Andres L. Hernandez

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A Black man with glasses and a short graying beard, dressed in all-white clothing with a white hat, standing and giving a lecture at a wooden podium placed on a stage within a large hall, in front of multiple large screens which show images and texts related to the lecture. … Brief clip #1 from my keynote lecture for the @awstudioart @storefrontnyc @thecooperunion “What Black Is This, You Say” Symposium on April 26, 2023 - this symposium focused on Amanda Williams’ public artwork “What Black Is This, You Say?” created for the Storefront for Art and Architecture in NYC, and on view from May 2021-June 2023. … LINK TO SYMPOSIUM VIDEO IN BIO. … This keynote lecture is a remix of my essay “mighty/Black walls (the Blackness of blackness),” written for the forthcoming “What Black Is This, You Say?” catalogue - in this lecture, I mash-up the written essay, focused on Amanda’s online and public artwork, with another ongoing writing project of mine, “What We Mean When We Say ‘Black Space’” - special thanks to @awstudioart @storefrontnyc @josesparza & @camillegbacon for the writing commission, lecture invitation, and editorial vision & edits 🙏🏾 … LECTURE NOTES: “(Black) walls beget (public) Black spaces, or perhaps, amplify the existing, undiscovered Blackness beneath and within their immediate (not-quite) Black contexts…Given this, what might (Black) walls teach us about the Blackness of space(s), whether painted (black) or otherwise? For the purposes of this discussion we will consider, then, several concepts: 1) Black(ness) as malleable spatial material; 2) (Black) walls as cultural archives; 3) Black(ness) (not) as a color, solely; 4) (Black) surfaces as (thick) space; and 5) Black(ness) as persistent (spatial) residue.” … #whatblackisthisyousay #wbitys

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A Black man with glasses and a short graying beard, dressed in all-white clothing with a white hat, standing and giving a lecture at a wooden podium placed on a stage within a large hall, in front of multiple large screens which show images and texts related to the lecture. … Brief clip #2 from my keynote lecture for the @awstudioart @storefrontnyc @thecooperunion “What Black Is This, You Say” Symposium on April 26, 2023 - this symposium focused on Amanda Williams’ public artwork “What Black Is This, You Say?” created for the Storefront for Art and Architecture in NYC, and on view from May 2021-June 2023. … LINK TO SYMPOSIUM VIDEO IN BIO. … This keynote lecture is a remix of my essay “mighty/Black walls (the Blackness of blackness),” written for the forthcoming “What Black Is This, You Say?” catalogue - in this lecture, I mash-up the written essay, focused on Amanda’s online and public artwork, with another ongoing writing project of mine, “What We Mean When We Say ‘Black Space’” - special thanks to @awstudioart @storefrontnyc @josesparza & @camillegbacon for the writing commission, lecture invitation, and editorial vision & edits 🙏🏾 … LECTURE NOTES: “Black space ma(r)kers recognize that Blackness is always ever bubbling beneath the surface, and delicately floating within the spatial ether. Black/space doesn’t just turn up out of the blue, it is ‘turnt up’ through identifying its geospatial coordinates. All of our physical locations are subliminally/Black, intuitively/Black, and like divining rods for water sources, the intuition of Black space ma(r)kers helps them locate latent Black essence and amplify it as necessary.” … #whatblackisthisyousay #wbitys

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A Black man with glasses and a short graying beard, dressed in all-white clothing with a white hat, standing and giving a lecture at a wooden podium placed on a stage within a large hall, in front of multiple large screens which show images and texts related to the lecture. … Brief clip #3 from my keynote lecture for the @awstudioart @storefrontnyc @thecooperunion “What Black Is This, You Say” Symposium on April 26, 2023 - this symposium focused on Amanda Williams’ public artwork “What Black Is This, You Say?” created for the Storefront for Art and Architecture in NYC, and on view from May 2021-June 2023. … LINK TO SYMPOSIUM VIDEO IN BIO. … This keynote lecture is a remix of my essay “mighty/Black walls (the Blackness of blackness),” written for the forthcoming “What Black Is This, You Say?” catalogue - in this lecture, I mash-up the written essay, focused on Amanda’s online and public artwork, with another ongoing writing project of mine, “What We Mean When We Say ‘Black Space’” - special thanks to @awstudioart @storefrontnyc @josesparza & @camillegbacon for the writing commission, lecture invitation, and editorial vision & edits 🙏🏾 … LECTURE NOTES: “When the Blackness of space is turnt up, there is the tacit recognition that this space has aesthetically, visually, sonically, olfactorily, and demographically turned itself towards Blackness. The uncovered sensoria of Blackness perhaps then makes this space a little louder, a little brighter and more colorful, a little more pungent, and as often feared, a little more dangerous.” … #whatblackisthisyousay #wbitys

