Introduction to Whitney Biennial 2017

Christopher Lew: I’m Christopher Lew, and I’m the Nancy and Fred Poses Associate Curator, and also the co-curator of the 2017 Whitney Biennial.

Mia Locks: I’m Mia Locks. I’m an independent curator, and co-curator of the 2017 Whitney Biennial.

Christopher Lew: It’s been really exciting to be able to present the first Biennial at the Whitney in the new building.

There are a number of ideas that weave together in the exhibition, and among them is this idea of the formation of a self. What does it mean to be an individual? How do we identify oneself? But also, how do we each relate to others, and how do we come together, or what are the forces that bring us apart?

Mia Locks: This year’s Biennial comes at the heels of a particularly polarizing presidential election. It’s a time when I think the rhetoric and the issues and some of the feelings in the air right now feel particularly elevated and intense. The exhibition emerges out of, or at least alongside this societal context, and many of the works address concerns about racial injustice, or violence, economic inequities, or structural asymmetries. And sometimes these ideas are addressed very directly, and other times much more obliquely.

Narrator: The Biennial is on view on several floors of the Museum, inside and out. When you’re ready to leave please remember to return your guide where you picked it up in the Lobby.