Whitney Biennial 2017
17 Mar - 11 Jun 2017
The formation of self and the individual’s place in a turbulent society are among the key themes reflected in the work of the artists selected for the 2017 Whitney Biennial. The exhibition includes sixty-three participants, ranging from emerging to well-established individuals and collectives working in painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, film and video, photography, activism, performance, music, and video game design.
The Whitney Biennial is the longest running survey of contemporary art in the United States, with a history of exhibiting the most promising and influential artists and provoking lively debate. The 2017 Biennial is the Museum’s seventy-eighth in a continuous series of Annual and Biennial exhibitions initiated by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1932. It is the first to be held in the Whitney’s downtown home at 99 Gansevoort Street, and the largest ever in terms of gallery space.
The 2017 Whitney Biennial is co-curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks.
The film program is organized by Christopher Y. Lew, Mia Locks, and Aily Nash.
The Whitney Museum of American Art announced that the 2017 Whitney Biennial will be co-curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks. This will be the seventy-eighth in the Museum’s series of Annual and Biennial exhibitions inaugurated in 1932 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. The Museum’s signature survey of contemporary art in the United States, the Biennial goes on view in spring 2017. It will be the first Biennial presented in the Whitney’s new building in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. The 2017 Whitney Biennial is presented by Tiffany & Co, lead sponsor of the Biennial through 2021.
Scott Rothkopf, the Whitney’s Deputy Director for Programs and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, said, “With the opening of the new building, we're rededicating ourselves to the Whitney's longstanding commitment to emerging artists. Chris's keen eye has been critical to this renewed focus in our program, which just launched with his presentations of Jared Madere, Rachel Rose, and New Theater. Mia's interest in both historical figures and new tendencies, as well her years on the West Coast will add important perspective to the Biennial. The two of them have great intellectual chemistry, and it's exciting to see the first Biennial in our new home in the hands of such talented young curators.”
The Whitney’s Alice Pratt Brown Director Adam D. Weinberg noted: “Every Whitney Biennial is a galvanizing process for the Museum, a tradition that goes back to the institution’s roots while retaining its freshness and immediacy. Endeavoring to gauge the state of art in America today, the Biennial demands curators who are attuned to the art of the current moment and there is no question that Chris Lew and Mia Locks have their fingers on the pulse. The expanded spaces and possibilities offered by our new downtown building will make this Biennial particularly lively and groundbreaking.”
Scott Rothkopf will lead a team of advisors who will work closely with the curators to help shape the exhibition. They include: Negar Azimi, writer and senior editor at Bidoun, an award-winning publishing, curatorial, and educational initiative with a focus on the Middle East and its diasporas; Gean Moreno, artistic director of Cannonball, a Miami–based nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of critical discourse and contemporary art through residencies, grants, commissions, and public programs; Aily Nash, co-curator of Projections, the New York Film Festival’s artists' film and video section, and co-curator of the 2017 Whitney Biennial film program; and Wendy Yao, a publisher and founder of both the exhibition space 356 South Mission Road and Ooga Booga, a shop with two Los Angeles locations that specializes in independent books, music, art, and clothing.
Christopher Y. Lew is the Nancy and Fred Poses Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he has organized the first US solo exhibitions for Rachel Rose and Jared Madere. He has also organized, with Curator and Curator of Performance Jay Sanders, the first US theatrical presentation by New Theater. His other exhibitions at the Whitney include Sophia Al-Maria: Black Friday (2016); Open Plan: Lucy Dodd (2016); and the group show Mirror Cells (2016), co-organized with associate curator Jane Panetta. Prior to joining the Whitney in 2014, he organized numerous exhibitions at MoMA PS1, including Clifford Owens: Anthology (2011); New Pictures of Common Objects (2012); Jack Smith: Normal Love (2013); Taster's Choice (2014); GCC: Achievements in Retrospective (2014), and James Ferraro: 100% (2014).
