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# Whitney Museum Announces 2019 Biennial Participants, But One Artist Withdraws
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-announces-2019-biennial-participants-but-one-artist-withdraws/
- Published: 2019-02-26T00:14:53.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:08:56.000Z
- Description: Artist Michael Rakowitz withdrew his participation, opposing the “toxic philanthropy" of Whitney vice chairman Warren Kanders.
- Author: Jasmine Weber
- Tags: News, Warren Kanders, Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:34 (2019, 2020, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2019/02/17332808416_b6cfc1eb17_k-1460.jpg)

The Whitney Museum from High Line Park (photo courtesy Shinya Suzuki’s Flickrstream)

Today, the Whitney Museum of American Art announced the 75 artists (listed below) who will contribute work to the 2019 Whitney Biennial, curated by Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta and opening May 17\. But one artist who was slated to appear, Michael Rakowitz, has withdrawn from the event.

The highly anticipated exhibition of contemporary art has been entangled in political disputes in the past, perhaps this year more than ever. Recent controversy sparked after news resurfaced [identifying a Whitney vice chairman, Warren Kanders, as the owner and CEO of Safariland](https://hyperallergic.com/472964/a-whitney-museum-vice-chairman-owns-a-manufacturer-supplying-tear-gas-at-the-border/), a multi-billion dollar weapons manufacturer. (Forbes estimates that Kanders himself is worth $700 million.) Safariland products, particularly tear gas, have been used at highly-reported political clashes, including at Standing Rock, Baltimore, Ferguson, Gaza, and recently, at the US–Mexico border to prevent Central American asylum-seekers from entering the United States.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/11/safariland.jpg)

A teargas canister manufactured by Safariland, discovered at the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry by immigration journalist Patrick Timmons (image courtesy of and by Patrick Timmons/@patrickwtimmons)

In the past, the Biennial has been a political stomping ground for artists, and simultaneously artists and activists in disagreement with curatorial and artistic decisions. The 2017 biennial became the [focus of numerous protests opposing a painting by Dana Schutz](https://hyperallergic.com/367012/protesters-block-demand-removal-of-a-painting-of-emmett-till-at-the-whitney-biennial/) depicting Emmett Till, a Black 14-year-old brutally murdered in 1955 over false accusations that he whistled at a white woman. In 2014, Joe Scanlan’s Donelle Woolford artwork [prompted the Yams Collective to withdraw their participation](https://hyperallergic.com/126420/artist-collective-withdraws-from-whitney-biennial/). 

Today, the[ *New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/arts/design/2019-whitney-biennial.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) reported that, troubled by Kanders’s role at the Whitney, artist Michael Rakowitz has withdrawn his participation. Rakowitz had been commissioned to recreate artifacts and locations destroyed in the Iraq war.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/11/michaelrakowitz8.jpg)

Installation view of Michael Rakowitz: Backstroke of the West at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (image by Claire Voon for Hyperallergic)

The *NYT* reports that the artist submitted his withdrawal on December 18, just weeks after Whitney [staff penned a letter](https://hyperallergic.com/473702/whitney-tear-gas-manufacturer-is-revealed/) to the museum administration requesting the “development and distribution of a clear policy around Trustee participation.” (In response, Whitney director [Adam Weinberg released a public statement](https://hyperallergic.com/474176/whitney-museum-director-pens-letter-after-vice-chairs-relationship-to-weapons-manufacturer-is-publicized/) asserting that the Whitney “cannot right all the ills of an unjust world, nor is that its role.”)

Rakowitz called Kanders’s participation on the museum board “toxic philanthropy,” saying that participating despite this revelation made him feel “like I’d be betraying everything that I’ve ever cared about in the work that I make.”

“I felt like the only way to truly leverage any kind of voice was to say that often times what an artist doesn’t do is more important than what they said they will do,” he told the *NYT*.

Last month, arts labor organization [W.A.G.E. circulated an open letter](https://hyperallergic.com/w-a-g-e-asks-artists-to-demand-payment-and-withhold-content-from-2019-whitney-biennial/) to Biennial artists asking them to withhold their work from the Biennial until the staff demands were met as well as demand payment for their contributions to the biennial. The *NYT* reported that the Whitney will be compensating artists $1,500 for their participation, which is the same amount suggested by W.A.G.E.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/12/whitney-protest-hakim-1460-4.jpg)

Activists burned sage in the museum atrium (photo by Hakim Bishara/Hyperallergic)

In December, activist organization Decolonize This Place [led a protest at the Whitney](https://hyperallergic.com/475198/activists-protest-at-whitney-museum-demanding-vice-chairman-and-owner-of-tear-gas-manufacturer-must-go/), filling its lobby with sage smoke, speaking out against Weinberg’s decision to defend Kanders’s role at the museum, and acting in solidarity with Whitney staffers.