grateful 🙏🏾 - thanks @esschicago & congrats to the latest cohort 🙌🏾👏🏾💐• @esschicago This Spring marks the inaugural run of Outer Ear Sessions, our free studio-access grant. Over the course of the year, 20+ Chicago artists will receive open access to ESS facilities and support from a dedicated recording engineer. OES aims to help artists push the boundaries of their practice and level the playing field for working Chicago artists city-wide. Space to experiment should not be a privilege. Meet the first cohort of grantees: Anna Johnson / @_annajohnsonart_ Corey Smith / @ennui2 Disc Jacqui / @cqqchifruit Jack Langdon / @jack.e.langdon Jay Post / @thepostman__ Kim Nucci / @plzsendpzza Two Halves / @two___halves MARKO STAT$ / @markostats Shanta Nurullah / @sitarblk Tim Kinsella (Who is The Witness?) / @gootiming Ultra-Violet Archer / @_violetsareblue_ The next Outer Ear Sessions application goes lives June 1, 2026. Stay tuned! This initiative is supported by the @walderfoundation

grateful 🙏🏾 - thanks @rematch.chicago & congrats to all of my fellow Re/Match Artists 🙌🏾👏🏾💐• @rematch.chicago 2026 Re/Match Artists 💫 Re/Match is pleased to announce the 2026 Re/Match Artist Cohort - Max Guy, Tali Halpern, Andres L. Hernandez, Dave Lloyd, and Leticia Pardo. Rooted in advocacy, Re/Match provides financial support to Chicago visual artists to encourage the production of new work, support the sustainability of their arts practice, and celebrate the vibrancy and energy of the visual arts field in Chicago. A sincere thank you to the Nomination Committee & Jurors for your expertise. This year, Re/Match will distribute $50,000 in unrestricted funds, $10,000 to each of the five artist recipients. Congratulations to the 2026 Artist Cohort! Follow along this week as we highlight each artist’s individual practice in tandem with @expochicago ! @leaf_bootleg @totally.doomed @signifyingmonk @kiwi.penny @leticiapardo_

Re/Match 2026 Artist 💫Andres L. Hernandez Andres L. Hernandez is a conceptual artist and educator who explores models for imagining and existing otherwise. Inspired by the cultural knowledge and spatial production of African-descent peoples, his practice encompasses collaborative, socially-engaged, and independent art-making. Hernandez’ projects include individual and collaborative commissions for Threewalls, University of Arizona, Venice Architecture Biennale, Pulitzer Arts Foundation and Washington University in St. Louis. With the collective Dark Adaptive, he co-developed performances for The Drawing Center, Graham Foundation, MoMA, Sharjah Biennial, and Performa. As part of the duo Two Halves, he performed live soundscapes for cam contemporarie, Elastic Arts, and Museum of Contemporary Photography. Hernandez received degrees from Cornell University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art Education. Image: Still image of Protest (The Sound of Things Unknown), 2023, Color HD video with sound,TRT: 1:48 minutes

thanks Jalen @1510west for this lovely reel to accompany my @blancgallerychicago exhibition “code: KING ALFRED” 🙏🏾🙌🏾 - below are some excerpts from my list poem writing in progress “Truisms a.k.a. Riotous Revelations (or, Some Things I’ve Learned From Revolutionaries, Not Necessarily In Order of Importance),” written and workshopped for improvised performances for the exhibition: … *revolutionary, know thyself: the enemy of your enemy is you. *where there’s smoke, there’s freedom fueling the fire. *trading bullets is a perverse and deadly economics. *when we go high, they go hatred. *a folding chair is appropriate defense against anti-Blackness. *the future is our children; let them lead the way, and they will teach us well. *a dog whistle is a loud and shrill melody. *a lit match is a light, and also your liberation. *a raised fist is just as strong as a closed fist, but both are weakened by half-hearted intention and action. *you can’t rest while running, and you can’t run while resting, so hurry up and be still while you can. *ransom notes for reparations are always marked “return to sender”. *tomorrow’s past is today, so there’s no time like the present to prepare for our future. *chanting down Babylon is a collective, choral affair. *revolution is a concept often discussed yet rarely enacted. *now is the time, the time is now. … #codeKINGALFRED

