Driehaus Museum Unveils Spring Activation Dates For BRENDAN FERNANDES: IN THE ROUND

Driehaus Museum has announced spring activation dates for BRENDAN FERNANDES: IN THE ROUND, a residency and performance series transforming the museum’s 1926 Murphy Auditorium into a space for dance, sound, and installation.

As the museum’s first artist-in-residence, Brendan Fernandes presents an evolving program of performances, rehearsals, and conversations featuring members of Chicago’s independent dance community. The residency includes the world premiere of Fernandes’ newly commissioned work Score for the Murphy Auditorium, as well as a series titled Concerts of Dance, highlighting work by performers within his ensemble.

Organized by guest curator Stephanie Cristello, Brendan Fernandes: In the Round is part of the museum’s A Tale of Today series, which places contemporary art in dialogue with the art, architecture, and design of the museum.

Executive Director Lisa M. Key said the initiative reflects the museum’s commitment to connecting historical and contemporary creative practices.

“A Tale of Today reflects a main tenet of the Driehaus Museum mission: sparking dialogue between contemporary art and ideas, and the art, architecture, and design of Chicago's Gilded Age,” Key said. “We are delighted to welcome Brendan Fernandes to be the Museum's first artist-in-residence, where history and the present come full circle.”

Programs are free with museum admission, and reservations are encouraged.

Spring 2026 Program Schedule

Performance: World Premiere of Brendan Fernandes: Score for the Murphy Auditorium

Friday, April 10 | 6:00–9:00pm

In this newly commissioned durational work choreographed by Brendan Fernandes, the first artist-in-residence to activate the Driehaus Museum's newly restored 1926 Murphy Auditorium, an ensemble of performers from across Chicago's vibrant independent dance community gather to create a dynamic site for sculptural installation, movement, and sound. Inspired by the pioneering spirit of New York City's Judson Dance Theater, each performance is improvisational in nature, with no prescribed beginning or end. Brendan Fernandes: Score for the Murphy Auditorium features a rotating cast of dancers that interact with minimalist site-specific installations designed by AIM Architecture (Antwerp, Shanghai, Chicago) alongside textiles developed in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, and a sound installation by Chicago-based experimental musician Alex Inglizian. Presented in partnership with EXPO ART WEEK's Art After Hours.

Artist & Curator Talk: Brendan Fernandes and Stephanie Cristello

Saturday, April 11 | 1:00pm

Charting the influence of the Judson Dance Theater, a pioneering collective of choreographers, composers, filmmakers, and artists who revolutionized contemporary dance in the 1960s, Fernandes and Cristello will present how this exhibition expands upon legacies for open collaboration and collective creation. Dissolving the boundary between audience and performer, both will discuss these themes alongside dancers from the cast of the newly-commissioned performance work Scores for the Murphy Auditorium—inviting visitors to experience history, performance, and space from multiple perspectives. Presented in partnership with EXPO ART WEEK.

Performance: Brendan Fernandes: Score for the Murphy Auditorium

Wednesday, May 6 | 5:00–7:00pm

In this newly commissioned durational work choreographed by Brendan Fernandes, the first artist-in-residence to activate the Driehaus Museum's 1926 Murphy Auditorium, an ensemble of performers from across Chicago's vibrant independent dance community gather to create a dynamic site for sculptural installation, movement, and sound.

Open Rehearsal

Wednesday, May 6 and Friday, May 8 | 12:00–4:00 PM

An open rehearsal with the performers offering audiences a rare, behind-the-curtains glimpse of the new work by Laura Baumeister and Jenna Weatherbie, Inosculate, which will premiere May 9.

Solo Improvisation

Thursday, May 7 | 12:00–4:00 PM

Ensemble dancer Laura Baumeister will create a long-form solo improvisation inspired by Fernandes' installation, guided by choreography that engages self-expression, instinct, and individual interpretation.

Performance: Concerts of Dance: Laura Baumeister

Saturday, May 9 | 1:00pm

Evolving from a process spanning nearly two years, Laura Baumeister is joined by collaborator Jenna Weatherbie to present the new work Inosculate. The project examines closeness formed by necessity versus choice and explores intimacy through everyday gestures and acts of care. The performance follows a series of open rehearsals and improvisational sessions held earlier in the week in the Murphy Auditorium.

More About BRENDAN FERNANDES: IN THE ROUND

Inspired by the pioneering spirit of the Judson Dance Theater and its Concerts for Dance, Fernandes’ residency presents a new commission, Score for the Murphy Auditorium, alongside Concerts of Dance, inviting Chicago’s independent dance community to create new works throughout the residency.

Originally active in New York during the 1960s, the Judson Dance Theater brought together choreographers, composers, filmmakers, and visual artists who rejected classical technique in favor of everyday movement and collaborative experimentation. Fernandes reimagines that legacy within the Driehaus Museum’s Murphy Auditorium, a space originally modeled after a church in Paris.

Guest curator Stephanie Cristello said the project explores performance as a shared architectural and social experience.

“In the Round invites us to experience contemporary art and dance as a shared architectural and social space—one shaped by bodies moving together through history,” Cristello said. “Reactivating the radical spirit of the Judson Dance Theater within the Murphy Auditorium, Brendan Fernandes asks us to see history itself as something lived, collective, and continually re-made.”

About the Artist

Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is a Canadian artist working at the intersection of dance and visual art. Based in Chicago, his practice explores themes of race, migration, protest, and collective movement. Fernandes often creates collaborative projects that combine choreography, installation, and performance.

His work has been presented at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Fernandes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Theory, and Practice at Northwestern University.

About the Guest Curator

Stephanie Cristello is a Chicago-based art critic, curator, and author. She previously served as Senior Editor US for ArtSlant and founding Editor-in-Chief of THE SEEN: Chicago’s International Journal of Contemporary & Modern Art. Her writing has appeared in ArtReview, BOMB Magazine, Elephant Magazine, Frieze, and other publications.

Cristello currently serves as Editor-at-Large for Portable Gray, published by the University of Chicago Press, and is Director/Curator at Chicago Manual Style.

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