POLITICS & INCLUSIVITY @ THE 2017 WHITNEY BIENNIAL – EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW

The 2017 Whitney Biennial
March 7 – June 11
The Whitney Museum
99 Gansevoort St. NYC 10014

On March 13, The Untitled Magazine headed to the meatpacking district for an exclusive preview of the 2017 Whitney Biennial. Before you head over to the Whitney, prepare yourself! Make sure you don’t miss the most exciting artwork of the exhibition by viewing our preview gallery above.

The Whitney Biennial is the longest running survey of American art in history and is known for showing cutting edge artwork from emerging American artists and art collectives. In the past, the exhibition has helped to forward the careers of leading art figures, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and Jeff Koons. The timing of this year’s exhibition holds special significance. It is the debut biennial to be shown at the Whitney Museum’s new, much embraced, Gansevoort Street location and it is the first one in twenty years whose curation coincided with a presidential election. As such, much of the featured artwork is politically toned with key themes including the formation of self and the individual’s place in a turbulent society. Curators of the Whitney Biennial have never been afraid to shy away from politics. In fact the 1993 edition is often referred to as the “political biennial” and was the most diverse exhibit at a major art institution at it’s time. This year’s biennial continues this legacy. Like many other art institutions, the Whitney is countering the divisive rhetoric of today by promoting inclusivity. Curators Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks significantly tightened up the 2017 roster to include only sixty-three artists, in comparison to 2014’s one-hundred-and-three. Despite the smaller showing, the selection is much more ethnically diverse than previous years and features many women. Work also spans a wide landscape of mediums. In addition to more traditional mediums such as painting, video and installation art is prominently featured this year.

Founded in 1930 by artist and philanthropist, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the Whitney Musuem of American Art has become well-known as the foremost collection of twentieth and twenty-first century American Art. Artwork in the 2017 Whitney Biennial will be shown on the fifth and sixth floor of the museum, with additional installations shown in the lobby, stairwell, conference rooms, terraces, and offsite at the Lower Manhattan Arts academy.

For more information, head to the Whitney Museum’s official website.

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