The Paper has learned that after a one-year delay, the Whitney Biennale will be held on April 6. This year's Biennale experienced many crises such as the epidemic during the preparation process, and the theme of "Keep Quiet" was 63 artists/groups, exploring the border between the United States and Mexico, how art can show its impact in times of crisis, and so on. Curators David Bresling and Adrienne Edward say it will be a biennial across generations, showing how artistic concepts can deepen, transform and renew by presenting artists' diverse and alternative strategies.
The Whitney Biennale is a barometer—its picture of trends in American art and its relevance to the public is the object of anticipation and discussion. Participating in the Biennale can make an artist's career even more exciting. Sometimes, exhibitions can also become the focus of political controversy.
Whitney Museum of American Art, home of the Whitney Biennale
From pandemics to social protests to political conflicts, this year's Whitney Biennale will take on the responsibility of responding to many crises. "The last few years have been very stressful times," said David Breslin, who co-curated with Adrienne Edwards for this year's Whitney Biennale, both senior curators at the Whitney Museum. "We expect this exhibition to be a careful take-up of people to see how art can help us feel our time."
David Bresling (right) and Adrienne Edwards
Themed "Quiet as It's Kept," this year's Whitney Biennial will feature 63 artists or groups, and as in the past two, this year's artists are diverse, but older, with only 23 artists under the age of 40 and eight born in the 1990s. The oldest, Awilda Sterling-Duprey, born in Puerto Rico in 1947, is an artist and choreographer; the youngest, Andrew Roberts, born in Mexico in 1995, works in film, animation and installation, and currently works in Tijuana and Mexico City. From the beginning, the two curators envisioned a biennial across generations. "We want to show a strengthened spectrum through ideas that we feel are continuing," Breslin says, "and it's an opportunity to see how ideas deepen, shift, and renew." ”
Untitled, Ralph Lemon, 2021
Rather than figurative art, the exhibition focuses more on conceptual art and interdisciplinary works, and video and performing arts will also be integrated into the main exhibition rather than individual projects. Scott Rothkopf, the museum's chief curator, revealed that more artists in the biennale have participated in previous biennales or have works in the museum's collection, but the exhibition will still present many new discoveries.
The U.S.-Mexico border will be a major focus, with many artists from Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. Another major focus is on Aboriginal artists, including Rebecca Belmore, Raven Chacon, Duane Linklater, and Dyani White Hawk.
The Demolition of a Wall, Lucy Raven, 2022
For Breslin and Edwards, the pandemic has created more than just conceptual challenges. In March 2020, when they had just embarked on a visit to the artist's studio and community, the flight control began, which was originally the most important and intimate part of the curatorial process. Ultimately they had to rely heavily on Zoom for curation. The exhibition itself has also been postponed from 2021 to this year.
In telephone interviews, some of the participating artists described their work, as well as their experiences in preparing for it in extraordinary circumstances. Coco Fusco, who participated in two Whitney Biennales in 1993 and 2008, will present a film about Hart Island, where the unnamed deceased in New York City were buried. In the summer of 2020, she used a drone from a boat to shoot because of restricted access on the island. Fosco said some of the early victims of the outbreak were buried here, reminiscent of the AIDS crisis. "So I made a work about the grave, about death." She said.
Your Eyes Will Be an Empty Word by Coco Foxco
Mexican artist Andrew Roberts was infected with COVID-19 twice, the first time so severely that he couldn't concentrate for months. Eventually he wrote a series of poems. In his video installations, the poems are read aloud by zombie avatars — voiced from actors — who he claims "work for the companies of the future, develop a class consciousness and begin to understand the violence inflicted on them." ”
Artist Woody De Othello lives in Auckland and makes ceramic and bronze sculptures of large household items such as telephones, faucets, heaters and more. The quarantine of the epidemic only deepened his thematic creation. "The energy of home is in my work," he says, "and a lot of what I do comes from the family realm." Working alone in the studio and hiking with his dog, these experiences allowed him to "confront himself and think about meaning." ”
The Horde by Andrew Robert
Many projects start before the current pandemic and other events. Composer Raven Chacon, who participated in the 2017 Whitney Biennale as a member of the art collective Postcommodity, will bring the fruits of his 20 years of sound research. These include the performance of a musical atlas dedicated to Native American women composers, and recordings of Native American women and police silent confrontations during protests against the oil pipeline in North Dakota in 2016. He filmed a video on Navajo, Cherokee and Seminole soils, allowing women to sing stories of massacres or forced migrations in these languages — areas that are now being fought over for mining or other uses.
Three Songs, Raven Chacon
Rose Salane, an artist who grew up in Queens, explores city life through the remnants of everyday objects, presenting items such as dry cleaning tickets, fake coins and more found from bus ticket machines. She is also eager to experience the work of her peers. "Everyone has been under pressure for the last two years. Saran said, "Being able to see people keep working gives me a strong feeling. ”
During a revolt following the 2020 killing of George Floyd, Chacon was involved in the effort to topple a statue of a Spanish conquistador in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of his friends was shot by a member of a militia. "We've been through a lot," says Chacon, who hopes these tough moments inspire artists to "try different strategies to create their work." ”
This experimental tendency has always been the consensus of the exhibition, what Edwards calls the "whole"—not just a collection of identity perspectives, but also a collection of methods.
《夜视》（Night Vision），Na Mira
Na Mira, a Korean-American artist who works and lives in Los Angeles, presents her research on shamanism, feminism, and her own family history in Korea with images and holographic installations. "I really believe that art is an epistemology that allows us to learn knowledge that we wouldn't get anywhere else," Mira says. ”
"Cassandra Press" installation
For Breslin and Edwards, alternative models of artistic creation are crucial, and this biennial includes three groups: "A Gathering of the Tribes," "Moved by the Motion, and Cassandra Press." On the border, the unity of art is particularly critical. "These artists have created their own systems, their own institutions, to be able to work in places like Tijuana," Edwards said. It was with this idea that they curated the exhibition. Now that the exhibition is about to open, "we believe that the people who come to see the exhibition will also make their connections," Breslin added.
The 2022 Whitney Biennale will run from April 6 to September 5.
(This article is compiled from The New York Times)