Madeline Hollander: Flatwing

Mar 25–Aug 8, 2021

A close-up of orange leaves, brightly lit in the center, glowing yellow.
A close-up of orange leaves, brightly lit in the center, glowing yellow.

Madeline Hollander, still from Flatwing, 2019. Video, color, sound, 16:25 min. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Film and Video Committee. © Madeline Hollander

This first solo museum exhibition by artist, dancer, and choreographer Madeline Hollander (b. 1986) features a new video installation, Flatwing, and related works on paper. Hollander’s work is inspired by the everyday movement patterns that she observes in our social, urban, technological, and natural environments, which she transforms into site-specific installations and performances.

Flatwing (2019), Hollander's first video installation, explores the emergence of silent crickets in Kauai, Hawaii, and the imminent extinction of their chirping rivals. The film guides the viewer through Hollander's expedition through Kauai's cacophonous rainforest nightscape, and her futile attempt to record the movements of this elusive new species. Ventriloquizing their fellow cricket's mating chirp by silently rubbing their wings together, the trickery of the mute crickets’ movements perform a choreography of survival. The video installation is accompanied by a display of drawings, diagrams, and research materials created by the artist in the process of making the film. 

Madeline Hollander: Flatwing is organized by Chrissie Iles, Anne & Joel Ehrenkranz Curator, with Clémence White, senior curatorial assistant.

Major support for Madeline Hollander: Flatwing is provided by The Rosenkranz Foundation. 

Additional support is provided by the Artists Council. 

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Essay

A still from Flatwing featuring multi-colored leaves against a dark background.

New Instruments: A Search for Silent Signals

By Clémence White, senior curatorial assistant

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Audio guides

A close-up of orange leaves, brightly lit in the center, glowing yellow.
A close-up of orange leaves, brightly lit in the center, glowing yellow.

Madeline Hollander, still from Flatwing, 2019. Video, color, sound, 16:25 min. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Film and Video Committee. © Madeline Hollander

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In the News

". . . Hollander’s Flatwing highlights the enormity of an impact that can be brought about by even the smallest of changes . . ."—Brooklyn Rail 

On the Hour

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

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