Whitney Biennial 2017
Mar 17–June 11, 2017

The 2017 Whitney Biennial, the seventy-eighth installment of the longest-running survey of American art, arrives at a time rife with racial tensions, economic inequities, and polarizing politics. Throughout the exhibition, artists challenge us to consider how these realities affect our senses of self and community. The Biennial features sixty-three individuals and collectives whose work takes a wide variety of forms, from painting and installation to activism and video-game design. 

In the final film in a three-part series on the Biennial, artists discuss new ways of making and experiencing art.

0 / 63

1

Zarouhie Abdalian

Born 1982 in New Orleans, LA
Lives in New Orleans, LA
Staircase between terraces at the Whitney

1

2

Basma Alsharif

Born 1983 in Kuwait City, Kuwait
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
White building and evergreen tree in arid landscape

2

3

Jo Baer

Born 1929 in Seattle, WA
Lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands

3

4

Eric Baudelaire

Born 1973 in Salt Lake City, UT
Lives in Paris, France
View of sprawling city from a hill

4

5

Robert Beavers

Born 1949 in Brookline, MA
Lives in Berlin, Germany and Falmouth, MA

5

6

Larry Bell

Born 1939 in Chicago, IL
Lives in Taos, NM, and Los Angeles, CA

6

7

Matt Browning

Born 1984 in Redmond, WA
Lives in Seattle, WA
A grid made from wood

7

8

Susan Cianciolo

Born 1969 in Providence, RI
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

8

9

Mary Helena Clark

Born 1983 in Santee, SC
Lives in Hamilton, NY
Hazy view of trees and a small flame along lakeshore

9

10

Raúl de Nieves

Born 1983 in Morelia, Mexico
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Mannequin with cone shaped head covered in pieces of cloth

10

11

John Divola

Born 1949 in Santa Monica, CA
Lives in Riverside, CA
Photograph of portrait hanging on an abandoned building wall

11

12

Celeste Dupuy-Spencer

Born 1979 in New York, NY
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Man standing at desk point to computer

12

13

Rafa Esparza

Born 1981 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

13

14

Kevin Jerome Everson

Born 1965 in Mansfield, OH
Lives in Charlottesville, VA
Woman taking hearing test

14

15

GCC

(Nanu Al-Hamad, Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Aziz Alqatami, Barrak Alzaid, Khalid al Gharaballi, Amal Khalaf, Fatima Al Qadiri, and Monira Al Qadiri)
Founded 2013
Large yellow gourd-shaped sculpture covered in black writing and nails

15

16

Oto Gillen

Born 1984 in New York, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Oto

16

17

Samara Golden

Born 1973 in Ann Arbor, MI
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

17

18

Casey Gollan and Victoria Sobel

Casey Gollan
Born 1991 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in New York, NY

Victoria Sobel
Born 1990 in Washington, DC
Lives in New York, NY
Sticker with white words and geometric shapes on window pane

18

19

Irena Haiduk in collaboration with jesus.d and Daniel Sauter

Biographical information not given
Word "Jugoexport" superimposed over image of snakes

19

20

Lyle Ashton Harris

Born 1965 in Bronx, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Photograph of Harris in bed with Caravaggio poster in background

20

21

Tommy Hartung

Born 1979 in Akron, OH
Lives in Queens, NY
Figure with images projected on face standing against red background

21

22

Sky Hopinka

Born 1984 in Bellingham, WA
Lives in Milwaukee, WI

22

23

Shara Hughes

Born 1981 in Atlanta, GA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
An abstract landscape in bright green, orange, and red.

23

24

Aaron Flint Jamison

Born 1979 in Billings, MT
Lives in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA
Two rectangular metal boxes containing wooden sheets, mounted on the wall of a conference room

24

25

KAYA

(Kerstin Brätsch and Debo Eilers)
Founded 2010
abstract painted sculptural pieces hanging from black straps

25

26

Jon Kessler

Born 1957 in Yonkers, NY
Lives in New York, NY
An installation of multimedia in a gallery.

26

27

Ajay Kurian

Born 1984 in Baltimore, MD
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Deformed mannequin-like figures climbing ropes hanging from ceiling

27

28

Deana Lawson

Born 1979 in Rochester, NY
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Portrait of a woman and a young boy in a living room

28

29

An-My Lê

Born 1960 in Saigon, Vietnam
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Film crew working in tornado-like storm

29

30

Leigh Ledare

Born 1976 in Seattle, WA
Lives in New York, NY
Street crowded with people, woman in foreground smoking cigarette

30

31

Dani Leventhal

Born 1972 in Columbus, OH
Lives in Columbus, OH
A video still of person putting a rock in their mouth.

