Isaac Julien, detail, Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die), 2022 (photo by Ashley Reese), a highlight of the 2024 Whitney Biennial
WHITNEY BIENNIAL: EVEN BETTER THAN THE REAL THING
Whitney Museum of American Art
99 Gansevoort St.
Sunday, August 11, free with timed tickets, 10:30 am – 6:00 pm
212-570-3600
whitney.org
According to Ligia Lewis, the eighty-first Whitney Biennial is “a dissonant chorus”; that’s an apt description of the exhibition, which features more than seventy artists contributing painting, sculpture, video, live performances, and sound and visual installations. Organized by Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli with Min Sun Jeon and Beatriz Cifuentes, this edition is themed “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” with works that delve into the sociopolitical aspects of AI, personal identity, and marginalization.
The biennial comes to a close on August 11 with a free day of special programming as part of the Second Sundays initiative, including tours, workshops, and storytelling. Navigating the biennial can be a daunting task; below are ten recommended highlights, followed by the scheduled programs.
Nikita Gale, Tempo Rubato (Stolen Time): The keys of a seemingly haunted player piano are not connected to wires, so the sound made is just that of the pressing of the wood. Lights dim as the visitor contemplates whether what they are hearing is music and what constitutes an original composition.
Isaac Julien, Iolaus/In the Life (Once Again . . . Statues Never Die): British filmmaker Isaac Julien invites museumgoers to wander around multiple screens hung at different angles and sculptures by African American artists Richmond Barthé and Matthew Angelo Harrison as a film depicts conversations with Alain Locke (André Holland), the influential Harlem Renaissance writer, philosopher, educator, and first Black Rhodes scholar, and white chemist and art collector Albert C. Barnes (Danny Huston).
Seba Calfuqueo, Tray Tray Ko: Chilean artist Seba Calfuqueo makes her way through the sacred landscape where the Mapuche people live, walking amid trees, rocks, and a river, draping herself in a long train of electric blue fabric.
Carolyn Lazard, Toilette: A mazelike conglomeration of mirrored medicine cabinets filled with Vaseline, a by-product of oil and gas production, brings up thoughts of the price of self-care and caregiving as the corporatization of the health-care industry and the decimation of the rainforest get stronger.
Julia Phillips, Mediator: Hamburg-born, Chicago-based Julia Phillips examines pregnancy and motherhood in a piece composed of two chest casts with partial faces separated by a microphone, evoking a spinning game one might find in a public playground.
P. Staff, Afferent Nerves and A Travers Le Mal: A long room bathed in an ominous yellow contains an abstract self-portrait of the UK-born, LA-based artist, with a live electrical net hovering overhead, inviting visitors into what P. Staff calls “a particular trans mode of being that exists in the tension between dissociation and hypervigilance.”
Kiyan Williams, Ruins of Empire II or The Earth Swallows the Master’s House: A reflective aluminum statue of Black trans activist Marsha P. Johnson, holding a sign that declares, “Power to the People,” watches as the north facade of the White House, topped with an upside-down American flag, sinks into the earth in this outdoor installation. Viewers are encouraged to walk through and look closely at the impending death of a once-powerful building constructed by enslaved laborers.
Constantina Zavitsanos, All the time and Call to Post (Violet): Take a seat on the carpeted ramp and get lost in the blue-violet light as captions projected on the wall share such thoughts as “The universe is made of abundance” as you feel the infrasonics of modulated speech reverberating underneath you.
Holland Andrews, Air I Breathe: Radio / Hyperacusis Version 1: Sleeping Bag: Brooklyn-based composer and performer Holland Andrews has created two pieces for the biennial, Air I Breathe: Radio in the stairwell and Hyperacusis Version 1: Sleeping Bag, located in the elevator, works that incorporate music and found sound — in the latter, some made by the elevator itself — that offer a respite from visual overload.
Sunday, August 11
15-Minute Tours: Highlights of the Exhibition, multiple times
Artmaking: Magnetic Mosaic, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Artmaking with Eamon Ore-Giron, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Story Time with NYPL in the Gallery, 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm
Double Take: Guided Close-Looking through Intergenerational Dialogue, for teens, 1:00
Recorridos Familiares, 2:30
Recorridos de 15 minutos, 3:00
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]