Brandon Alvendia, an artist, curator, and educator, actively promotes artist-run initiatives across North America, fostering community-driven exhibitions, events, and publications. As Co-Founder of artLedge, BEN RUSSELL, The Storefront, and Silver Galleon Press, he spearheaded the revival of the MdW Coalition, expanding its reach across the greater Midwest to support a growing ecosystem of hyperlocal art scenes from the region, working together to build lasting coalitions of purposeful, artist-led action.
In addition to his curatorial work, Brandon has extensive teaching experience at institutions including the School of The Art Institute, UIC, and Columbia College, all located in Chicago, as well as the Maine College of Art in Portland, ME. Brandon holds degrees from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
He has participated in programs such as the Copycat Academy in Toronto and the ICI Curatorial Intensive in New Orleans. Recipient of Spring 2024 Curatorial Research Fellowship Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Brandon Alvendia
Artist & Curator in Chicago
alvendia.net
alvendia1@gmail.com
About
Brandon Alvendia, an artist, curator, and educator, actively promotes artist-run initiatives across North America, fostering community-driven exhibitions, events, and publications. As Co-Founder of artLedge, BEN RUSSELL, The Storefront, and Silver Galleon Press, he served as Independent Curators International's Curatorial Research Fellow in 2022, focusing on projects in the Mississippi River Basin. He also spearheaded the revival of the MdW project, expanding its reach across the central Midwest to support a growing ecosystem of hyperlocal art scenes from the region, working together to build lasting coalitions of purposeful, artist-led action.
In addition to his curatorial work, Brandon has extensive teaching experience at institutions including the School of The Art Institute, UIC, and Columbia College, all located in Chicago. Brandon holds degrees from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Additionally, he has participated in programs such as the Copycat Academy in Toronto and the ICI Curatorial Intensive in New Orleans. Recipient of Spring 2025 Curatorial Research Fellowship Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Awards
2024 Curatorial Research Fellowship from Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Spring 2025 Grant Recipient | Curatorial Research Fellowship awarded with Kimi Kitada (Charlotte Street Foundation, KC) and Jes Allie (Bulk Space, Detroit) through Public Media Institute. The grant goes to support curatorial research to develop an oral history about artist-run culture in the Central Midwest spanning the last 50 years. Part of the MdW Coalition, the research project will inform a museum exhibition slated for 2026.
2021 Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation Research Fellowship. from Independent Curators International
Brandon conducted research trips to cities in the Midwest to explore and learn from the culture of experimental, artist-run, or alternative spaces in the region, as well as radical creative collaboratives and other independent DIY initiatives along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, mapping an archipelago of art worlds in the middle of the United States.
2017 Nominated Teaching Excellence Award from Columbia College Chicago
Nominations are put forth by students, faculty, and staff of the college.
2015 Venice Biennale Travel Grant
Brandon was awarded this funding for research and professional development by an undisclosed patron. Long weekend trip involved a loose-knit set of independent curators from North America, Europe, and Asia touring various sites and events in and around Venice, Italy.
2014 Top 50 Artists' Artist from New City Chicago
Awarded number 27 with cover appearance by New City Chicago free arts and culture monthly.
2012 Top 50 Artists' Artist from New CIty Chicago
Awarded number 45 by New City Chicago arts and culture monthly.
2011 Best Artist In Chicago from Chicago Reader
Named Best Artist in Chicago by alt-weekly mainstay, the Chicago Reader. Essay by Bert Stabler.
2010 Propeller Fund from Gallery 400 and threewalls
Inaugural Propellor Fund Grant (subsidized by Warhol Foundation) for programming at The Storefront project space.
2010 pFac research grant from Columbia College Chicago
Funding for research trip to New York to conduct studio visits and museum research for the exhibition "FAIR USE" at the Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago.
2009 ASDF Makes Grant from ASDF
ASDF is David Horvitz and Mylinh Trieu Nguyen.
