Accessibility Information:
Josh Kline
The Whitney invites disabled and non-disabled visitors to experience the richness and complexity of American art. Here’s what to expect before visiting Josh Kline: Project for a New American Century.
If you need to request accessibility accommodations, please review our access services.
Content
This survey exhibition Josh Kline: Project for a New American Century features immersive installations exploring some of the most pressing social and political issues of our time, such as labor, AI, climate change, the pandemic, racism, inequality, and democracy. In addressing these topics, the exhibition features explicit imagery, including sculptures of body parts and of prone bodies in clear bags, contained pigs blood, representations of police, robot police dogs, protest, violence, crying, and forced migration.
Artworks in the section titled “Unemployment” on the fifth floor consist of hyperrealistic, life-sized sculptures of bodies in plastic bags as a commentary on labor issues, specifically the impending elimination of jobs by artificial intelligence. Similarly, artworks in the section titled “Blue Collars” on the eighth floor take the form of 3D-printed heads, arms, and legs of delivery workers, restaurant waitstaff, and hotel housekeepers. The artist received consent from the workers featured in “Unemployment” and “Blue Collars” to use their likenesses in his artworks and worked closely with them to create the scans that serve as the basis of the sculptures.
Physical Space
Visitors are intended to weave around artworks installed in the space. None of the artworks should be touched or interacted with in a tactile way. The flooring throughout the exhibition is part of the artist’s installations and is intended to be walked upon. Several galleries include floor coverings that may be slippery or uneven. This includes carpeted rooms as well as sections of tiled cardboard flooring and tarp that are secured to the ground.
In the room after “Unemployment” on the fifth floor, there are tabletops heated to approximately one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. While they should not be touched, they are not hot enough to burn a person’s skin.
Seating
In the “Patagonia” section on the same floor, there are two sculptures made by the artist that take the form of couches and are intended as seating. Other than these couches, there is limited accessible seating throughout the show, including some benches for viewing video and film works.
Light Levels
The light levels are very low to medium low throughout the exhibition. In addition to gallery lighting, light is emitted through sculptures and projected videos. In the section titled “Creative Labor,” there will be very bright fluorescent light. In the section titled “Patagonia,” the lighting varies due to a full wall of exposed windows overlooking the Hudson River.
Captioning
All videos in this exhibition contain open captions and/or transcripts. All section texts and extended wall labels have been reproduced in the mobile guide. For a list of artworks included in this exhibition, please reference press materials.