Mia Locks is an independent curator based in New York. Previously, she was Assistant Curator at MoMA PS1, where she organized exhibitions including Math Bass: Off the Clock (2015); IM Heung-soon: Reincarnation (2015); Samara Golden: The Flat Side of the Knife (2014); and The Little Things Could Be Dearer (2014). She was also part of the curatorial team for Greater New York (2015), with Douglas Crimp, Peter Eleey, and Thomas J. Lax. Prior to MoMA PS1, Locks organized Cruising the Archive: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945–1980 (2012), with David Frantz, at ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative. From 2010 to 2013, she worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), where she helped to organize Blues for Smoke (2012), which traveled to the Whitney, and Bob Mizer and Tom of Finland (2013), both with Bennett Simpson.
2017 BIENNIAL ARTISTS
Zarouhie Abdalian
Born 1982 in New Orleans, LA
Lives in New Orleans, LA
Basma Alsharif
Born 1983 in Kuwait City, Kuwait
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Jo Baer
Born 1929 in Seattle, WA
Lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Eric Baudelaire
Born 1973 in Salt Lake City, UT
Lives in Paris, France
Robert Beavers
Born 1949 in Brookline, MA
Lives in Berlin, Germany and Falmouth, MA
Larry Bell
Born 1939 in Chicago, IL
Lives in Taos, NM and Los Angeles, CA
Matt Browning
Born 1984 in Redmond, WA
Lives in Seattle, WA
Susan Cianciolo
Born 1969 in Providence, RI
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Mary Helena Clark
Born 1983 in Santee, SC
Lives in Hamilton, NY
John Divola
Born 1949 in Santa Monica, CA
Lives in Riverside, CA
Celeste Dupuy-Spencer
Born 1979 in New York, NY
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Rafa Esparza
Born 1981 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Kevin Jerome Everson
Born 1965 in Mansfield, OH
Lives in Charlottesville, VA
GCC
(Nanu Al-Hamad, Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Aziz Alqatami, Barrak Alzaid, Khalid al Gharaballi, Amal Khalaf, Fatima Al Qadiri, Monira Al Qadiri)
Founded 2013
Oto Gillen
Born 1984 in New York, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Samara Golden
Born 1973 in Ann Arbor, MI
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Casey Gollan and Victoria Sobel
Born 1991 in Los Angeles, CA; born 1990 in Washington, DC
Lives in New York, NY; lives in New York, NY
Irena Haiduk
Biographical information not given
Lyle Ashton Harris
Born 1965 in Bronx, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Tommy Hartung
Born 1979 in Akron, OH
Lives in Queens, NY
Porpentine Charity Heartscape
Born 1987, location not given
Lives in Oakland, CA
Sky Hopinka
Born 1984 in Bellingham, WA
Lives in Milwaukee, WI
Shara Hughes
Born 1981 in Atlanta, GA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Aaron Flint Jamison
Born 1979 in Billings, MT
Lives in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA
KAYA
(Kerstin Brätsch and Debo Eilers)
Founded 2010
Jon Kessler
Born 1957 in Yonkers, NY
Lives in New York, NY
James N. Kienitz Wilkins
Born in 1983 in Boston, MA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Ajay Kurian
Born 1984 in Baltimore, MD
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Deana Lawson
Born 1979 in Rochester, NY
Lives Brooklyn, NY
An-My Lê
Born 1960 in Saigon, Vietnam
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Leigh Ledare
Born 1976 in Seattle, WA
Lives in New York, NY
Dani Leventhal
Born 1972 in Columbus, OH
Lives in Columbus, OH
Tala Madani
Born 1981 in Tehran, Iran
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Park McArthur
Born 1984 in Raleigh, NC
Lives in New York, NY
Harold Mendez
Born 1977 in Chicago, IL
Lives in Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA
Carrie Moyer
Born 1960 in Detroit, MI
Lives in New York, NY
Ulrike Müller
Born 1971 in Brixlegg, Austria
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Julien Nguyen
Born 1990 in Washington, DC
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Born 1976 in Saigon, Vietnam
Lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Raúl de Nieves