2005 Larson Fellowship from University of Illinois Chicago
Merit-based fellowship for graduate study in studio art.
Professional
2020 — Now Technical Director at Public Media Institute
Chicago
Working across departments in the nonpro it's collection of arts initiatives to consult, curate, produce, and otherwise support exhibitions, programming, publishing, and other projects including MdW, CoProsperity Chicago, and numerous collaborations with regional partners. Public Media Institute consists of MdW, Buddy Shop at the Chicago Cultural Center, Community Kitchen, Co-Prosperity Chicago, and Lumpen Magazine/Radio WLPN 105.5/TV. (All part of The Buddy System) Established 1992.
2003 — Now Curator at Independent
Independent Curator with 20 years of diverse experience collaborating with artists and institutions of all sizes. Specializes in curating dynamic large group exhibitions as well as intimate alternative spaces. Known for providing valuable consult to artist-run initiatives, non-pro it organizations, residencies, publishers, and socially engaged projects.
2007 — 2023 Art and Design Instructor at Columbia College of Chicago
Chicago
Working across the Art|Design department, including First Year Seminar, New Genres, Visual Cultures, and Professional Practices units. Member of CFAC Local 6602 and IFT-AFT/AFL-CIO.
2010 — Now Art Services Professional at Independent
Chicago
Art Services Professional, providing end-to-end exhibition support—consulting, handling, transport, installation, and management. Work spans diverse settings, from warehouses to museums. Specializing in creative installations, prioritizing speed and e iciency. Committed to craftsmanship and smart resource management, fostering a stress-free, safe environment. Collaborative approach with student groups and volunteers. Notable installations include works by Francis Alys, John Baldessari, Paul Chan, Maya Lin, and more in various institutional venues.
2019 — 2020 Lecturer at School of The Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago
Messy,Complex,Layered - Professional Practices seminar for BFA studio art students. A weekly seminar, it focusses on strengthening a student artist's social approach to both digital and in-person modes of personal and professional community-building through a research, writing, and self-publishing intensive. Intended to offer tools to adapt to the noisy and chaotic context of art and culture production.
2018 — 2019 Launch Residency Artist Mentor at Chicago Artist Coalition
Chicago, IL
Artist Mentor and Instructor for weeklong residency for Chicago area recent BFA recipients. Included studio visits, workshops, visiting artist lectures, and ield trips.
2017 — 2019 Visiting Artist Faculty at Maine College of Art
Portland, ME
Semester seminar leader and individual studio visits with MFA Studio Art candidates.
2003 — 2005 Art Teacher at Josephinum Academy
Chicago, IL
Josephinum is a private nonprofit High School serving students from Chicago's South and West Sides
Projects
2024 Exhibition Curator at MdW Summit at Charlotte St. Foundation
The MdW Summit Exhibition celebrates the vibrant creative practices of artists across the Greater Midwest, showcasing a diverse range of media including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, moving image, and fiber works. This dynamic survey explores the intersections of art, life, and work, highlighting how artists navigate their multifaceted roles as laborers, activists, organizers, researchers, and more. By fostering connections among participants, the exhibition aims to cultivate a supportive community that encourages dialogue and collaboration, enriching the cultural landscape of the region and emphasizing the dynamic interplay between creative practice and everyday life.
2022 Curatorial Lead at MdW Assembly
Curatorial Lead for the MdW Assembly, a revival of 10-year dormant MdW Fair in Chicago, artist-run convening featuring projects across the central Midwest. Developed research and launch strategy and state partner recruitment, ran regular meetings on zoom and on visits to partner orgs. Consulted on development of digital platform and programming. Led and liaised with artists on physical installation of 70+ galleries and hundreds of artists on 2 loors of Mana Contemporary. Led monthly trips as project ambassador building bridges with like-minded local artist community stakeholders.
MdW project resumes in 2025 with a new Fellowship program, research Drifts to new states and regional partners, new Atlas multimedia content, and the MdW Summit, conversation forward gathering taking place Fall 2025.
