Artists: Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, Dora Budor, Seba Calfuqueo, Demian DinéYazhi’, Torkwase Dyson, JJJJJerome Ellis, , Jes Fan, Nikita Gale, ektor garcia, Pippa Garner, Harmony Hammond, Sharon Hayes, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Suzanne Jackson, Isaac Julien, Lotus L. Kang, Mary Kelly, Carolyn Lazard, Dionne Lee, Ligia Lewis, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Cannupa Hanska Luger, K.R.M. Mooney, Dala Nasser, Diane Severin Nguyen, Karyn Olivier, B. Ingrid Olson, Eamon Ore-Giron, People Who Stutter Create, Julia Phillips, Mavis Pusey, Maja Ruznic, Ser Serpas, Rose B. Simpson, P. Staff, Clarissa Tossin, Tourmaline, Charisse Pearlina Weston, Kiyan Williams, Carmen Winant, Takako Yamaguchi, Constantina Zavitsanos, Siku Allooloo, Seba Calfuqueo, Christopher Harris, Miranda Haymon, Ho Tzu Nyen, Yasmine Anlan Huang, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Aron Kantor, Kite, Gbenga Komolafe and Tee Park, Jenni Laiti, Shuang Li, Simon Liu, Nyala Moon, Niillasaš-Jovnna Máreha Juhani Sunná Máret – Sunna Nousuniemi, Edward Owens, Sydney Frances Pascal, Raqs Media Collective, Riar Rizaldi, Penelope Spheeris, Lada Suomenrinne, Alisi Telengut, Chanelle Tyson, Zulaa Urchuud, Holland Andrews, Debit, JJJJJerome Ellis, Sarah Hennies, Alex Tatarsky
Exhibition title: Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing
Curated by: Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli
Venue: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US
Date: March 20 – September 5, 2024
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and ©Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Note: Full press release is available here
The eighty-first edition of the Whitney Biennial—the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the United States—features seventy-one artists and collectives grappling with many of today’s most pressing issues. This Biennial is like being inside a “dissonant chorus,” as participating artist Ligia Lewis described it, a provocative yet intimate experience of distinct and disparate voices that collectively probe the cracks and fissures of the unfolding moment.
The exhibition’s subtitle, Even Better Than the Real Thing , acknowledges that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is complicating our understanding of what is real, and rhetoric around gender and authenticity is being used politically and legally to perpetuate transphobia and restrict bodily autonomy. These developments are part of a long history of deeming people of marginalized race, gender, and ability as subhuman—less than real. In making this exhibition, we committed to amplifying the voices of artists who are confronting these legacies, and to providing a space where difficult ideas can be engaged and considered.
This Biennial is a gathering of artists who explore the permeability of the relationships between mind and body, the fluidity of identity, and the growing precariousness of the natural and constructed worlds around us. Whether through subversive humor, expressive abstraction, or non-Western forms of cosmological thinking, to name but a few of their methods, these artists demonstrate that there are pathways to be found, strategies of coping and healing to be discovered, and ways to come together even in a fractured time.
The 2024 Whitney Biennial is organized by Chrissie Iles, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator and Meg Onli, Curator at Large, with Min Sun Jeon and Beatriz Cifuentes. The performance program is organized by Iles and Onli, with guest curator Taja Cheek. The film program is organized by Iles and Onli, with guest curators Korakrit Arunanondchai, asinnajaq, Greg de Cuir Jr, and Zackary Drucker.
Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, Paloma Blanca Deja Volar/White Dove Let Us Fly, 2024. Photograph by Nora Gomez-Strauss Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, Paloma Blanca Deja Volar/White Dove Let Us Fly, 2024 (detail). Photograph by Nora Gomez-Strauss Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Dora Budor, Lifelike, 2024. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Demian DinéYazhi ́, we must stop imaging apocalypse / genocide + we must imagine liberation, 2024. Photograph by Nora Gomez-Strauss Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Torkwase Dyson, Liquid Shadows, Solid Dreams (A Monastic Playground), 2024. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Jes Fan, Contrapposto, 2023; Jes Fan, Cross Section (Right Leg Muscle II), 2023; Jes Fan, Gut, 2023. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Nikita Gale, TEMPO RUBATO (STOLEN TIME), 2023–24. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Pippa Garner, Inventor’s Office, 2021–24. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst, xhairymutantx Embedding Study 1, 2024. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Isaac Julien, Once Again… (Statues Never Die), 2022. Photograph by Ashley Reese Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Carolyn Lazard, Toilette, 2024. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Dionne Lee, Challenger Deep, 2019. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Twelve Thirty-Four (from the Doctor Alcocer’s Corsets For Horses series), 2023. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Blue Whale a.k.a. #12 (from the Whales Fucking series), 1983. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Diane Severin Nguyen, In Her Time (Iris’s Version), 2023–24. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). B. Ingrid Olson, Proto Coda, Index, 2016–22; Calendar, 2020–21; B. Ingrid Olson, Present and Daughters, 2020–21; B. Ingrid Olson, !i!, 2021–22; B. Ingrid Olson, Never odd or even (perhaps the bone I think I am biting is my own tail), 2013–20; B. Ingrid Olson, Completed Movement (between abut and rub between two notes the number between one and two divided into qualities and kinds), 2016–22. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). People Who Stutter Create (Jia Bin, Delicia Daniels, JJJJJerome Ellis, Conor Foran, Kristel Kubart), Stuttering Can Create Time, 2023. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Maja Ruznic, Deep Calls to Deep, 2023. Photograph by Ashley Reese Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Ser Serpas, taken through back entrances subtle fate matching matte thing soiled co fated birch and test one sacked box twenty something flying in the face of burning hard to forget time is dealing soft on myself its enticing cant be there for anything at all finding myself over lakeside prat fall buttercup symbol place in shambles waited till last thing i stall where did i go breath huff heavy forget this song the hell i see whither anon make it right girl for one nightly fuck this on site hurl back and forth my teeth keep staining astonished and sick breath now its fading maybe i will find another big milky peaches this trap its better, 2024. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Rose B. Simpson, Daughters: Reverence, 2024. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Charisse Pearlina Weston, un- (anterior ellipse[s] as mangled container; or where edges meet to wedge and [un]moor), 2024. Photograph by Nora Gomez-Strauss Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Kiyan Williams, Ruins of Empire II or The Earth Swallows the Master’s House, 2024. Photograph by Audrey Wang Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 20–August 11, 2024). Kiyan Williams, Statue of Freedom (Marsha P. Johnson), 2024. Photograph by Audrey Wang Siku Allooloo, still from Spirit Emulsion, 2022. Hand-processed Super 8mm film, black and white, sound; 7:30 min. © Siku Allooloo, Akia Films Inc. Seba Calfuqueo, still from TRAY TRAY KO, 2022. HD video, color, sound; 6 min. © Seba Calfuqueo. Courtesy the artist. Photograph by Sebastian Melo Debit, cover for The Long Count, 2022. Art by Moisés Horta Valenzuela. Image courtesy the artist and Modern Love Jes Fan, Cross Section (Right Leg Muscle II), 2023. PLA filaments, fiberglass, resin, pigment, glass, 27 x 19 x 12 in. (68.58 x 48.26 x 30.48 cm). Collection of the artist. Commissioned by M+ Museum, Hong Kong. Courtesy the artist; Empty Gallery, Hong Kong; and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York. Photograph by Olympia Shannon Jes Fan, Cross Section (Right Leg Muscle III), 2023. PLA filaments, fiberglass, resin, pigment, glass, 19 x 31 x 13 in. (48.26 x 78.74 x 33.02 cm). Collection of the artist. Commissioned by M+ Museum, Hong Kong. Courtesy the artist; Empty Gallery, Hong Kong; and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York. Photograph by Olympia Shannon Jes Fan, Contrapposto, 2023. 