31

32

Tala Madani

Born 1981 in Tehran, Iran
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Figures emitting light from various orifices

32

33

Park McArthur

Born 1984 in Raleigh, NC
Lives in New York, NY
Cube-shaped steel sculpture

33

34

Harold Mendez

Born 1977 in Chicago, IL
Lives in Chicago, IL, and Los Angeles, CA
Piece of tree trunk on a wrought-iron bar in gridded base

34

35

Carrie Moyer

Born 1960 in Detroit, MI
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Abstract painting in black, blue, and shades of red.

35

36

Ulrike Müller

Born 1971 in Brixlegg, Austria
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Abstract piece in red, black, white, and gray

36

37

Beatriz Santiago Muñoz

Born 1972 in San Juan, PR
Lives in San Juan, PR
Young man holding electronic device

37

38

Julien Nguyen

Born 1990 in Washington, DC
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Painted images in a grid below "The New York Times" newspaper logo at the top

38

39

Tuan Andrew Nguyen

Born 1976 in Saigon, Vietnam
Lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Large boat in tropical setting

39

40

Aliza Nisenbaum

Born 1977 in Mexico City, Mexico
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
A painting of two people lounging on a couch and reading the newspaper with a colorfully patterned background.

40

41

Occupy Museums

(Arthur Polendo, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Kenneth Pietrobono, Noah Fischer, and Tal Beery)
Founded 2011
Various artworks inside wooden compartments

41

42

Pope.L aka William Pope.L

Born 1955 in Newark, NJ
Lives in Chicago, IL
Grid-like structure of objects hung on wall with framed document and liquor bottle

42

43

Porpentine Charity Heartscape

Born 1987
Lives in Oakland, CA
List of twelve months with occult names

43

44

Postcommodity

(Raven Chacon, Cristóbal Martínez, and Kade L. Twist)
Founded 2007
Fence obscuring view of field

44

45

Puppies Puppies

Born 1989 in Dallas, TX
Lives in Roswell, NM
Person standing on balcony dressed as the Statue of Liberty

45

46

Asad Raza

Born 1974 in Buffalo, NY
Lives in New York, NY
Tree branch bathed in purple light

46

47

Jessi Reaves

Born 1986 in Portland, OR
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
sculptural chair

47

48

John Riepenhoff

Born 1982 in Milwaukee, WI
Lives in Milwaukee, WI
Sculptures of legs supporting work of art

48

49

Chemi Rosado-Seijo

Born 1973 in Vega Alta, PR
Lives in San Juan and Naranjito, PR
Classroom desks and chairs in a gallery.

49

50

Cameron Rowland

Born 1988 in Philadelphia, PA
Lives in Queens, NY
Typed document.

50

51

Dana Schutz

Born 1976 in Livonia, MI
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Colorful abstract painting of people and insects

51

52

Cauleen Smith

Born 1967 in Riverside, CA
Lives in Chicago, IL
Two banners. One that reads "I'm so black that I blind you," and another depicting a pencil stabbing an eye.

52

53

Frances Stark

Born 1967 in Newport Beach, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Painting of the book Censorship Now

53

54

Maya Stovall

Born 1982 in Detroit, MI
Lives in Detroit, MI

54

55

Henry Taylor

Born 1958 in Oxnard, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

55

56

Leslie Thornton and James Richards

Leslie Thornton
Born 1951 in Oak Ridge, TN
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

James Richards
Born 1983 in Cardiff, United Kingdom
Lives in Berlin, Germany, and London, United Kingdom
collage of black, white, grey, and metallic images

56

57

Torey Thornton

Born 1990 in Macon, GA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Abstract painting in pink, brown, and black

57

58

Kaari Upson

Born 1972 in San Bernardino, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

58

59

Kamasi Washington

Born 1981 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
Dark gallery with abstract images on screens on either side of a doorway.

