- Action Line by Brendan Fernandes
- Posts
- TRAVERSE NATION
TRAVERSE NATION
Where were you? Where are you? Where?
Brendan Fernandes & Brian Gorman
April 09, 2026
A review of media shaping my world. I share things I saw, I see and upcoming engagements where my work can be seen.
ACTION LINE: TRAVERSE NATION
To exist in a Traverse Nation is to live in the "in-between."
This issue explores the friction and beauty of moving—whether it’s the quiet recovery after a creative peak, the design of digital tools that bridge the gap to civic agency, or the institutional shifts that redefine our cultural homes. Across these highlights, we see a common thread: we are all navigating the space between who we were and where we are going. From the reopening of the New Museum to my own residency at the Driehaus, we are constantly redefining our path through a world that is moving faster than ever.
As Seen in the Chicago Tribune
CLICK EACH ARTICLE FOR A SUMMARY AND MY THOUGHTS
“Pretend, for example, that you were born in Chicago and have never had the remotest desire to visit Hong Kong, which is only a name on a map for you; pretend that some convulsion, sometimes called accident, throws you into connection with a man or a woman who lives in Hong Kong; and that you fall in love. Hong Kong will immediately cease to be a name and become the center of your life.”
-James Baldwin
VISIT EXPO CHICAGO
Monique Meloche Gallery / MMG Booth 220, Navy Pier
In Two (In collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia), 2024 on View April 9-12
Commissioned by the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in 2024, Fernandes collaborated with the Fabric Workshop and Museum’s Studio team in Philadelphia to create an installation of curtains and soft sculptures, designed to accompany an exhibition of the artist Scott Burton’s work (1939–1989). In a series of duets titled In Two, Fernandes has written dance scores that take Burton’s furniture sculptures as a point of departure to explore the duality of display and concealment in gay cruising culture — ideas that Burton had pursued throughout his career.
Fernandes integrates specific gestures—“flip the wrist”, “clasp arm to the breast”—directly from Burton’s choreographic notes, and the patterning on the curtains mirror the artist's fingerprints on his iPhone screen from swiping on Grindr.
SOCIALLY AWARE