Inaction was a sculptural and performance-based installation by Brendan Fernandes. The exhibition consisted of sculptural elements, platforms, a large carpet, and a single-channel video projection, Free Fall: For Camera.
Working in collaboration with the architecture and design firm Norman Kelley, he designed mobile dance supports and platforms that were activated by the audience and dancers in Gender Neutral costumes by Rad Hourani.
During public performances throughout the exhibition, his choreography guided dancers to interact with the minimalist, sculptural installations, giving them agency to rearrange the sculptures—creating new spatial relationships in which to explore movement.
About Brendan Fernandes
Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. Currently based in Chicago, his practice addresses issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest, and other forms of collective movement. Constantly seeking to create new spaces and forms of agency, Fernandes’ work often takes on hybrid forms: part ballet, part queer dance party, part political protest always rooted in collaboration and fostering solidarity. Fernandes is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program (2007) and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Robert Rauschenberg Residency Fellowship (2014), a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2020), an Artadia Award (2019), a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant (2019), and most recently, the Platform Award (2024).
In 2024, he was also honored with the Creative Voice Award by Arts Alliance Illinois. His work has been presented at prestigious venues such as the 2019 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Chicago), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), among many others.
Fernandes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Theory, and Practice at Northwestern University. Recent and upcoming projects include performances and solo presentations at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (St. Louis, MO), the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (Denver, CO), the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), and Prospect.6 (New Orleans, LA). In spring 2026, a major new commission and solo exhibition will debut at the Art Denver (Denver, CO), the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), and Prospect.6. He is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago and Susan Inglett Gallery in New York.
Listen to an interview with Brendan Fernandes by Benjamin Chaffee, Associate Director of Visual Arts, and Rosemary Lennox, Exhibitions Manager.