for those unable to catch my @blancgallerychicago exhibition “code: KING ALFRED,” here’s an impromptu video walkthrough of the installation. … Emerging from an overarching concept of “exhibition as score” (or, a set of proposals and instructions for action and performance), are five main components of the “code: KING ALFRED” installation: … *Verb List (Scores for Urban Insurrection #1-36),” an original text-based score of verb combinations installed near the gallery entrance; … *”Communiqués #1-3,” a set of video collage projections that criss-cross the gallery and present abstract remixes of archival moving imagery and text alongside original writing by me; … *”The Language of the Unheard (Hotter Than July) - Scores I-V,” and “Onward Ever (Straight Ahead) - Scores I-IX,” two sets of wall-based, graphic scores comprised of vinyl album covers and sleeve inserts masked with graphically engraved acrylic sheets; … *”Let the Drums Speak (They Ban Your Oom Boom Ba Boom You In Deep Trouble),” and “Voice of the People (Bring the Noise II),“ two sets of makeshift sound rigs focused on the voice and the drum, both of which were used for performances within the gallery; … *Clash (WORDSOUNDPOWER),” a sound collage heard throughout the gallery and composed of archival and original audio by me. … I work within a collage methodology, so many of these works were re-used and remixed for this particular installation. There are other sound and written components that appeared through improvised performances within the gallery, and I look forward to the next iterations of these works. … #codeKINGALFRED

My @blancgallerychicago exhibition “code: KING ALFRED” has come to a close. It’s been an inspiring five and a half weeks, and I’m grateful for all the support and encouragement folx have provided during it’s planning and run. … There are SO many people to thank that have helped bring this exhibition to life: Eileen and Cliff, propreitors of Blanc Gallery, for continuing to support me & my experimental work since 2011; Rohan @rohanayinde , Blanc Lead Curator, for your curatorial vision and discussions leading up to the work and pushing me to be me in this exhibition; Jalen @1510west , Blanc Gallery Manager, for being a listening ear and a documenter of me running my mouth about my work 🙃; Lola @lolaogbara for install, equipment support, lighting concepts & listening to my overly long monologues about whatever I was planning for the exhibition 😂; Barédu @bsagold , curator of the amazing Sonorous Somatics series that added such a perfect sonic accompaniment to the exhibition; sound architects Harlem Masimba @harle.m & 9MAGICFOREVER1 @9magicforever1 for their BRILLIANT responses to the themes of the exhibition for the Sonorous Somatics series; my art & music big brother Damon @blackmonumentensemble for leading our joint sonic collage performance for Sonorous Somatics; A.J. @middlenamejanae , Ryan @ryfaz , Norman @normanteaguedesignstudios , & Nakida @keedabeeda for improvising performances within the gallery; all of the Blanc Gallery & Parkway Ballroom staff for their assistance throughout the run of the exhibition; the Chicago Architecture Biennial @chicagoarchitecturebiennial for their partnership with Blanc for the 2025 iteration of the Biennial; and most importantly, everyone not listed here but who provided cheers, hand claps, kind words, listening ears and hearts, thoughtful analysis, etc. etc. etc. - MUCH LOVE TO all of you, because without you I would not be the artist and human I am today 🙏🏾. … #codeKINGALFRED

excited to jam with big bro’ Damon Locks next Saturday!!! thanks @bsa.gold for bringing us together 🙏🏾✊🏾. … Get @reshare_app • @blancgallerychicago We welcome you to join us for the closing event of code: KING ALFRED, inviting you into the sonic and thematic world of Hernandez’ work in an embodied and visceral way. code: KING ALFRED ends in a culminating presentation featuring exhibiting artist Andres Hernandez @signifyingmonk and composer, producer, and interdisciplinary visual artist Damon Locks @blackmonumentensemble . Building on their friendship and mutual regard for each other’s practice, Hernandez and Locks combine their dynamic approach to sampling Hip Hop, house, and soul music with vocal audio and textures to uplift the themes of Hernandez’ exhibition. The multi-media performance will be presented in two 30 minute presentations to create space for the audience to consider the relationship between the music and the themes, while offering an opportunity for spontaneous response to the previous set from Locks and Hernandez during their second and final presentation. Sonorous Somatics 008 is the last of this year’s series and will be a dynamic and thoughful collaboaration between two artists who are also friends, peers and co-conspirators. The series has been organised and executed by @bsa.gold , whose vision as an artist and a curator has created a special, broad and exciting programme across the year. Responding to each exhibition with two sound events, she has turned Blanc into a site of sonic experimentation, response and invention. RSVP via the link in bio

Andres L. Hernandez, study for event score “CRY, SCREAM. RIOT (after Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti and Gwendolyn Brooks),” 2025. … #codeKINGALFRED

stand guard and stand by… #codeKINGALFRED