Skills: Arts Organizations · Leadership · Team Leadership · Team Building · Contemporary Art · Curating · Visual Arts
2021 Silver Galleon Press
Founded in 2009, Silver Galleon Press transforms books into tactile sculptures, leveraging content from the internet (public domain, open source, and pirated texts). Using cost-effective methods, titles are printed with a prosumer-grade Epson printer and a Samsung laser printer, bound by hand for a handmade aesthetic. Proficient in mobile operations for workshops, lectures, instant publishing, and pop-up sales.
Skills: Bookbinding - Prosumer-grade printing - Content curation - Economical production methods - Mobile operations for events and sales
2014 The Storefront
The Storefront at 2606 N. California, 2011-2015 The Storefront was a multi-purpose non-commercial/non-non-pro it institution-as-art project that operates according to the logic of a gift economy. Its mission was to support temporary and/or long-term projects by local cultural producers. Emphasis was given to process-oriented public participatory projects. Recipient of Propellor Fund Warhol Foundation regranting program.
2011 BEN RUSSELL at BEN RUSSELL
BEN RUSSELL, an art space in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, co-curated by Brandon Alvendia and Ben Russell, operated from 2010 onwards, featuring month-long 5-person shows. Themes were derived from the letters in "ben russell, " adhering to strict constraints, with varied installations, time-based works, and live performances by Chicago and non-Chicago-based artists, available for viewings one night a month and by appointment.
2007 artLedge
ArtLedge, situated on a Chicago apartment's staircase at 1638 N. Western Ave, served as an experimental platform for projects tailored to its unique setting. Despite spatial constraints, it provided an unconventional exhibition space, inspiring artists to create site-specific installations during its 4-year tenure, organizing 28 exhibitions in multiple cities with over 200 artists.
Exhibitions
2021 Jungle Boogie 2 : Portrait of the Artist as a Colossal Wreck at CoProsperity
Catskill, NY
Jungle Boogie 2: Portrait of the Artist as a Colossal Wreck was a restaging of extant artworks, documents, and reclaimed materials derived from 13 years of artistic output of the artist, curator, and educator Brandon Alvendia, living and working out of Chicago. The artist portrayed himself in this solo survey as a corpse stranded on a deserted archipelago amidst the wreckage of a shipwreck scattering his smuggled wares.
2019 Nosebleed Section at Rainbo Club
Chicago, IL
Solo site-specific painting exhibition at the famed Rainbo Bar in Chicago.
“I sent a half-dollar down the line to the vendor, never expecting to see any change and only half expecting a beer. It came back full after passing through 14 pairs of hands, and I thought that either we are getting considerate of our fellow man in Chicago or else we’re going soft.”
Nelson Algren - Sun Times Chicago October 1960
2017 Standards Variance at Public Access
Chicago, IL
The Standards Variance exhibition, held at Public Access from May 12 to June 10, 2018, curated by Brandon Alvendia and Greg Ru ing, showcased a diverse group of artists. It explored speculative urban proposals in Chicago, challenging conventional development narratives and highlighting grassroots perspectives. With contributions from over 30 artists, the exhibition featured installations and rotating displays, fostering creative discussions on alternative urban futures. The digital publication accompanying the exhibition, containing essays by the organizers, preserves the dialogue on the complexities of urban space and the possibilities it holds.
2017 IDLE HANDS at Pilot Projects
Philadelphia, PA
IDLE HANDS - Further Adventures in Metaphysical Arbitrage: 100 Years of the Readymade, in collaboration with artist-run space pilot projects, reimagined Marcel Duchamp's Fountain for its centennial celebration. The project featured local and national artists in an open-call exhibition and readymade competition. On September 9th, the event seamlessly combined an opening reception and awards ceremony, with distinguished judges like Erica Battle (PMA), Blake Bradford (Lincoln/Barnes), and Kate Kraczon (ICA), alongside viewer participation, recognizing outstanding contributions with cash, trophies, and other prizes.