3D print of the artist’s thigh muscle, resin, pigment, glass, metal, 98 × 35 × 27 in. (248.9 × 88.9 × 68.6 cm). © Jes Fan. Courtesy the artist; M+ Museum, Hong Kong; Empty Gallery, Hong Kong; and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York. Photograph by Olympia Shannon ektor garcia, teotihuacan, 2018. Welded steel, waxed thread, cotton, bone crochet hook, upholstery needle, spur, welded frame, crochet white lace, and loose parts embedded attached to lace, 77 1/2 × 31 1/2 × 9 3/4in. (196.9 × 80 × 24.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Avo Samuelian and Hector Manuel Gonzalez 2022.163. © ektor garcia Harmony Hammond, Black Cross II, 2020–21. Oil and mixed media on canvas, 90 3/8 × 72 1/4 × 2 3/4 in. (229.6 × 183.5 × 7 cm). © Harmony Hammond. Courtesy the artist and Alexander Gray Associates, New York. Photograph by Eric Swanson Christopher Harris, still from Still/Here, 2001. 16mm film, black and white, silent; 60 min. © Christopher Harris Miranda Haymon, still from Sis, 2023. Video, color, sound; 12 min. © Miranda Haymon Ho Tzu Nyen, still from The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia (CDOSEA), 2017–. Algorithmically composed video, color and black-and-white, sound; infinite loop. © Tzu Nyen Ho. Courtesy the artist and Kiang Malingue, Hong Kong Yasmine Anlan Huang, still from Her Love is a Bleeding Tank, 2020. Video, color, sound; 5:31 min. © Yasmine Anlan Huang Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, still from Too Bright to See (Part I), 2022. 16mm film, color, sound; 24 min. Courtesy the artist. © Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich Suzanne Jackson, Rag-to-Wobble, 2020. Acrylic, cotton paint cloth and vintage dress hangers, 91 1/2 x 54 1/2 in. (232.4 x 138.4 cm), variable; with 14 inches variable bulge. Courtesy the artist and Ortuzar Projects, New York. Photograph by David Kaminsky Suzanne Jackson, Red over morning sea, 2021. Acrylic, curtain lace, shredded mail, produce bag netting and wood, 65 x 84 x 4 in. (165.1 x 213.4 x 10.2 cm). Courtesy the artist and Ortuzar Projects, New York. Photograph by Timothy Doyon Suzanne Jackson, Palimpsest Grit, 2022–23. Acrylic, canvas, graphite, aluminum, raw silk, shredded mail, twine, string, wood, braided string, acrylic detritus and mesh, 105 x 62 x 2 1/2 in. (266.7 x 157.5 x 6.3 cm). Courtesy the artist and Ortuzar Projects, New York. Photograph by David Kaminsky Isaac Julien, Iolaus/In the Life (Once Again… Statues Never Die), 2022. Inkjet print, 59 × 78 3/4 in. (150 × 200 cm). © Isaac Julien. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London Aron Kantor, still from Interdimensional Pizza Portal, 2023. Video, color, sound; 4:36 min. © Aron Kantor Mary Kelly, Lacunae (detail), 2023. Ragboard, vellum, ash, and ink; ten framed panels, 38 1/2 × 24 × 1 3/4 in. (97.8 × 61 × 4.4 cm) each. Courtesy the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles. © Mary Kelly. Courtesy the artist and Panic Studio Los Angeles Kite, still from Pahá kiŋ lená wakháŋ (These hills are sacred), 2017. Video, sound, color; 8:32 min. © Kite Studio Gbenga Komolafe and Tee Park, still from Winter Insect, Summer Flower, 2021. Digital video, color, sound; 11:02 min. © Gbenga Komolafe and Tee Park Jenni Laiti, still from Bivdit luosa máhccat // Asking the salmon to return, 2022. Video, color, sound; 6:01 min. © Janni Laiti Ligia Lewis, still from A Plot, A Scandal, 2023. HD video, color, sound; 20 min. © Ligia Lewis Shuang Li, still from ÆTHER (Poor Objects), 2021. Video, color, sound; 18:28 min. © Shuang Li. Courtesy Peres Projects Simon Liu, still from Let’s Talk, 2023. 