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Studio Art Visiting MFA Critic
Brendan Fernandes
Dance is an Action
Friday, April 24, 11:45 pm | ADB 331

Abstract:
This lecture explores how dance can function as a site of protest, collective action, and decolonial transformation. Drawing on Brendan Fernandes’ interdisciplinary practice, the talk examines how forms such as ballet and the club can be reimagined to challenge inherited narratives of race, power, and representation. Through performance, installation, and collaborative processes, Fernandes considers the body as both archive and agent, capable of resisting dominant histories while proposing new modes of being together. By foregrounding collectivity and movement as tools for social engagement, the lecture proposes dance as a means of building “new monuments”: living, evolving spaces that center care, equity, and shared authorship.

Bio:
Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized, Chicago-based artist working at the intersection of dance and visual art. His practice explores race, migration, queer culture, protest, and collective movement through hybrid forms that merge ballet, queer dance, and political action. A graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program, Fernandes has presented work at the 2019 Whitney Biennial, Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, MCA Chicago, and the National Gallery of Canada. He is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University in the Department of Art Theory and Practice, serves on the board of the Joffrey Ballet, and is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery (Chicago) and Susan Inglett Gallery (New York).