The next Whitney Biennial, opening in the spring of 2024, may be its most ambitious edition yet.
The Whitney Museum of American Art announced Thursday that five curators will join Whitney curator Chrissie Iles and Los Angeles-based curator and writer Meg Onli in assembling its upcoming program: Bangkok and New York-based multidisciplinary artist Korakrit Arunanondchai; asinnajaq, an Inuk filmmaker and artist whose practice centers on modern and historical Inuit experiences; Taja Cheek, a musician known for her experimental composition; Greg de Cuir Jr, co-founder and artistic director of Kinopravda Institute in Belgrade, Serbia; and Zackary Drucker, an American multimedia artist and activist, and Whitney Biennial 2014 participant.
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According to the museum, Arunanondchai, asinnajaq, de Cuir Jr, and Drucker will select filmmakers who “highlight a breadth of expression through moving images today,” while Cheek (known professionally as L’Rain) will commission a group of artists to develop a cutting-edge performance and sound series for the museum’s galleries and theater. Cheek previously led the performance programs at MoMA PS1, including Sunday Sessions, and Warm Up, its popular summer outdoor music series; she also performed at the Whitney as part of “Kevin Beasley: A view of a landscape”.
“Film, sound, and performance are such significant mediums for both of us, and we look forward to sharing with our audiences an incredibly robust film program that raises questions about the porousness of boundaries and identities, along with a thoughtful curation of live performance that offers a sensorial experience centered around embodiment,” Iles and Onli said in a statement.
Titled “Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing”, this will be 81st edition of the Whitney’s signature survey of contemporary art, which is one of the most anticipated and divisive exhibitions of its kind. The early biennials were organized by medium—with an emphasize on traditional genres like painting and drawing—but the event has evolved into a constellation of conceptually adventurous artworks that challenge even the biennial format. For the last edition, the organizers remodeled the museum’s fifth and sixth floors, removing the walls in the former, and painting the walls and floors black for the latter.
“The Whitney Biennial always champions the creativity, talent, passion, and vision of our time,” Scott Rothkopf, the Whitney’s director, said in a statement. “The strength of this edition is highlighted by the visionary curatorial talent of Meg and Chrissie and the incredible collaborators they have invited to broaden the show’s perspectives and amplify its vitality.”