In a statement sent to Hyperallergic this evening, organizers from Decolonize This Place wrote:

> We respect and appreciate the artists and curators of the biennial, along with the staff who have spoken out against Kanders. We also appreciate Michael Rakowitz’s decision to boycott the Biennial. We stand in solidarity with all artists who make a similar decision in the coming months.We are organizing and in conversation with biennial artists on how we can pressure the museum to do the right thing, which begins with the removal of Warren Kanders.It is important to note that Warren Kanders is just the start of the crisis at the Whitney. There is no safe space for profiteers of all state violence.As we move forward separately and together, we seek to supplement the work in the biennial, which exhibits the work of Indigenous, Black, and Brown artists also thinking through these issues. When we take creative actions in the coming months, and apply a diversity of tactics and strategies, it will be an extension of the issues raised in this biennial beyond representation to examine the funding and structural complicity of the museum in state violence against communities of color. We will do so with respect for the participants of the biennial, the curators, and the staff of the museum.

Hockley told the NYT that the curatorial intent behind this year’s biennial was to incorporate “as broad a range of artists as we could in all kind of senses of that word, whether that’s medium-wise, interest-wise, geographically, demographically, generationally.”

These artists, Panetta told the *NYT*, are “grappling with questions about race, gender, financial inequality, gentrification, the vulnerability of the body.”

A press release circulated by the museum said that this is one of the youngest groups of artists in the biennial’s history — three-quarters of participants are under the age of 40, and only five have exhibited in previous Whitney Biennials. Hockley and Panetta visited over 300 studios across the nation before selecting emerging stars like Troy Michie, Simone Leigh, and Martine Syms.

See the full list of participating artists, provided by the Whitney Museum in an email, below:

**Eddie Arroyo**  
Born 1976 in Miami, FL  
Lives in Miami, FL

**Korakrit Arunanondchai**  
Born 1986 in Bangkok, Thailand  
Lives in New York, NY, and Bangkok, Thailand

**Olga Balema**   
Born 1984 in Lviv, Ukraine  
Lives in New York, NY

**Morgan Bassichis**  
Born 1983 in Newton, MA  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Blitz Bazawule**  
Born 1982 in Accra, Ghana  
Lives in New York, NY

**Alexandra Bell**  
Born 1983 in Chicago, IL  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Brian Belott**  
Born 1973 in East Orange, NJ  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Meriem Bennani**  
Born 1988 in Rabat, Morocco  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Robert Bittenbender**  
Born 1987 in Washington, DC  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Lucas Blalock**  
Born 1978 in Asheville, NC  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Garrett Bradley**  
Born 1986 in New York, NY  
Lives in New Orleans, LA

**Milano Chow**  
Born 1987 in Los Angeles, CA  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

**Colectivo Los Ingrávidos**  
Founded 2011 in Tehuacán, Mexico

**Thirza Cuthand**  
Born 1978 in Regina, Saskatchewan  
Lives in Toronto, Ontario

**John Edmonds**  
Born 1989 in Washington, DC  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Nicole Eisenman**  
Born 1965 in Verdun, France  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Janiva Ellis**  
Born 1987 in Oakland, CA  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY and Los Angeles, CA

**Kota Ezawa**  
Born 1969 in Cologne, West Germany  
Lives in Oakland, CA

**Brendan Fernandes**  
Born 1979 in Nairobi, Kenya  
Lives in Chicago, IL

**FIERCE and Paper Tiger Television**  
FIERCE  
Founded 2000 in New York, NY  
Paper Tiger Television  
Founded 1981 in New York, NY