Born 1983 in Morelia, Mexico
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Aliza Nisenbaum
Born 1977 in Mexico City, Mexico
Lives in New York, NY
Occupy Museums
(Arthur Polendo, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Kenneth Pietrobono, Noah Fischer, and Tal Beery)
Founded 2011
Pope.L aka William Pope.L
Born 1955 in Newark, NJ
Lives in Chicago, IL
Postcommodity
(Raven Chacon, Cristóbal Martínez, Kade L. Twist)
Founded 2007
Puppies Puppies
Born 1989 in Dallas, TX
Lives in Roswell, NM
Asad Raza
Born 1974 in Buffalo, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Jessi Reaves
Born 1986 in Portland, OR
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
John Riepenhoff
Born 1982 in Milwaukee, WI
Lives in Milwaukee, WI
Chemi Rosado-Seijo
Born 1973 in Vega Alta, PR
Lives in San Juan and Naranjito, PR
Cameron Rowland
Born 1988 in Philadelphia, PA
Lives in Queens, NY
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz
Born 1972 in San Juan, PR
Lives in San Juan, PR
Dana Schutz
Born 1976 in Livonia, MI
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Cauleen Smith
Born 1967 in Riverside, CA|
Lives in Chicago, IL
Frances Stark
Born 1967 in Newport Beach, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Maya Stovall
Born 1982 in Detroit, MI
Lives in Detroit, MI
Henry Taylor
Born 1958 in Oxnard, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Torey Thornton
Born 1990 in Macon, GA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Leslie Thornton and James Richards
Born 1951 in Knoxville, TN; born 1983 in Cardiff, United Kingdom
Lives in Brooklyn, NY; lives in Berlin, Germany and London, United Kingdom
Kaari Upson
Born 1972 in San Bernardino, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Kamasi Washington
Born 1981 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Leilah Weinraub
Born 1979 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY
Jordan Wolfson
Born 1980 in New York, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Anicka Yi
Born 1971 in Seoul, South Korea
Lives in Queens, NY
The Whitney Biennial is the longest running survey of contemporary art in the United States, with a history of exhibiting the most promising and influential artists and provoking lively debate. The 2017 Biennial is the Museum’s seventy-eighth in a continuous series of Annual and Biennial exhibitions initiated by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1932. It is the first to be held in the Whitney’s downtown home at 99 Gansevoort Street, and the largest ever in terms of gallery space.
The 2017 Whitney Biennial is co-curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks.
The film program is organized by Christopher Y. Lew, Mia Locks, and Aily Nash.
The Whitney Museum of American Art announced that the 2017 Whitney Biennial will be co-curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks. This will be the seventy-eighth in the Museum’s series of Annual and Biennial exhibitions inaugurated in 1932 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. The Museum’s signature survey of contemporary art in the United States, the Biennial goes on view in spring 2017. It will be the first Biennial presented in the Whitney’s new building in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. The 2017 Whitney Biennial is presented by Tiffany & Co, lead sponsor of the Biennial through 2021.
Scott Rothkopf, the Whitney’s Deputy Director for Programs and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, said, “With the opening of the new building, we're rededicating ourselves to the Whitney's longstanding commitment to emerging artists. Chris's keen eye has been critical to this renewed focus in our program, which just launched with his presentations of Jared Madere, Rachel Rose, and New Theater. Mia's interest in both historical figures and new tendencies, as well her years on the West Coast will add important perspective to the Biennial. The two of them have great intellectual chemistry, and it's exciting to see the first Biennial in our new home in the hands of such talented young curators.”
