Teenage brains aren’t broken, they’re ready to flourish
March 6, 2026
Brendan Fernandes, an internationally recognized performance and visual artist who sees himself as a “complicating factor” in an art world that often relies on fixed categories, is having a milestone year.
Since arriving 10 years ago to teach in Northwestern’s art theory and practice department, he’s gotten tenure and taken roles on the board of directors at various Chicago cultural institutions including the Joffrey Ballet and Arts Alliance Illinois. His civic engagements have cultivated a wide range of artistic collaborations, creating new opportunities for public audiences and his students.
As the first artist-in-residence at Chicago’s Driehaus Museum, Fernandes has been given access to a landmark space for a yearlong period. The residency gives him time to adapt and respond to the space, while developing new site-specific works with his collaborators. He is also inviting other artists with a curated program of performances and giving his dancers time to develop their own work. Looking ahead to fall 2026, he hopes to hold classes and provide opportunities for graduate students in the critical dance studies cluster to present lectures on their research to the Chicago dance community and beyond.
Queering the space
Fernandes makes work at the intersection of visual arts, dance, sound, film and architectural interventions. “We all carry complexities within our identities,” said Fernandes who identifies as “Kenyan Indian Goan who is Canadian-slash-American.” “That’s what I value in my work, it doesn’t have to be one thing. It exists in a constant state of flux and becoming.”
His residency at the Driehaus is the latest example. “As a queer-identifying artist and person of color, I think deeply about how to create new forms,” Fernandes said. “For me, queerness extends beyond the binaries of gender and sexuality. It is about inclusivity, and about imagining new ideas and new ways of being.
“When I enter a museum space, my hope is to challenge it to do things it hasn’t done before — that’s very important to me. It’s equally important that the museum trusts me to enter that space and make those possibilities happen,” Fernandes said.
A space for contemplation
The Driehaus Museum occupies a late 19th-century mansion on the National Historic Places registry. Restored to its Gilded Age splendor by philanthropist Richard M. Driehaus, it opened to the public in 2008 as a museum showcasing Art Nouveau furnishings, Tiffany glass objects and other American and European decorative arts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Fernandes said the ornateness of the Driehaus Museum is distinct from his past museum residencies.
“The opulence feels special to perform within,” he said. “I approach it as a sanctuary, one that offers space for contemplation, particularly in the auditorium where I’m working.”
Fernandes wants to provide a restorative experience for audiences. The durational nature of the performances, which last for a period of three hours, invites audiences to stay as long as they would like and return to see how the work changes.
