The next edition of the most closely watched contemporary art exhibition in North America, the Whitney Biennial, will feature works by 69 artists and two collectives spanning a vast range of media and styles.
The lineup of artists selected by co-curators Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli (and the rest of the curatorial team) was announced Thursday (25 January), around eight weeks ahead of the exhibition’s 20 March opening. Titled Even Better Than the Real Thing, the 2024 Whitney Biennial will fill the museum’s galleries, auditoriums and additional spaces with not only paintings, sculptures, installations and other object-based works, but also extensive film and performance art programmes.
Isaac Julien, Iolaus/In the Life (Once Again. . . Statues Never Die), 2022. © Isaac Julien. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London
“We sought to create an exhibition in the form of what [participating] artist Ligia Lewis calls a ‘dissonant chorus’, unharmonious in its collectivity,” Iles and Onli said in a joint statement. “It is striking how many artists are contending with relationships between the psyche and the body, and the precarity of the past few years. Artists are continuing to grapple with history and identity; we have made an exhibition that unfolds as a set of relations, exploring the challenges of coming together in a fractured moment.”
The exhibition will include works by artists who have been renowned for decades as well as more recently established figures. Among them are the revered feminist artist Harmony Hammond, the interdisciplinary abstractionist Torkwase Dyson, the artist and subversive designer Pippa Garner, the multimedia artist Sharon Hayes, the pathbreaking painter Suzanne Jackson, the artist and film-maker Tourmaline, the video artist Isaac Julien, the conceptual sculpture and installation artist Dora Budor, the Raqs Media Collective multimedia group and more. The exhibition will also include two artists who have died: the Chicagoan film-maker Edward Owens (1949-2010) and the Jamaican American painter Mavis Pusey (1928-2019).
Mavis Pusey, Within Manhattan, 1977. Collection of Neil Lane. © Estate of Mavis Pusey. Photograph by Elon Schoenholz
As the exhibition’s title evokes, Iles and Onli’s focus in developing the exhibition has been on working with artists whose work deals with the slippery (sometimes outright illusory) notion of realness. Particularly with the rapid spread of artificial intelligence over the past two years, but also given various developments and dynamics that have played out since the start of the 21st century, questions and disagreements about reality abound, whether related to identity, place, history, the body, the landscape or other crucial concerns.
This year’s Whitney Biennial will be the 81st iteration of the exhibition, which started out as an annual endeavour. The number of participants represents an uptick from the 63 who were selected by co-curators David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards for the 2022 edition, which was well received by critics and featured the fewest controversies of any iteration in recent memory. The exhibition’s 2019 edition, curated by Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley, became known unofficially as the “teargas biennial” amid months of protests against the museum’s vice chairman, Warren B. Kanders, whose business holdings include companies that manufacture teargas and other equipment used in conflict zones and to suppress protest movements. After several artists in the 2019 biennial threatened to pull their works from the show, Kanders resigned.
Shuang Li, still from ÆTHER (Poor Objects), 2021. © Shuang Li. Courtesy Peres Projects
The 2017 edition of the Whitney Biennial, curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks, was dominated by the scandal over a painting by Dana Schutz, Open Casket (2016), which depicted the body of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old who was lynched by a racist mob in 1955. The biennial’s 2014 edition, the last one held in the Whitney’s former building on Madison Avenue, became a flashpoint for debates about representation and equity when the Yams Collective withdrew its work amid objections to the inclusion of a conceptual work by artist Joe Scanlan, a white man, that consisted of hiring Black actors to play the role of a fictional artist named Donelle Woolford.
The 2024 Whitney Biennial artists:
Siku Allooloo (she/her)
Born 1986 in Yellowknife, Canada
Lives in Bowser, Canada
Holland Andrews (they/them)
Born 1988 in Orange, California
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio (he/him)
Born 1990 in Los Angeles, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California
Dora Budor
Born 1984 in Zagreb, Croatia
Lives in New York, New York
Seba Calfuqueo (she/her/they/them)
Born 1991 in Santiago, Chile
Lives in Ngulumapu, Wallmapu (Chile)
Debit (she/her)
Born 1986 in Monterrey, Mexico
Lives in New York, New York
Demian DinéYazhi’ (they/them)
Born 1983 in Gallup, New Mexico (Diné Bikéyah [Navajo Nation])
Lives in Portland, Oregon, and elsewhere
Torkwase Dyson (she/her)
Born 1973 in Chicago, Illinois
Lives in Beacon, New York
JJJJJerome Ellis (any/all)
Born 1989 in Groton, Connecticut
Lives in Norfolk, Virginia
Jes Fan (he/him/they/them)
Born 1990 in Scarborough, Canada
Lives in Brooklyn, NY, and Hong Kong
Nikita Gale
Born 1983 in Anchorage, Alaska, Dënéndeh and Dena’ina Ełnena
Lives in Los Angeles, California
ektor garcia
Born 1985 in Red Bluff, California
Lives in Mexico City, Mexico, and elsewhere
Pippa Garner (she/her)
Born 1942 in Evanston, Illinois
Lives in Long Beach, California
Harmony Hammond (she/her)
