Learning Series Lectures in Contemporary Art: The Biennial in Context

Learning Series Members in the Curate Your Own Program

Although the 2014 Whitney Biennial is effectively organized as three individual exhibitions—curators Stuart Comer, Anthony Elms, and Michelle Grabner each installed and programmed a single floor of the Museum—tracing the connections between artworks on all floors of the Museum can point towards the important questions and concerns that engage today's artists. This two-part class with Whitney teaching fellow Paula Burleigh takes two themes as starting points for discussion: on the one hand, the literary bent of many Biennial participants as well as the widespread interest in language and, on the other hand, a burgeoning of craft traditions and a focus on materiality seen in fiber and ceramic art and in many examples of gestural abstract painting. Exploring the connections between these and other seemingly disparate themes, the class aims to locate the Biennial within the context of current artistic and curatorial practices.

Learning Series members are invited to select one two-part course:

Option 1: (Wait list only) Saturdays, March 15 and March 22, 4:15–5:45 pm 
Option 2: (Wait list only) Sundays, April 6 and 13, 11:30 am–1 pm
Option 3: Wednesdays, April 9 and 16, 7:15–8:45 pm
Option 4: Thursdays, May 8 and 15, 7:15–8:45 pm

Open to Learning Series members. Become a member, or upgrade your membership by calling (212) 570-3641.