59

60

Leilah Weinraub

Born 1979 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY

60

61

James N. Kienitz Wilkins

Born in 1983 in Boston, MA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY
Hooded figure with shadowed face

61

62

Jordon Wolfson

Born 1980 in New York, NY
Lives in New York, NY

62

63

Anicka Yi

Born 1971 in Seoul, South Korea
Lives in Queens, NY
Gloved hands slicing flower petals in petri dish

63

More from this series

Learn more about the Whitney Biennial, the longest-running survey of American art.

Videos

Events

Audio Guides

Hear directly from artists and curators on selected works from the exhibition.

Listen now En Español

Film Program

For ten consecutive weekends, the Biennial film program will present new moving image works in the Susan and John Hess Family Theater. At once radical and quiet, global and intimate, the selected works explore subjective and affective experiences of the contemporary political and social moment. Reflecting on the urgent themes seen in the exhibition, the film program features some of the most exciting voices working in moving image today.

Each Sunday at 3 pm, the artists will be present for a screening and conversation.

View full schedule
Whitney exhibition catalogs in a stack.

Shop the Exhibition

Visit the online shop to buy Whitney catalogues, exhibition-inspired gifts, and more.

Shop now

The formation of self and the individual’s place in a turbulent society are among the key themes reflected in the work of the artists selected for the 2017 Whitney Biennial. The exhibition includes sixty-three participants, ranging from emerging to well-established individuals and collectives working in painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, film and video, photography, activism, performance, music, and video game design.

The Whitney Biennial is the longest running survey of contemporary art in the United States, with a history of exhibiting the most promising and influential artists and provoking lively debate. The 2017 Biennial is the Museum’s seventy-eighth in a continuous series of Annual and Biennial exhibitions initiated by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1932. It is the first to be held in the Whitney’s downtown home at 99 Gansevoort Street, and the largest ever in terms of gallery space.

The 2017 Whitney Biennial is co-curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks.

The film program is organized by Christopher Y. Lew, Mia Locks, and Aily Nash.

Read more about the 2017 Biennial curators and advisors.

Pope.L is the recipient of the 2017 Bucksbaum Award.

Whitney Biennial 2017 is presented by

Major support is provided by

     

Major support is also provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston and the National Committee of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Significant support is provided by the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation.

Generous support is provided by 2017 Biennial Committee Co-Chairs: Leslie Bluhm, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Bob Gersh, and Miyoung Lee; 2017 Biennial Committee members: Ashley Leeds and Christopher Harland, Diane and Adam E. Max, Teresa Tsai, Suzanne and Bob Cochran, Rebecca and Martin Eisenberg, Amanda and Glenn Fuhrman, Barbara and Michael Gamson, Kourosh Larizadeh and Luis Pardo, Iris Z. Marden, Artur Melentin, Tracy and Gary Mezzatesta, and Jackson Tang; the Henry Peterson Foundation; and anonymous donors.

Additional support provided by the Austrian Federal Chancellery and Phileas – A Fund for Contemporary Art.

Funding is also provided by special Biennial endowments created by Melva Bucksbaum, Emily Fisher Landau, Leonard A. Lauder, and Fern and Lenard Tessler.

Additional endowment support is provided by The Keith Haring Foundation Exhibition Fund, Donna Perret Rosen and Benjamin M. Rosen, and the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation.

Curatorial research and travel for this exhibition were funded by an endowment established by Rosina Lee Yue and Bert A. Lies, Jr., MD.

New York magazine is the exclusive media sponsor of Whitney Biennial 2017.

In the News

“This exhibition makes an exciting, powerful case for art.”
—The New York Times

“Presenting a mélange of American perspectives, the biennial succeeds in keeping a finger on the pulse of a divisive and diverse cultural landscape.”
—Apollo Magazine

“The 2017 Whitney Biennial is the best of its kind in some time.”
—New York Magazine

“A must-see exhibition for anyone interested in contemporary art, a snapshot of American creativity and sometimes American culture.”
—PBS

"A User’s Guide to the Whitney Biennial"
—The New York Times

"The Whitney revealed the 63 participants in its sprawling survey of what’s happening now in contemporary art—the new, the influential and the potentially provocative."
—The New York Times

"The 2017 Whitney Biennial Will Feature Edgy, Trending Artists in 'Turbulent' Times"
—artnet News

"The Whitney Biennial, inaugurated by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1932, still stands out as the pre-eminent biennial in this country."
—The New York Times

Sunrise

Sunset

A 30-second online art project:
American Artist, Looted

Learn more