2015 The Great Good Place at threewalls
Chicago
"The Great Good Place" by Brandon Alvendia is a collaborative project exploring the intersection of art and everyday life, showcasing exhibitions that transform ordinary spaces into sites of artistic inquiry. Drawing inspiration from Chicago's artist-run culture, the project reimagines spaces like garages and living rooms to address the loss of "third places" crucial for fostering social connections. Through exhibitions at threewalls' gallery spaces, the project engages artists and curators in dynamic conversations about community and civic engagement.
The exhibition was host to sixteen Chicago based collectives and featured over 100 artists including TRUNK SHOW, Michelle Grabner, ADDS DONNA, THE FRANKLIN, D Gallery, and others, contributing to a vibrant exploration of communal spaces and artistic expression.
2012 The Impossibilty of a Hangover in the Mind of Someone Drinking at The Hills Esthetic Center
Chicago, IL
The exhibition, "The Physical Impossibility of a Hangover in the Mind of Someone Drinking," curated by Brandon Alvendia, featured artists Ben Fain, Claire Fontaine, Peter Hoffman, Martin Kippenberger, Selina Trepp, and Madame Vincent. It took place on Saturday, March 24th, 2013, at The Hills Esthetic Center in Chicago. The exhibition explored themes of re lection, recuperation, and renewal following revelry, featuring multimedia artworks and relics that blurred the line between art and everyday life. It also included rituals celebrating artist-run initiatives and offered handcrafted cocktails featuring Chicago's own Jeppson's Malört bitter.
2011 Friends Forever : The Legacy of Camp Gay (2002 - 2006) at Monument II
Chicago, IL
This project comprised an immersive installation that featured a fragmented and loosely recreated version of the Camp Gay space in MONUMENT 2. The elements were partially crafted from hazy memories and partly derived from a plethora of less-than-archival-quality documentation, mostly of the camera phone variety. The project space featured a modest display of Camp Gay documentation and related materials.
Side Projects
2024 How To Make a Scene at Art Design Chicago/Terra Foundation
"How to Make a Scene," presented by the Public Media Institute and MdW in collaboration with the Terra Foundation for American Art for Art + Design Chicago, explores Chicago's artist-run cultural ecosystems of the 1980s and 1990s. Featuring live conversations at Co-Prosperity and broadcasts on Lumpen Radio/TV, the series fosters generational knowledge sharing and strategizing for the future impact of these communities. Kicked off by moderators Anthony Stepter and Jen de los Reyes, with sessions also led by Ben Foch, Mary Patten, and Greg Ru ing.
2020 The Love Bug (Fwd : LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU) at Tufts University Art Gallery
Live internet performance series for public intimacies, curated by Abigail Satinsky, Tufts University Art Galleries (SMFA at Tufts), Boston.
2020 Saturday Editor and Livestream Producer at The Quarantine Times
Saturday editor, online publication and participatory livestream. Highlights include OFFICE PARTY 2: Post-Conference Online Mixer, Networking Event, and Zoom Happening featuring dozens of artists projects, panel discussions, and other pandemic community support. Project was exhibited as part of "The Long Dream" at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
2014 No Brakes at TRUNK SHOW
A traveling 5-act tragicomedy based on the founding of Futurism by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909. TRUNK SHOW, a itinerant exhibition space, had artists design limited edition bumper stickers for Raven Falquez Munsell and Jesse Malmed's beat-up Ford Taurus.
2014 Chambre d'Amis at Institute for American Art
Chambres d'Amis was a three-act process-oriented experimental drama set in Portland, ME that slowly unfolded over the course of one summer.
Written and Directed by Brandon Alvendia and Produced by the Institute for American Art.
2013 Theater of Revolt at Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, University of Chicago
This research-focused mixed-media installation reinterpreted "Theater of Revolt," the third act of "Be Black, Baby" by National Intellectual Television within Brian DePalma's film Hi, Mom. The project intricately blurred lines between reality and fiction, destabilizing dichotomies of audience/actors, activism/entertainment, and white/black.
