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Location

Broadway between 41st and 49th Streets

New York, NY

Date

Start:

Mar 1, 2025

End:

Mar 31, 2025

Hours

Nightly, 11:57pm – 12am

Location

Broadway between 41st and 49th Streets

New York, NY

Date

Start:

Mar 1, 2025

End:

Mar 31, 2025

Hours

Nightly, 11:57pm – 12am

Build Up the House II
Artist-Led Audio Guide

Presented with Art on the Mart

Working at the intersection of visual art, performance, and architecture, Brendan Fernandes transforms the screens of Times Square into a technicolor dance space. In Build Up the House II, silhouettes of dancers leap, spin, and vogue across vibrant, pulsing compositions inspired by the artist’s East African heritage. The brightly colored patterns and rhythms of the dancers are also an homage to house music, honoring the genre’s queer and POC roots along with its legacy of providing spaces of safe haven, creative expression, and solidarity for those communities since the late 1970s.

A communal celebration of identity through dance and assembly, Build Up the House II also mirrors the broader spirit of Times Square itself, a gathering place for New Yorkers and visitors from all over the world, and a spectacular choreography of people, lights, and moving images.

Born in Nairobi; an immigrant to Canada and then New York City; and currently based in Chicago, Fernandes incorporates all of his lived experiences into his practice with a particular focus on themes of race, migration, and movement. Build Up the House II is a monumental mark of the artist’s efforts to merge new and storied narratives under a unified display of dance, heritage, and communal renewal both on the screen and in the streets.

The original iteration of this work, Build Up the House, was commissioned by ART on the MART, and presented in fall of 2024 with an accompanying house music soundscape by Chicago-based producer Sean J. Wright.

PROJECT CREDITS
Build Up The House II: Brendan Fernandes
Original Music for Art on the Mart: Shaun J Wright
Produced by: Domenic Del Carmine
Dancer: Katlin Michael Bourgeois
Dancer: Lieana Sherry
Animation & Production: Daily Planet Productions, Ltd.
Animator: Tim Berthiaume
Animator: Mike Pindara
Animator: JC Tecklenburg

Presented with Art on the Mart

Working at the intersection of visual art, performance, and architecture, Brendan Fernandes transforms the screens of Times Square into a technicolor dance space. In Build Up the House II, silhouettes of dancers leap, spin, and vogue across vibrant, pulsing compositions inspired by the artist’s East African heritage. The brightly colored patterns and rhythms of the dancers are also an homage to house music, honoring the genre’s queer and POC roots along with its legacy of providing spaces of safe haven, creative expression, and solidarity for those communities since the late 1970s.

A communal celebration of identity through dance and assembly, Build Up the House II also mirrors the broader spirit of Times Square itself, a gathering place for New Yorkers and visitors from all over the world, and a spectacular choreography of people, lights, and moving images.

Born in Nairobi; an immigrant to Canada and then New York City; and currently based in Chicago, Fernandes incorporates all of his lived experiences into his practice with a particular focus on themes of race, migration, and movement. Build Up the House II is a monumental mark of the artist’s efforts to merge new and storied narratives under a unified display of dance, heritage, and communal renewal both on the screen and in the streets.

The original iteration of this work, Build Up the House, was commissioned by ART on the MART, and presented in fall of 2024 with an accompanying house music soundscape by Chicago-based producer Sean J. Wright.

PROJECT CREDITS
Build Up The House II: Brendan Fernandes
Original Music for Art on the Mart: Shaun J Wright
Produced by: Domenic Del Carmine
Dancer: Katlin Michael Bourgeois
Dancer: Lieana Sherry
Animation & Production: Daily Planet Productions, Ltd.
Animator: Tim Berthiaume
Animator: Mike Pindara
Animator: JC Tecklenburg

Build Up the House II

Audio Guide

Time
Language
Audio
Arabic Translation
Chinese Translation
French Translation
German Translation
Japanese Translation
Russian Translation
Spanish Translation

Public Programming

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About
ART on the MART

ART on THE MART, presented in partnership with Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), is one of the world’s largest digital art platforms that transforms an architectural landmark into a permanent, larger-than-life canvas. A shining example of Chicago’s long-standing commitment to public art, ART on THE MART brings cutting-edge video mapping techniques to Chicago’s Riverwalk, displaying projections of contemporary art across the 2.5-acre façade of THE MART, the largest privately held commercial building in the United States, internationally recognized as a global innovator in culture, design, and technology. ART on THE MART presents pioneering moving image work by renowned local, national, and international interdisciplinary artists. The program has commissioned work by celebrated names like Derrick Adams, Charles Atlas, Nick Cave, Barbara Kruger, and more, alongside projections by Chicago-based artists and local partner organizations, from the Joffrey Ballet, the Art Institute of Chicago and The Adler Planetarium to the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project and Chicago Public Schools. ART on THE MART amplifies the expressions of the broadest range of artists and partners to realize the power of public art and inspire positive community engagement along the river, throughout Chicago, and beyond. Founded in 2018, the program is a result of a 30-year commitment by THE MART owner Vornado Realty Trust, in close collaboration with the City of Chicago, with a shared goal to provide public access to innovative contemporary art to the thousands of visitors traversing the Chicago Riverwalk each day. Founded in 2018, the program is a result of a 30-year commitment by THE MART owner Vornado Realty Trust, in close collaboration with the City of Chicago, with a shared goal to provide public access to innovative contemporary art to the thousands of visitors traversing the Chicago Riverwalk each day.

About

Project Support

Video Gallery

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Photo Gallery

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Location

Broadway between 41st and 49th Streets

New York, NY

A simple icon of a calendar
Hours

Nightly, 11:57pm – 12am

Photography Credit

Build Up the House II (2024), still images courtesy of the Artist, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, and Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC.

A graphic of a map of Times Square

About the Artist