifer Ling Datchuk: Eat Bitterness, Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers (co-curated, catalogue), Paul Stephen Benjamin: Black of Night, Presence in the Pause: Interiority and its Radical Immanence, Maya Dunietz: Root of Two, All Together, Amongst Many: Reflections on Empathy, Paul Mpagi Sepuya: Drop Scene, Claudia Wieser: Generations (co-curated), Alison O’Daniel: Heavy Air, Jillian Mayer: TIMESHARE, The Language of Objects, Wanderlust: Actions, Traces, Journeys 1967-2017 and Introducing Tony Conrad: A Retrospective (co-curated). She is responsible for curating the Mellon Foundation supported sound venue LOW END at Bemis Center. Past performers include Fujita, Ana Paula Santana, Tarta Relena, Salami Rose Joe Louis, Maya Dunietz, Ya Tseen, Kiku Hibino, Eli Keszler, jaimie branch, Laura Ortman, Dereck Higgins, Matmos, ADULT., Xiu Xiu, Elisa Harkins, Elder Ones, Moor Mother, Lea Bertucci + Amirtha Kidambi, SCRAAATCH, and Pamela Z. Forthcoming projects include exhibitions with Miatta Kawinzi and Ezra Masch.

Adams has worked with artists including Ekene Ijeoma, Amie Siegel, Maya Dunietz, Ragnar Kjartansson, Lydia Okumura, Stephanie Syjuco, Claudia Wieser Kambui Olujimi, Jordan Weber, Brendan Fernandes, Seher Shah, John Grade, Claire Ashley, Julia Rose Sutherland, Seitu Ken Jones, and Alyssa Pheobus Mumtaz. Her writing has been included in exhibition catalogues Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers; Maya Dunietz: Root of Two; Claudia Wieser: Generations; Jillian Mayer: TIMESHARE, Introducing Tony Conrad: A Retrospective, Out of Easy Reach, Prospect.3 New Orleans, and Texas Prize 2012 as well as Afterimage, artforum.com, Art Papers, Art Practical, Modern Painters, and Texas Architect. She is an alumna of the 2016 ICI Curatorial Intensive in New Orleans and the 2016 Artis Curatorial Research Trip to Israel. She has lectured at the Northwestern University, University at Buffalo, MOCAD, The Rose Art Museum, Hallwalls Center for Contemporary Art, PNCA, FIT, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the Stephens Institute, Texas State University, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.