The project was curated by Extinct Entities (Nixon/Romero/Stepter) and organized by Daniel Tucker at the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, University of Chicago.
2009 How to Disappear in America (for $500 or less) at subvision. kunst. festival. off. Hamburg
subvision. kunst. festival. off. was a contemporary art festival taking place in Hamburg in summer 2010. 31 artists’ groups, off-spaces, and research projects from 19 countries that developed outside established institutions and commercial viability created an exciting presentation forum with exhibitions, artist’s talks, performances, concerts, readings, and video screenings in a container park in the contested port area of Hafen City.
The experimental documentary How to Disappear in America (for $500 or less) was exhibited with i-cabin, UK for the duration of the festival. Filmed in Chesterhill, Ohio as part of the Harold Arts Residency.
Speaking
2024 Guest Panelist at Yeah No: A NOT Symposium on Arts and Regional Perspectives
Baltimore, MD
Created as a collaboration between BULK Space, MdW, and Independent Curators International, this gathering is a dynamic fusion of regional perspectives and global insights.
“Yeah No” is a two-day activation designed to investigate different regions around the US and how people engage with art, culture, and their relationships to labor.
2023 What Exactly Does a Curator Do All Day? at SAIC VCS Hybrid Practices Seminar
Chicago, IL
Hybrid Practices seeks to bring artistic experimentation and research-based scholarship together. Hosted by Visual and Critical Studies to promote academic and artistic hybridity as a way to examine the social forces that shape our lives.
2019 Jeremy Chen: Devices, Tools, Objects, and Props at Grinnell Museum of Art
Grinnell, Iowa
Hour long conversation and audience Q&A with artist Jeremy Chen for his solo exhibit Devices, Tools, Objects, and Props.
2019 Why Make Art Now? at Launch Invitational Residency at Chicago Artists Coalition
Chicago, Illinois
Initiated in 2014, LAUNCH Invitational Residency is a nomination-based professional development program for artists emerging from Chicago area undergraduate schools.
2019 Race, Representation, Social Justice panel at ICI Curator's Forum Invitational EXPO Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
The 2019 Curatorial Forum invited Chicago professionals and other visiting curators, and featured a series of peer-led, closed-door sessions focused on critical questions relevant to contemporary practice and context.
2018 13 Curatorial Projects, One of Which is a Lie at Maine College of Art
Portland, ME
Visiting Artist Faculty Summer Lecture Series at Osher Hall. Other lectures in the series included Layla Ali, Huma Bhabha, Abigail Deville, Rick Lowe, Jim Shaw, among others.
2017 A Visit to an Art Gallery as a Political Act. at College of Dupage Visiting Artist Lecture Series
Dupage, Illinois
Talk given in conjunction with "Long View / Long Game" an exhibition recognizing the 30 year anniversary of the art gallery at College of Dupage.
2015 Atlas Drift at ICI Intensive symposium at Prospect 3.
New Orleans, Louisiana
Symposium was the capstone event at the conclusion of the ICI Intensive in New Orleans.
2015 I Like Your Work at VIA Magazine w/ Inside/Within.
Chicago, Illinois
Rapid ire interviews between artists and art professionals.
2011 On Duchamp's Pocket Chess Set (1945) at The Art Institute of Chicago 'Artist Connect' Series
Chicago, Illinois
Artists were invited to speak on connecting to a work in the Art Institute collection.
Writing
2020 Apartment Show, Lumpen Magazine 137
Apartment Show is a stage-play based on an experience of the artist in a private art show in the late 2000s.
2016 A Rule By Nobody, Third Object
Edited "A Pandora's Box of Non-Games" for the publication accompanying the exhibition.
