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Bio (extended)
Andres L. Hernandez is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary practitioner whose work draws forward the latent potential of words, spaces, sounds, and movement to elicit liberatory ways of being. He explores the embedded attitudes, histories, policies, and systems of power within and beyond our world(s) as a method of imagining and existing otherwise.
Hernandez sites his practice at the intersection of the social and the spatial. He considers the symbiotic, yet, fraught relationships of built and natural environments and their inhabitants, and speculates alternative pasts, presents, and futures for all.
Hernandez’ work takes many forms, including collaborative and socially-engaged works, as well as independent, studio-based practices. Drawing, installation, and writing are his preferred media, alongside sound and performance.
Initially trained as an architect, Hernandez has previous work experience within architecture firms on housing and institutional projects. Since 1997, he has co-led and consulted on a number of open space planning and creative place-making projects in Chicago’s Austin, North Lawndale, Bronzeville, and West Pullman neighborhoods, as well as the Burnham Wildlife Corridor adjacent to Lake Shore Drive. As part of the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial, Hernandez served as a team member with Grow Greater Englewood and Atelier Bow-Wow for the design of the Englewood Village Plaza, and from 2017-2019, he was an exhibition design team member for the Museum of the Obama Presidential Center. He currently serves as a creative consultant for other local and national public projects and public space initiatives.
Hernandez’ creative projects include Tucson Tête-à-Tête, a public commission with the University of Arizona School of Art; Thrival Geographies (In My Mind I See A Line), a commissioned installation with Amanda Williams and Shani Crowe for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale; and A Way, Away (Listen While I Say), a public commission with Amanda Williams for PXSTL, organized by the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. As a member of the performance collective Dark Adaptive with Torkwase Dyson and Zachary Fabri, Hernandez has co-developed movement and sound works presented at national and international venues, including The Drawing Center; the Museum of Modern Art’s Pop Rally series; Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; the Sharjah Biennial 14; and Pace Gallery as part of the Performa 19 Biennial. Additionally, he is co-founder of the Revival Arts Collective, founder and director of the Urban Vacancy Research Institute, and member of Wide Awakes Chicago.
From 2016-17, and again from 2019-2022, Hernandez was the MCA Chicago’s SPACE artist-in-residence at Curie Metropolitan High School, where he co-led creative projects with students focused on the physical and social spaces of the school and surrounding community. His previous residencies include the 2018-2019 VASE Program Visiting Artist Residency with the University of Arizona School of Art; a 2016-2017 DCASE Public Studio Residency at the Chicago Cultural Center; and the 2013-2014 AIR Program at the University of Chicago’s Washington Park Arts Incubator. In addition to these opportunities, he has been honored with the 2021 3Arts Award in Visual Arts, and the 2018 Efroymson Family Fund Contemporary Arts Fellowship.
Hernandez received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO), and the Department of Art Education.
CV (abbreviated)
Contact me for full CV
Education
Master of Arts in Art Education (MAAE)
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.)
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Selected Exhibitions
2023
“where the light corrupts your face...”
