Willem de Rooij investigates the production, contextualization and interpretation of images through a variety of media. Appropriations and collaborations are fundamental to De Rooij's artistic method and his projects have stimulated new research in art history and ethnography. He studied at the UvA, the Rietveld Academie and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam from 1989-1998.

De Rooij has taught and lectured extensively since 1998. He is Professor of Fine Art at the Städelschule, Frankfurt/Main since 2006, and advisor at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam since 2015. In 2016, he co-founded BPA// Berlin program for artists, and became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In 2000 De Rooij won the Bâloise Art Prize, and he was nominated for the Hugo Boss Award in 2004 and the Vincent Award in 2014. He was a Robert Fulton Fellow at Harvard University in 2004 and a DAAD fellow in Berlin in 2006. He represented the Netherlands at the 2005 Venice Biennale with Jeroen de Rijke, his collaborative partner from 1994-2006.

Institutional solo exhibitions include Steirischer Herbst, Graz (2022) ; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2021) ; Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2021) ; Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan (2021) ; Boros Foundation, Berghain, Berlin (2021) ; Portikus, Frankfurt/Main (2020); Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden (2019); Kunstwerke, Berlin (2017); IMA, Brisbane (2017); Museum of Modern Art (MMK), Frankfurt/Main (2016); Consortium, Dijon (2015); The Jewish Museum, New York (2014); Piktogram, Warsaw (2012); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2010); MAMBo Bologna (2008); K21, Düsseldorf (2007); Secession, Vienna (2005) and Kunsthalle Zürich (2003).

Group exhibitions include the Joanneum, Graz (2022); BPS Raum, Berlin (2022); The Black Archives, Amsterdam (2022); Bundeskunsthalle museum in Bonn, Bonn (2022); MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai (2021); Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2021); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2021); De Pont Museum, Tilburg (2020); John Hansard Gallery, Nottingham (2020); BDL Museum, Mumbai (2019); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018); Jakarta Biennale (2017); Limerick Biennial (2016); Aishti Foundation, Beirut (2015); 10th Shanghai Biennale (2014); Raw Material Company, Dakar (2013); BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels (2011); Media City Seoul (2010), 2nd Athens Biennale (2009); Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles (2008).

De Rooij’s works can be found in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MUMOK, Vienna; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; MOCA, Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.