"A Rule By Nobody" explored the boredom, frustration, and pleasure of bureaucratic routines. Inspired by Hannah Arendt's de inition of bureaucracy, the exhibition delved into the energy of o ice labor, transforming it into a multi-part exploration of over lowing inboxes, Xerox rooms, red tape, and moments of escape within the monotony of nine-to- ive. Hosted by Sector 2337.
2014 The Day I Met Raivo Puusemp, Block Museum, Northwestern University
Brief story written in response to the question "What is Revolutionary Today?" for inclusion in the newsprint publication for the survey exhibition The Left Front: Radical Art in the “Red Decade,” 1930-1941.
2014 "Review" of Nicolas Gottlund "Always" at Paris London Hong Kong, Chicago Artist Writers
An experimental review written and edited collectively, by a group of around a dozen participants, during a 70 minute group workshop, Peer Review, organized by Sofia Leiby (Chicago Artist Writers) and Amanda SanFilippo (Locust Projects.) Its time-limited and collaborative context should be considered when reading.
Features
2023 MdW 2022 Media coverage. on Various
***Interview with Bad at Sports part 1, part 2, and Post MdW round table (pt 3).
***“MdW Assembly: Shared Vision and Collective Action.” Arts Midwest article by Kimi Kitada
***Review: MdW Art Fair at Mana Contemporary by Joan Roach // Sixty Inches From Center
***“Fertile Ground: MdW Fair Hopes to Seed Collectivity and Artist-Led Change” New City Chicago article by Chris Reeves.
2011 Artists continue to run Chicago by Kerry Cardoza // Chicago Reader
2011 At the Center: Interview with Brandon Alvendia on art21 Magazine
Interview with Coco Picard about publishing, curating, and playing with the life/art divide.
Volunteering
2011 — 2019 Visiting Artist Programmer at ACRE
Steuben, WI
Each year ACRE invites several mid-career and established artists and thinkers to come to the residency and conduct studio visits, give lectures, offer workshops, organize reading groups, lead excursions into neighboring areas, and stage other, more experimental programming.
Education
2016 — 2016 Guest Program Residency at Tag Team Studio
Bergen, Norway
Tag Team Studio is an artist-run space for contemporary art in Bergen, Norway. The studio consists of a gallery space, a project room/o ice and a workshop. Residency consisted of research, networking, studio visits, and other exploratory activity.
2015 — 2015 Curatorial Intensive at Independent Curators International
New Orleans
The Independent Curators International (ICI)/Prospect 3 (P3) Curatorial Intensive brought together emerging curators from across the country for the opportunity to exchange ideas, develop their curatorial projects, and explore Prospect.3: Notes for Now.
Session leaders included Andrea Andersson, Tumelo Mosaka, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Elivira Dyangani Ose, Prospect.3 curator Franklin Sirmans, Claire Tancons, among others. Weeklong discussion and site visits culminating in a public symposium at the CAC, New Orleans.
2014 — 2014 Copycat Academy
Toronto
Copycat Academy was a weeklong masterclass intensive administered by Hannah Hurtzig, founder of Mobile Academy Berlin. Morning discussion groups, afternoon workshops, and evening lectures were hosted at the Theatre Centre in Toronto as part of the yearly citywide Luminato Festival.
Session guests included Jennifer Doyle, Kendell Geers, Sheila Heti, Terence Koh, Bruce LaBruce, Marten Spangberg, with daily a irmations delivered by masterclass leader AA Bronson of General Idea. Support provided by the City of Toronto with additional support by L'Oreal.
2005 — 2007 MFA at University of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, IL
Degree in Studio Art. Studied with Julia Fish, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Kerry James Marshall, Jennifer Montgomery, Dan Peterman, Ben Russell, Deborah Stratman, Hamza Walker, among others.
2001 — 2003 BFA at School of the Art Institute
Chicago
Degree in Studio Art. Studied with Gaylen Gerber, Joseph Grigely, Gladys Nilsson, Laurie Palmer, Claire Pentecost, Barbara Rossi, Anne Wilson, among others.