Jill Kroesen: Collecting Injustices, Unnecessary Suffering Wed, July 27, 2016, 10:30 am–3 pm

Jill Kroesen: Collecting Injustices, Unnecessary Suffering

Wed, July 27, 2016
10:30 am–3 pm

A schematic of the set showing booths such as Married Men's Liars Club and Any Asshole Can Have a Kid Birthing Center
A schematic of the set showing booths such as Married Men's Liars Club and Any Asshole Can Have a Kid Birthing Center

Jill Kroesen, set and character schematic for Collecting Injustices, Unnecessary Suffering, 2016

Become a member today!

Join now to enjoy early access to exhibitions and events, unlimited free admission, guest privileges, and more.

Join now

The Susan and John Hess Family Theater is equipped with an induction loop and infrared assistive listening system. Accessible seating is available.

Learn more about access services and programs.

Floor Three, Susan and John Hess Family Theater

As part of the exhibition Jill Kroesen: Collecting Injustices, Unnecessary Suffering, the theatrical installation is on view in the theater during Museum Hours, July 27–31. Featuring set design by artist Jared Bark and costumes designed by Mary Kay Stolz, this mis-en-scene portrays an imagined small town on which Kroesen inscribes her allegorical work, manifesting the structures of parenting, socialization, and control that shape individual lives and collective society.

Artist, composer, and singer Jill Kroesen was an essential figure in the 1970s downtown New York performance milieu, working at the intersection of experimental music and then-emerging performance art. In the words of performance critic Sally Banes, “condensing political events with soap opera plots and infantile rationalizations about the way the world works,” Kroesen’s “systems portraits,” as she came to call her works, depicting socioeconomic, sexual, and gender politics through funny, ramshackle, and chaotic performances. Coinciding with the Whitney’s collection exhibition Human Interest, Kroesen’s performance employs portraiture as a means of exploring power dynamics. After an artistic hiatus of over thirty years, she returns this summer with a new show at the Whitney, Collecting Injustices, Unnecessary Suffering

July 27–28
10:30 am–3 pm

July 29–31
10:30 am–4 pm

Free with Museum admission.


On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.