South Side Community Art Center, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
2022
All That Light: A Ten Year Retrospective of the Artists-in-Residence Program (2012-2022)
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
2021
Some Type of Way
Blanc Gallery, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
The Long Dream
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
2020
Artists Run Chicago 2.0
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (with Blanc Gallery, group exhibition)
2019
STILL HERE: Torture, Resiliency, and the Art of Memorializing
Arts Incubator, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
Dimensions of Citizenship: Architecture and Belonging from the Body to the Cosmos
Wrightwood 659, Chicago, IL (collaboration with Amanda Williams and Shani Crowe, group exhibition)
2018
OVERRIDE: A Billboard Project
EXPO Chicago, Chicago, IL (collaboration with Amanda Williams, group exhibition)
Dimensions of Citizenship
U.S. Pavilion, Biennale Architeturra 2018, 16th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice, Italy
(collaboration with Amanda Williams and Shani Crowe, group exhibition)
2017
Historical F(r)ictions: Nicole Marroquin and Andres L. Hernandez
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL (two-person exhibition)
2016
with/in: blurring the line between art and education
Art League Houston, Houston, TX (group exhibition)
2015
Vacancy: Urban Interruption and (Re)generation
Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
2014
Testimony
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
Forum as Form
Washington Park Arts Incubator, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (solo exhibition)
2012
Kindred Visions
Blanc Gallery, Chicago, IL (co-curator and exhibiting artist, group exhibition)
Black Creativity
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL (group exhibition)
Selected Collaborative Projects + Performances
2021
Monumental Tour
Public art installation with Wide Awakes Chicago and Kindred Arts
Blanc Gallery and Engelwood Village Plaza, Chicago, IL
2019
The Blue Exp/ /nse
Performance with Dark Adaptive as part of Torkwase Dyson’s I Can Drink the Distance: Plantationocene in 2 Acts (Act I: Way Over There Inside Me)
Pace Live initiative presented in collaboration with the Performa 19 Biennial
Pace Gallery, New York, NY
Tucson Tête-à-Tête
Public art event with Veteran Rescue Mission and University of Arizona School of Art
Tucson, AZ
PRRLL DVRRS
Performance with Dark Adaptive as part of Torkwase Dyson’s I Belong to the Distance
Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber
Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah/Kalba, UAE
2018
F.H.C. (Osborne's Ascent)
Performance with Dark Adaptive as part of Torkwase Dyson: Nautical Dusk
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
The Shape That Makes the Blacks
Performance with Mario Gooden and Dark Adaptive as part of MOMA Pop Rally
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
JRRNYYMNN
Performance with Dark Adaptive as part of Torkwase Dyson and the Wynter-Wells School
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, IL
BLACKWOMANSPACE (A Performative Primer)
Performance with Shani Crowe
U.S. Pavilion, Biennale Architeturra 2018, 16th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice, Italy
1DRRGRND
Performance with Dark Adaptive as part of Winter Term: Torkwase Dyson and the Wynter-Wells Drawing School for Environmental Justice
The Drawing Center, New York, NY
2015
Voices Park and SOL Street Festival
Public art event and installation with Revival Arts Collective
Chicago, IL
2013
Saturday Sweets
Arts micro-grants program with Revival Arts Collective
Chicago, IL
2012
Revival: Bronzeville
Public art event and installation with Revival Arts Collective
Chicago, IL
Awards / Grants / Fellowships
3Arts/Chandler Family Awardee, 2021
3Arts, Chicago, IL
Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, 2018-2019
Efroymson Family Fund, Indianapolis, IN
PXSTL design-build commission (in collaboration with Amanda Williams), 2016-2017
Pulitzer Arts Foundation and Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts
Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Artistic and Cultural Diversity Grant (with Revival Arts Collective), 2014
Chicago Community Trust, Chicago, IL
Propeller Fund Grant (with Revival Arts Collective), 2011
threewalls, Chicago, IL
Artist Residencies
Artist-In-Residence, SPACE Program at Curie Metropolitan HS, 2016-2017; 2019-2022
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
Visiting Artist / ACRE Residency, Summer 2019
ACRE Projects, Chicago, IL / Steuben, WI
VASE Program Visiting Artist Residency, 2018-2019
School of Art, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Public Studio Residency (with Nicole Marroquin), Fall 2016 - Winter 2017
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Artist-in-Residence, 2013-2014
Arts Incubator, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Selected Bibliography
2021
Isabel Nieves, “Black Monuments: An Act of Cultural Equity,” South Side Weekly, August 4, 2021.
2019
Nancy Chen, “A Space for Citizenship: The U.S. Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale on View for the First Time in the United States,” Newcity, April 2, 2019.
Helena Duncan, “A Symbol of Healing,” South Side Weekly, March 27, 2019.
Zach Mortice, “‘Dimensions of Citizenship’ Dreams of Belonging Best at the Smallest and Largest Scales,” Architectural Record, March 19, 2019.
