Join Canadian artist Brendan Fernandes in conversation with Devyani Saltzman, AGO Director of Public Programming, on the nature of how artists are adapting their practices to a pandemic world, especially with regards to online creation. Brendan will be premiering an original digital commission, entitled The Left Space, as part of the AGO’s Fall season on November 6. Join us ahead of the November 6 program. Brendan Fernandes will be showing with Monique Meloche Gallery at this year’s Art Toronto.

The Left Space is a new digital commission by internationally renowned artist Brendan Fernandes, created specifically for this moment in time, and for the AGO. The work has been developed and choreographed for the webcam and to interact with the grid formation of Zoom. Custom backdrops and on-and-off camera sequences will intervene in and aesthetically connect a team of dancers from Hit and Run Productions performing from their homes around the world, with collaboration from DJ Karsten Sollors. Reaching out and signaling to one another with the choreography and engaging with protest slogans incorporated into each changing background, the performers and audiences will question the potential for online platforms to re-create the social solidarity experienced in physical gatherings.

The November 6th performance will be followed by an interview between the artist and Bojana Stancic, AGO Assistant Curator, Live Projects and Performance.

Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. Currently based out of Chicago, Brendan’s projects address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest and other forms of collective movement. Always seeking to create new spaces and new forms of agency, and always rooted in collaboration and fostering solidarity. He is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery.

This year, Art Toronto will truly be Canada’s art fair. Looking beyond the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Art Toronto 2020 will feature a strong online presence including virtual exhibitions, curated collections, talks, tours and more. This will be complemented by programming in galleries and museums across Canada, focused in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. In expanding the fair’s virtual and physical footprint, we aim to bring the art community together to celebrate visual culture at the national level. Canada’s art fair will take place October 28 through November 8, we look forward to welcoming you.

This program is presented in partnership with Art Toronto