The Whitney’s Alice Pratt Brown Director Adam D. Weinberg noted: “Every Whitney Biennial is a galvanizing process for the Museum, a tradition that goes back to the institution’s roots while retaining its freshness and immediacy. Endeavoring to gauge the state of art in America today, the Biennial demands curators who are attuned to the art of the current moment and there is no question that Chris Lew and Mia Locks have their fingers on the pulse. The expanded spaces and possibilities offered by our new downtown building will make this Biennial particularly lively and groundbreaking.”
Scott Rothkopf will lead a team of advisors who will work closely with the curators to help shape the exhibition. They include: Negar Azimi, writer and senior editor at Bidoun, an award-winning publishing, curatorial, and educational initiative with a focus on the Middle East and its diasporas; Gean Moreno, artistic director of Cannonball, a Miami–based nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of critical discourse and contemporary art through residencies, grants, commissions, and public programs; Aily Nash, co-curator of Projections, the New York Film Festival’s artists' film and video section, and co-curator of the 2017 Whitney Biennial film program; and Wendy Yao, a publisher and founder of both the exhibition space 356 South Mission Road and Ooga Booga, a shop with two Los Angeles locations that specializes in independent books, music, art, and clothing.
Christopher Y. Lew is the Nancy and Fred Poses Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he has organized the first US solo exhibitions for Rachel Rose and Jared Madere. He has also organized, with Curator and Curator of Performance Jay Sanders, the first US theatrical presentation by New Theater. His other exhibitions at the Whitney include Sophia Al-Maria: Black Friday (2016); Open Plan: Lucy Dodd (2016); and the group show Mirror Cells (2016), co-organized with associate curator Jane Panetta. Prior to joining the Whitney in 2014, he organized numerous exhibitions at MoMA PS1, including Clifford Owens: Anthology (2011); New Pictures of Common Objects (2012); Jack Smith: Normal Love (2013); Taster's Choice (2014); GCC: Achievements in Retrospective (2014), and James Ferraro: 100% (2014).
Mia Locks is an independent curator based in New York. Previously, she was Assistant Curator at MoMA PS1, where she organized exhibitions including Math Bass: Off the Clock (2015); IM Heung-soon: Reincarnation (2015); Samara Golden: The Flat Side of the Knife (2014); and The Little Things Could Be Dearer (2014). She was also part of the curatorial team for Greater New York (2015), with Douglas Crimp, Peter Eleey, and Thomas J. Lax. Prior to MoMA PS1, Locks organized Cruising the Archive: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945–1980 (2012), with David Frantz, at ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative. From 2010 to 2013, she worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), where she helped to organize Blues for Smoke (2012), which traveled to the Whitney, and Bob Mizer and Tom of Finland (2013), both with Bennett Simpson.
2017 BIENNIAL ARTISTS
Zarouhie Abdalian
Born 1982 in New Orleans, LA
Lives in New Orleans, LA
Basma Alsharif
Born 1983 in Kuwait City, Kuwait
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Jo Baer
Born 1929 in Seattle, WA
Lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Eric Baudelaire
Born 1973 in Salt Lake City, UT
Lives in Paris, France
Robert Beavers
Born 1949 in Brookline, MA
Lives in Berlin, Germany and Falmouth, MA
Larry Bell
Born 1939 in Chicago, IL
Lives in Taos, NM and Los Angeles, CA
Matt Browning
Born 1984 in Redmond, WA
Lives in Seattle, WA
Susan Cianciolo
Born 1969 in Providence, RI
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Mary Helena Clark
Born 1983 in Santee, SC
Lives in Hamilton, NY
John Divola
Born 1949 in Santa Monica, CA
Lives in Riverside, CA
Celeste Dupuy-Spencer
Born 1979 in New York, NY
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Rafa Esparza
Born 1981 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Kevin Jerome Everson
Born 1965 in Mansfield, OH
Lives in Charlottesville, VA
GCC