**Marcus Fischer**  
Born 1977 in Torrance, CA  
Lives in Portland, OR

**Forensic Architecture**  
Founded 2010 in London, United Kingdom

**Ellie Ga**  
Born 1976 in New York, NY  
Lives in Stockholm, Sweden

**Nicholas Galanin**  
Born 1979 in Sitka, AK  
Lives in Sitka, AK

**Sofía Gallisá Muriente**  
Born 1986 in San Juan, PR  
Lives in San Juan, PR

**Jeffrey Gibson**  
Born 1972 in Colorado Springs, CO  
Lives in Germantown, NY

**Todd Gray**  
Born 1954 in Los Angeles, CA  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA, and Akwidaa, Ghana

**Sam Green**  
Born 1966 in Detroit, MI  
Lives in New York, NY

**Barbara Hammer**  
Born 1939 in Los Angeles, CA  
Lives in New York, NY

**Ilana Harris-Babou**  
Born 1991 in Brooklyn, NY  
Lives in Williamstown, MA, and Brooklyn, NY

**Matthew Angelo Harrison**  
Born 1989 in Detroit, MI  
Lives in Detroit, MI

**Curran Hatleberg**  
Born 1982 in Washington, DC  
Lives in Baltimore, MD

**Madeline Hollander**  
Born 1986 in Los Angeles, CA  
Lives in New York, NY

**Iman Issa**  
Born 1979 in Cairo, Egypt  
Lives in Berlin, Germany, and New York, NY

**Tomashi Jackson**   
Born 1980 in Houston, TX  
Lives in New York, NY, and Cambridge, MA

**Steffani Jemison**  
Born 1981 in Berkeley, CA  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, and Jackson Polys**  
Adam Khalil  
Born 1988 in Nyack, NY  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Zack Khalil  
Born 1991 in Newton, MA  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

Jackson Polys  
Born 1976 in Ketchikan, AK  
Lives in New York, NY

**Christine Sun Kim**  
Born 1980 in Orange County, CA  
Lives in Berlin, Germany

**Josh Kline**  
Born 1979 in Philadelphia, PA  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Autumn Knight**  
Born 1980 in Houston, TX  
Lives in New York, NY

**Carolyn Lazard**  
Born 1987 in Upland, CA  
Lives in Philadelphia, PA

**Maia Ruth Lee**  
Born 1983 in Busan, South Korea  
Lives in New York, NY

**Simone Leigh**  
Born 1967 in Chicago, IL  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Daniel Lind-Ramos**  
Born 1953 in Loíza, PR  
Lives in Loíza, PR

**James Luna**  
Born 1950 in Orange, CA  
Died 2018

**Eric N. Mack**  
Born 1987 in Columbia, MD  
Lives in New York, NY

**Calvin Marcus**  
Born 1988 in San Francisco, CA  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

**Tiona Nekkia McClodden**  
Born 1981 in Blytheville, AR  
Lives in Philadelphia, PA

**Troy Michie**  
Born 1985 in El Paso, TX  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Joe Minter**  
Born 1943 in Birmingham, AL  
Lives in Birmingham, AL

**Keegan Monaghan**  
Born 1986 in Evanston, IL  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Caroline Monnet**  
Born 1985 in Ottawa, Ontario  
Lives in Montreal, Quebec

**Darius Clark Monroe**  
Born 1980 in Houston, TX  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Ragen Moss**  
Born 1978 in New York, NY  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

**Sahra Motalebi**  
Born 1979 in Birmingham, AL  
Lives in New York, NY, and Delaware County, NY

**Marlon Mullen**  
Born 1963 in Richmond, CA  
Lives in Rodeo, CA

**Jeanette Mundt**  
Born 1982 in Princeton, NJ  
Lives in Somerset, NJ

**Wangechi Mutu**  
Born 1972 in Nairobi, Kenya  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY, and Nairobi, Kenya

**Las Nietas de Nonó (Lydela Nonó and Michel Nonó)**   
Established 2011

Lydela Nonó  
Born 1979 in San Juan, PR  
Lives in Carolina, PR

Michel Nonó  
Born 1982 in San Juan, PR  
Lives in Carolina, PR

**Jenn Nkiru**  
Born 1987 in London, United Kingdom  
Lives in London, United Kingdom

**Laura Ortman**  
Born 1973 in Whiteriver, AZ  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Jennifer Packer**  
Born 1984 in Philadelphia, PA  
Lives in New York, NY

**nibia pastrana santiago**  
Born 1987 in Caguas, PR  
Lives in San Juan, PR

**Elle Pérez**  
Born 1989 in the Bronx, NY  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Pat Phillips**  
Born 1987 in Lakenheath, United Kingdom  
Lives in Pineville, LA

**Gala Porras-Kim**  
Born 1984 in Bogotá, Colombia  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

**Walter Price**  
Born 1989 in Macon, GA  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Carissa Rodriguez**  
Born 1970 in New York, NY  
Lives in New York, NY

**Paul Mpagi Sepuya**  
Born 1982 in San Bernardino, CA  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

**Heji Shin**  
Born 1983 in Seoul, South Korea  
Lives in New York, NY

**Diane Simpson**  
Born 1935 in Joliet, IL  
Lives in Wilmette, IL

**Martine Syms**  
Born 1988 in Los Angeles, CA  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

**Kyle Thurman**  
Born 1986 in West Chester, PA  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Mariana Valencia**  
Born 1984 in Chicago, IL  
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

**Agustina Woodgate**  
Born 1981 in Buenos Aires, Argentina  
Lives in Miami, FL, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands