Whitney Biennial Sneak Peek
Impressions from the leading survey of American art, Chicago's DePaul Art Museum shutters, arts leaders react to Mamdani's pick for culture commissioner, and more.
The Whitney Biennial, a leading survey of American art, opened to the press yesterday. This one is different: moody, contemplative, and with a proclivity for immersive experiences. We're still taking it all in, but you can read our first impressions today: What we liked, didn't like, or feel ambivalent about.
Also today, we asked arts leaders in New York City for their thoughts on Diya Vij's appointment as culture commissioner, and what they think her priorities should be. The billion-dollar question: Can she help make one of the world's most expensive cities more affordable for artists?
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
First Impressions From the 2026 Whitney Biennial
Our editors walk you through first impressions of this year’s Whitney Biennial, which opens to the public this Sunday, March 8. Here's what's good, bad, and what will take time to figure out.
Call for Applications: 2026 Craft Archive Fellowship
The Center for Craft will award up to four $5,000 fellowships to support research on underrepresented craft histories, culminating in an article on Hyperallergic.
News
- Faculty, students, and community members are pushing back against plans to close the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, which the university announced will close in June amid major layoffs and budgetary concerns.
- New York City arts leaders are hopeful that new cultural affairs commissioner Diya Vij will tackle the industry’s affordability crisis at a time when the Trump administration slashed federal funding for arts organizations and New York’s artists are increasingly leaving the city due to its high cost of living.
From Our Critics
Magdalena Abakanowicz Sculpted the Collective Body
Her organic sculptures convey a quiet power, the faceless anonymity of multitudes transformed into a collective oneness. | Ela Bittencourt
Everyday Traces of NYC’s SWANA Diaspora
An exhibition at NYPL offers a window into life within this paradox where invisibility and visibility are two sides of the same coin. | Natalie Haddad
The Museum at FIT Presents “Art X Fashion”
This exhibition explores the entangled and shifting relationship between fine art and fashion, tracing parallel aesthetics from 18th-century Rococo to postmodernism.
Member Comment
Sally Eckhoff on David S. Rubin’s “Wally Hedrick Protested War With Sex”:
Millay Arts Residencies
Deepen your practice with fully and partially subsidized residencies at the historic estate of poet and activist Edna St. Vincent Millay. Core and Steepletop Residencies include chef-prepared communal suppers and groceries. The application fee is $45–$60.
Deadlines: March 8, 2026 or Rolling (depending on the program) | millayarts.org
See more in this month’s list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers!
ICYMI
Art Problems: How Do I Get Into the Whitney Biennial?
Conventional wisdom says there isn’t much you can do, but Paddy Johnson knows that’s not the whole story. | Paddy Johnson
Hyperallergic Spring 2026 New York Art Guide
The gleeful subversiveness of Duchamp at MoMA, the first major US show on Raphael at The Met, and exhibitions on spirituality, the body, fashion, and more.