(Nanu Al-Hamad, Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Aziz Alqatami, Barrak Alzaid, Khalid al Gharaballi, Amal Khalaf, Fatima Al Qadiri, Monira Al Qadiri)
Founded 2013
Oto Gillen
Born 1984 in New York, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Samara Golden
Born 1973 in Ann Arbor, MI
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Casey Gollan and Victoria Sobel
Born 1991 in Los Angeles, CA; born 1990 in Washington, DC
Lives in New York, NY; lives in New York, NY
Irena Haiduk
Biographical information not given
Lyle Ashton Harris
Born 1965 in Bronx, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Tommy Hartung
Born 1979 in Akron, OH
Lives in Queens, NY
Porpentine Charity Heartscape
Born 1987, location not given
Lives in Oakland, CA
Sky Hopinka
Born 1984 in Bellingham, WA
Lives in Milwaukee, WI
Shara Hughes
Born 1981 in Atlanta, GA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Aaron Flint Jamison
Born 1979 in Billings, MT
Lives in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA
KAYA
(Kerstin Brätsch and Debo Eilers)
Founded 2010
Jon Kessler
Born 1957 in Yonkers, NY
Lives in New York, NY
James N. Kienitz Wilkins
Born in 1983 in Boston, MA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Ajay Kurian
Born 1984 in Baltimore, MD
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Deana Lawson
Born 1979 in Rochester, NY
Lives Brooklyn, NY
An-My Lê
Born 1960 in Saigon, Vietnam
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Leigh Ledare
Born 1976 in Seattle, WA
Lives in New York, NY
Dani Leventhal
Born 1972 in Columbus, OH
Lives in Columbus, OH
Tala Madani
Born 1981 in Tehran, Iran
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Park McArthur
Born 1984 in Raleigh, NC
Lives in New York, NY
Harold Mendez
Born 1977 in Chicago, IL
Lives in Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA
Carrie Moyer
Born 1960 in Detroit, MI
Lives in New York, NY
Ulrike Müller
Born 1971 in Brixlegg, Austria
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Julien Nguyen
Born 1990 in Washington, DC
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Born 1976 in Saigon, Vietnam
Lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Raúl de Nieves
Born 1983 in Morelia, Mexico
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Aliza Nisenbaum
Born 1977 in Mexico City, Mexico
Lives in New York, NY
Occupy Museums
(Arthur Polendo, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Kenneth Pietrobono, Noah Fischer, and Tal Beery)
Founded 2011
Pope.L aka William Pope.L
Born 1955 in Newark, NJ
Lives in Chicago, IL
Postcommodity
(Raven Chacon, Cristóbal Martínez, Kade L. Twist)
Founded 2007
Puppies Puppies
Born 1989 in Dallas, TX
Lives in Roswell, NM
Asad Raza
Born 1974 in Buffalo, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Jessi Reaves
Born 1986 in Portland, OR
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
John Riepenhoff
Born 1982 in Milwaukee, WI
Lives in Milwaukee, WI
Chemi Rosado-Seijo
Born 1973 in Vega Alta, PR
Lives in San Juan and Naranjito, PR
Cameron Rowland
Born 1988 in Philadelphia, PA
Lives in Queens, NY
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz
Born 1972 in San Juan, PR
Lives in San Juan, PR
Dana Schutz
Born 1976 in Livonia, MI
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Cauleen Smith
Born 1967 in Riverside, CA|
Lives in Chicago, IL
Frances Stark
Born 1967 in Newport Beach, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Maya Stovall
Born 1982 in Detroit, MI
Lives in Detroit, MI
Henry Taylor
Born 1958 in Oxnard, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Torey Thornton
Born 1990 in Macon, GA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Leslie Thornton and James Richards
Born 1951 in Knoxville, TN; born 1983 in Cardiff, United Kingdom
Lives in Brooklyn, NY; lives in Berlin, Germany and London, United Kingdom
Kaari Upson
Born 1972 in San Bernardino, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Kamasi Washington
Born 1981 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Leilah Weinraub
Born 1979 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY
Jordan Wolfson
Born 1980 in New York, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Anicka Yi
Born 1971 in Seoul, South Korea
Lives in Queens, NY