Maya Dukmasova, “Chicago Torture Justice Memorials is pushing ahead to create a site of remembrance for Burge victims,” Chicago Reader, March 13, 2019.
Blair Kamin, “7 highlights from Venice Architecture Biennale are now in the soaring Wrightwood 659 gallery in Chicago,” Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2019.
2018
Ian Vollner, “Free Spirit: Ian Volner on the Venice Architecture Biennale,” Artforum, November 2018.
Tempestt Hazel, “The Thrival Geographies of Shani Crowe, Andres L. Hernandez, and Amanda Williams,” Sixty Inches From Center, September 26, 2018.
Stephanie Cristello, “U.S. Pavilion/Dimensions of Citizenship,” THE SEEN, June 5, 2018.
Blair Kamin, “Chicago in Venice: A first look at the U.S. pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 2018.
“Thrival Geographies (In My Mind I See A Line),” Dimensions of Citizenship, Nick Axel, Nikolaus Hirsch, Ann Lui, and Mimi Zeiger, eds. (Los Angeles, CA: Inventory Press, 2018). Exhibition catalogue.
Blair Kamin, “Chicago Architects Take the Lead for U.S. Pavilion at Prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale,” Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2018.
Vasia Rigou, “Design 50: Who Shapes Chicago 2018,” Newcity, March 1, 2018.
2017
Ruth Ezell, “PXSTL 2017,” Living St. Louis, Nine Network, St. Louis, MO, July 31, 2017.
Willis Ryder Arnold, Interview (with Amanda Williams), “As an old building comes down, St. Louis artists use its bricks to rethink city's vacant spaces,” St. Louis Public Radio, St. Louis, MO, July 11, 2017.
Stefene Russell, “’Away, A Way’ at the Pulitzer Pushes Energy Out Into the City,” St. Louis Magazine, June 15, 2017.
Kea Wilson, “The Art of Decline,” Strong Towns, May 16, 2017.
Kelly Moffit, Interview (with Amanda Williams), “Notice when a building is demolished in St. Louis? These two artists want you to pay attention,” St. Louis Public Radio, St. Louis, MO, May 5, 2017.
2016
“ArchitectChats: Episode 2 - The 2016 PXSTL Design-Build Competition Winners,” Architect Magazine, April 22, 2016.
“A Lot You Got to Holler, Episode 2: Cabrini-Green Dreams and Nightmares,” Newcity, January 19, 2016.
2015
Amy Haddad, “Review: Vacancy: Urban Interruption and (Re)generation,” Newcity, November 2, 2015.
Mimi Zeiger, “Three Meditations on Vacancy,” October 2015.
Vacancy: Urban Interruption and (Re)generation, Neysa Page-Lieberman, ed. (Chicago, IL: Columbia College Chicago, 2015). Exhibition catalogue.
Lori Waxman, “10 Art Shows to See This Fall,” Chicago Tribune, September 4, 2015.
2014
Testimony, Monika Szewczyk, ed. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2014). Exhibition catalogue.
Publications as Author
2021
“fugitive choreographies: trickster’s escape-ism, or, RBBT resists a sticky snare, or, bramble bred and bound by the bounce,” e-flux Architecture, February 2021.
2016
“Fall Design Preview: Artist/Designer/Educator Andres L. Hernandez Looks Ahead,” Newcity, September 1, 2016.
Teaching / Academic Appointments
Associate Professor, Department of Art Education, and Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO)
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2014-present
Director, Master of Arts in Art Education (MAAE) Program
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2017-2019
Visiting Assistant Professor, College of Architecture
Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Fall 2016
Workshop Faculty, Graduate Studies in Art & Design Education
Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT
Summer 2015, Summer 2016, Summer 2017
Chair, Department of Art Education
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2014-2016
Director, Master of Arts in Art Education (MAAE) Program
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2006-2011
Assistant Professor, Department of Art Education
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2006-2014