Born 1944 in Chicago, Illinois
Lives in Galisteo, New Mexico
Christopher Harris (he/him)
Born 1962 in St. Louis, Missouri
Lives in Coralville, Iowa
Sharon Hayes (she/her)
Born 1970 in Baltimore, Maryland
Lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Miranda Haymon
Born 1993 in Boston, Massachusetts
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Sarah Hennies (she/her)
Born 1979 in Louisville, Kentucky
Lives in Red Hook, New York
Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst
Herndon (she/her): born 1980 in Johnson City, Tennessee
Dryhurst (he/him): born 1984 in Birmingham, UK
Live in Berlin, Germany
Ho Tzu Nyen (he/him)
Born 1976 in Singapore
Lives in Singapore
Yasmine Anlan Huang (she/her)
Born 1996 in Guangzhou, China
Lives in London, UK, and New York, New York
Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich (she/her)
Born 1987 in New York, New York
Lives in New York, New York
Suzanne Jackson (she/her)
Born 1944 in St. Louis, Missouri
Lives in Savannah, Georgia
Isaac Julien
Born 1960 in London, UK
Lives in London, UK, and Santa Cruz, California
Lotus L. Kang (she/her)
Born 1985 in Toronto, Canada
Lives in New York, New York
Aron Kantor (he/him/they/them)
Born 1978 in San Francisco, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California
Mary Kelly (she/her)
Born 1941 in Fort Dodge, Iowa
Lives in New York, New York
Kite (she/her)
Born 1990 in Sylmar, California
Lives in Ancram, New York
Gbenga Komolafe and Tee Park
Komolafe (they/them/he/him/she/her): born 2000 in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria
Park (she/her): born 1999 in Seoul, South Korea
Live in Los Angeles, California
Jenni Laiti (she/her)
Born 1981 in Anár, Sápmi (Inari, Finland)
Lives in Jåhkåmåhkke, Sápmi (Jokkmokk, Sweden)
Carolyn Lazard (they/them)
Born 1987 in San Bernardino, California
Lives in New York, New York
Dionne Lee
Born 1988 in New York, New York
Lives in Columbus, Ohio
Ligia Lewis (she/her)
Born 1983 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Lives in Berlin, Germany
Shuang Li (she/her)
Born 1990 in Wuyi Mountains, China
Lives in Berlin, Germany, and Geneva, Switzerland
Simon Liu (he/him)
Born 1987 in Hong Kong
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Mary Lovelace O’Neal (she/her)
Born 1942 in Jackson, Mississippi
Lives in Oakland, California, and Merida, Mexico
Cannupa Hanska Luger (he/him)
Born 1979 in Fort Yates, North Dakota (Standing Rock Reservation)
Lives in Glorieta, New Mexico
Nyala Moon (she/her)
Born 1992 in New York, New York
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
K.R.M. Mooney (he/him)
Born 1990 in Seattle, Washington
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Dala Nasser
Born 1990 in Tyre, Lebanon
Lives in Beirut, Lebanon, and London, UK
Diane Severin Nguyen (she/her)
Born 1990 in Carson, California
Lives in New York, New York
Niillasaš-Jovnna Máreha Juhani Sunná Máret–Sunna Nousuniemi (they/them)
Born 1993 in Anár, Sápmi
Lives in Anár, Sápmi
Karyn Olivier (she/her)
Born 1968 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
B. Ingrid Olson
Born 1987 in Denver, Colorado
Lives in Chicago, Illinois
Eamon Ore-Giron (he/him)
Born 1973 in Tucson, Arizona
Lives in Los Angeles, California
Edward Owens (he/him)
Born 1949 in Chicago, Illinois
Died 2010 in Chicago, Illinois
Sydney Frances Pascal (she/her)
Born 1993 in Nanaimo, Canada
Lives in Vancouver, Canada
People Who Stutter Create
Founded 2023
Jia Bin, Delicia Daniels, JJJJJerome Ellis, Conor Foran, Kristel Kubart
Julia Phillips (she/her)
Born 1985 in Hamburg, Germany
Lives in Chicago, Illinois
Mavis Pusey (she/her)
Born 1928 in Retreat, Jamaica
Died 2019 in Falmouth, Virginia
Raqs Media Collective
Founded 1992 in Delhi, India
Jeebesh Bachi, Monica Narula, Shuddhabrata Sengupta
Riar Rizaldi (he/him)
Born 1990 in Bandung, Indonesia
Lives in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Maja Ruznic (she/her)
Born 1983 in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Yugoslavia)
Lives in Placitas, New Mexico
Ser Serpas (she/her)
Born 1995 in East Los Angeles, California
Lives in New York, New York
Rose B. Simpson (she/her)
Born 1983 in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Lives in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico
Penelope Spheeris (she/her)
Born 1945 in New Orleans, Louisiana
Lives in Los Angeles, California
P. Staff (they/them)
Born 1987 in the UK
Lives in Los Angeles, California
Lada Suomenrinne (they/them)
Born 1995 in Murmansk, Russia
Lives in Espoo, Finland, and Njuorggán, Sápmi
Alex Tatarsky (they/them)
Born 1989 in New York, New York
Lives in New York, NY, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Alisi Telengut (she/her)
Born 1989 in Inner Mongolia (Telengut and Mongolian nations)
Lives in Berlin, Germany, and Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada
Clarissa Tossin (she/her)
Born 1973 in Porto Alegre, Brazil
Lives in Los Angeles, California
Tourmaline (she/her)
Born 1983 in Boston, Massachusetts
Lives in New York, New York
Chanelle Tyson (they/them)
Born 1989 in Greensboro, North Carolina
Lives in Los Angeles, California
Zulaa Urchuud (she/her)
Born 1991 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Lives in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Charisse Pearlina Weston (she/her)
Born 1988 in Houston, Texas
Lives in New York, New York
Kiyan Williams (they/them)
Born 1991 in Newark, New Jersey
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Carmen Winant (she/her)
Born 1983 in San Francisco, California
Lives in Columbus, Ohio
Takako Yamaguchi (she/her)
Born 1952 in Okayama, Japan
Lives in Santa Monica, California
Constantina Zavitsanos (any/all)
Born 1977 in Reading, Pennsylvania
Lives in New York, New York