16mm film transferred to HD video, color, sound; 11:30 min. © Simon Liu Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Self Portrait–She Now Calls Herself Sahara (from the series Two Deserts,Three Winters), c. 1990s. Acrylic paint on canvas, 81 × 138 in. (205.7 × 350.5 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York and San Francisco. © Mary Lovelace O’Neal Nyala Moon, still from Dilating for Maximum Results, 2023. Digital video, color, sound; 14:10 min. © Nyala Moon K.R.M. Mooney, Housing (c.) iv, 2022. Steel, electroplated steel, silver, brass, neodymium, paint, polymer resin, and iron oxide, 14 x 7 x 3 1/2 in. (35.6 x 17.8 x 8.9 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery and Altman Siegel Gallery. © K.R.M. Mooney. Photograph by Stephen Faught Diane Severin Nguyen, still from In Her Time (Iris’s Version), 2022–23. HD video, color, sound; 62:37 min. © Diane Severin Nguyen Niillasaš-Jovnna Máreha Juhani Sunná Máret – Sunna Nousuniemi, still from 100 Vuogi Dadjat Mii × Orrunsadji ASMR Edition, 2021. Digital video, color, sound; 13:07 min. © Niillasaš-Jovnna Máreha Juhani Sunná Máret – Sunna Nousuniemi Karyn Olivier, How Many Ways Can You Disappear, 2021. Potwarp; lobster traps; buoys washed ashore on Matinicus Island, Maine; and rope reproduced in salt, 179 × 98 × 73 in. (454.7 × 248.9 × 185.4 cm). © Karyn Olivier. Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York and Los Angeles. Photograph by Pierre Le Hors B. Ingrid Olson, Completed Movement (between abut and rub between two notes the number between one and two divided into qualities and kinds), 2016–22. Inkjet print and UV printed matboard in powder-coated aluminum frame, 38 x 18 x 1.25 in. (96.5 x 45.72 x 3.2 cm). Collection of Dan Byers. © B. Ingrid Olson. Photograph by Robert Chase Heishan Eamon Ore-Giron, Talking Shit with Viracocha’s Rainbow (Iteration I), 2023. Mineral paint and Flashe on canvas, 72 x 72 in. (182.9 x 182.9 cm). Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Jeremy Finkelstein, Houston, TX. © Eamon Ore-Giron, 2024. Courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York. Photo Charles White / JWPictures.com Eamon Ore-Giron, Talking Shit with Amaru (Wari), 2023. Mineral paint and Flashe on canvas, 84 x 60 in. (213.4 x 152.4 cm). Private Collection, Wyoming. © Eamon Ore-Giron, 2024. Courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York. Photo Charles White / jwpictures.com Edward Owens, still from Remembrance: A Portrait Study, 1967. 16mm film transferred to video, color, sound; 5:36 min. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Film and Video Committee 2021.86. © The New American Cinema Group, Inc./The Film-Makers’ Cooperative Sydney Frances Pascal, still from distance, 2022. Video, color, sound; 6 min. © Sydney Frances Pascal Julia Phillips, Nourisher, 2022. Ceramic, medical PVC tubes, stainless steel, steel cable, 69 1⁄2 × 32 × 24 in. (177 × 81 × 61 cm). © Julia Phillips. Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery Julia Phillips, Mediator, 2020. Ceramic, stainless steel, granite, and nylon hardware, 69 × 112 × 112 in. (175 × 285 × 285 cm). Art Institute of Chicago; courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery. © Julia Phillips Mavis Pusey, Within Manhattan, 1977. Oil on canvas, 73 × 115 in. (185.4 × 292.1 cm). Collection of Neil Lane. © Estate of Mavis Pusey. Photograph by Elon Schoenholz Riar Rizaldi, still from Ghost Like Us, 2020. Video, color, sound; 20 min. © Riar Rizaldi Maja Ruznic, The Past Awaiting the Future/Arrival of Drummers, 2023. Oil on linen, 99 1/2 × 151 1/2 × 2 1/2 in. (252.7 × 384.8 × 6.4 cm). Collection of the artist. © Maja Ruznic. Courtesy Karma. Photograph by Brad Trone Penelope Spheeris, still from I Don’t Know, 1970. 16mm film, black and white, sound; 20:11 min. © Spheeris Films Inc. Courtesy the artist and Motion Picture Academy Archive/Avatar Films Lada Suomenrinne, still from Mun&Don (You&Me), 2019. Digital video, black and white, sound; 1:48 min. © Lada Suomenrinne Alisi Telengut, still from Baigal Nuur-Lake Baikal, 2023. HD video, color, sound; 8:55 min. © Alisi Telengut Clarissa Tossin, still from Mojo’q che b’ixan ri ixkanulab’/Antes de que los volcanes canten/Before the Volcanoes Sing, 2022. HD video, color, sound; 64:17 min. Commissioned by the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. © Clarissa Tossin. Courtesy the artist; Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo; and Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles and Mexico City Tourmaline, still from Pollinator, 2022. Video, black and white, sound; 5:08 min. © Tourmaline. Courtesy the artist and Chapter, New York Zulaa Urchuud, still from Nuudelch Khand’laga’ (Nomadtitude), 2021. Video, black and white, sound; 6 min. © Zulaa Urchuud. Courtesy the artist Carmen Winant, Women’s blueprint for survival I and II, 2022. Sun-bleached construction paper, painter’s tape, inkjet prints, two works of 47 1/2 × 36in. each (120.7 × 91.4 cm). © Carmen Winant. Courtesy of the artist and PATRON Gallery, Chicago. Photograph by Jamie Alvarez Takako Yamaguchi, Issue, 2023. Oil on canvas, 42 × 50 in. (106.7 × 127 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy Ortuzar Projects, New York. © Takako Yamaguchi. Photograph by Gene Ogami
