As this year’s Whitney Biennial wraps up, we invited Hyperallergic critics and reporters to reflect on a tumultuous exhibition.
2019 Whitney Biennial
Posted inArt
Tackling Gentrification and Other Injustices Through Landscape Painting
Eddie Arroyo decidedly updates the genre of American landscape painting, recording real-estate developments and gentrification and capturing the flux of contemporary urban landscapes.
Posted inOpinion
After Kanders, Decolonization Is the Way Forward
Activist organization Decolonize This Place believes “the museum can be made responsive to people rather than to the dictates of capital, that it can foster creativity and memory rather than functioning as a tool to launder the reputations of the ultra-wealthy.”
Posted inNews
Artists No Longer Request Their Work to be Withdrawn from Whitney Biennial
In the wake of Warren Kanders’s resignation from the board of trustees, the eight artists wrote to the museum curators permitting their work to remain in the galleries.
Posted inNews
Warren Kanders Resigns From Whitney Museum Board After Months of Controversy and Protest [UPDATED]
Warren Kanders’s wife, Allison, simultaneously resigned from the museum’s painting and sculpture committee. The news comes after months of protests and an emerging boycott, with eight artists withdrawing from the 2019 Whitney Biennial.
Posted inIn Brief
As Artists Withdraw From the Whitney Biennial Over Kanders Controversy, Others Refuse the Call to Boycott
Laura Ortman, Thirza Cuthand, Brendan Fernandes, Marcus Fischer, Nibia Pastrana Santiago, and Maia Ruth Lee have publicly announced their intention to stay in the biennial despite calls for a boycott.
Posted inNews
Forensic Architecture Says It Has Found Bullet Linking Whitney Vice Chair to Violence in Gaza, Withdraws from Biennial
“After this discovery, what may have started as the Tear Gas Biennial is now the Sierra Bullet Biennial,” a Forensic Architecture researcher told Hyperallergic.
Posted inNews
Eight Artists Withdraw Their Work From 2019 Whitney Biennial [UPDATED]
Korakrit Arunanondchai, Meriem Bennani, Nicole Eisenman, and Nicholas Galanin say that the museum has failed to adequately respond to the Warren Kanders controversy. Following the announcement, Eddie Arroyo, Christine Sun Kim, Agustina Woodgate, and Forensic Architecture announced their withdrawal.
Posted inArt
How Do Artists Get Into the Whitney Biennial?
I made a spreadsheet to find out what the participants in the Whitney Biennial have in common.
Posted inArt
Probing the Proper Grounds for Criticism in the Wake of the 2019 Whitney Biennial
In the wake of numerous critiques regarding the lack of perceived “radicality” in the Whitney Biennial, a critic analyzes the implications of artist Simone Leigh’s response.
Posted inFilm
Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us Is a Brutal Look at a 30-Year-Old Injustice
The new Netflix miniseries joins an ongoing cultural conversation over the case of the Central Park Five.
Posted inFilm
The Exciting Native American Film Program at This Year’s Whitney Biennial
At Yale Union, visitors can preview the films Sky Hopinka has curated for the Biennial.