The next edition of the most closely watched contemporary art exhibition in North America, the Whitney Biennial, will feature works by 69 artists and two collectives spanning a vast range of media and styles.The lineup of artists selected by co-curators Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli (and the rest of the curatorial team) was announced Thursday (25 January), around eight weeks ahead of the exhibition’s 20 March opening. Titled Even Better Than the Real Thing, the 2024 Whitney Biennial will fill the museum’s galleries, auditoriums and additional spaces with not only paintings, sculptures, installations and other object-based works, but also extensive film and performance art programmes.Isaac Julien, Iolaus/In the Life (Once Again. . . Statues Never Die), 2022. © Isaac Julien. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London“We sought to create an exhibition in the form of what [participating] artist Ligia Lewis calls a ‘dissonant chorus’, unharmonious in its collectivity,” Iles and Onli said in a joint statement. “It is striking how many artists are contending with relationships between the psyche and the body, and the precarity of the past few years. Artists are continuing to grapple with history and identity; we have made an exhibition that unfolds as a set of relations, exploring the challenges of coming together in a fractured moment.”The exhibition will include works by artists who have been renowned for decades as well as more recently established figures. Among them are the revered feminist artist Harmony Hammond, the interdisciplinary abstractionist Torkwase Dyson, the artist and subversive designer Pippa Garner, the multimedia artist Sharon Hayes, the pathbreaking painter Suzanne Jackson, the artist and film-maker Tourmaline, the video artist Isaac Julien, the conceptual sculpture and installation artist Dora Budor, the Raqs Media Collective multimedia group and more. The exhibition will also include two artists who have died: the Chicagoan film-maker Edward Owens (1949-2010) and the Jamaican American painter Mavis Pusey (1928-2019).Mavis Pusey, Within Manhattan, 1977. Collection of Neil Lane. © Estate of Mavis Pusey. Photograph by Elon SchoenholzAs the exhibition’s title evokes, Iles and Onli’s focus in developing the exhibition has been on working with artists whose work deals with the slippery (sometimes outright illusory) notion of realness. Particularly with the rapid spread of artificial intelligence over the past two years, but also given various developments and dynamics that have played out since the start of the 21st century, questions and disagreements about reality abound, whether related to identity, place, history, the body, the landscape or other crucial concerns.This year’s Whitney Biennial will be the 81st iteration of the exhibition, which started out as an annual endeavour. The number of participants represents an uptick from the 63 who were selected by co-curators David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards for the 2022 edition, which was well received by critics and featured the fewest controversies of any iteration in recent memory. The exhibition’s 2019 edition, curated by Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley, became known unofficially as the “teargas biennial” amid months of protests against the museum’s vice chairman, Warren B. Kanders, whose business holdings include companies that manufacture teargas and other equipment used in conflict zones and to suppress protest movements. After several artists in the 2019 biennial threatened to pull their works from the show, Kanders resigned.Shuang Li, still from ÆTHER (Poor Objects), 2021. © Shuang Li. Courtesy Peres ProjectsThe 2017 edition of the Whitney Biennial, curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks, was dominated by the scandal over a painting by Dana Schutz, Open Casket (2016), which depicted the body of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old who was lynched by a racist mob in 1955. The biennial’s 2014 edition, the last one held in the Whitney’s former building on Madison Avenue, became a flashpoint for debates about representation and equity when the Yams Collective withdrew its work amid objections to the inclusion of a conceptual work by artist Joe Scanlan, a white man, that consisted of hiring Black actors to play the role of a fictional artist named Donelle Woolford.The 2024 Whitney Biennial artists:Siku Allooloo (she/her)Born 1986 in Yellowknife, CanadaLives in Bowser, CanadaHolland Andrews (they/them)Born 1988 in Orange, CaliforniaLives in Brooklyn, New YorkEddie Rodolfo Aparicio (he/him)Born 1990 in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLives in Los Angeles, CaliforniaDora BudorBorn 1984 in Zagreb, CroatiaLives in New York, New YorkSeba Calfuqueo (she/her/they/them)Born 1991 in Santiago, ChileLives in Ngulumapu, Wallmapu (Chile)Debit (she/her)Born 1986 in Monterrey, MexicoLives in New York, New YorkDemian DinéYazhi’ (they/them)Born 1983 in Gallup, New Mexico (Diné Bikéyah [Navajo Nation])Lives in Portland, Oregon, and elsewhereTorkwase Dyson (she/her)Born 1973 in Chicago, IllinoisLives in Beacon, New YorkJJJJJerome Ellis (any/all)Born 1989 in Groton, ConnecticutLives in Norfolk, VirginiaJes Fan (he/him/they/them)Born 1990 in Scarborough, CanadaLives in Brooklyn, NY, and Hong KongNikita GaleBorn 1983 in Anchorage, Alaska, Dënéndeh and Dena’ina EłnenaLives in Los Angeles, Californiaektor garciaBorn 1985 in Red Bluff, CaliforniaLives in Mexico City, Mexico, and elsewherePippa Garner (she/her)Born 1942 in Evanston, IllinoisLives in Long Beach, CaliforniaHarmony Hammond (she/her)Born 1944 in Chicago, IllinoisLives in Galisteo, New MexicoChristopher Harris (he/him)Born 1962 in St. Louis, MissouriLives in Coralville, IowaSharon Hayes (she/her)Born 1970 in Baltimore, MarylandLives in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaMiranda HaymonBorn 1993 in Boston, MassachusettsLives in Brooklyn, New YorkSarah Hennies (she/her)Born 1979 in Louisville, KentuckyLives in Red Hook, New YorkHolly Herndon and Mat DryhurstHerndon (she/her): born 1980 in Johnson City, TennesseeDryhurst (he/him): born 1984 in Birmingham, UKLive in Berlin, GermanyHo Tzu Nyen (he/him)Born 1976 in SingaporeLives in SingaporeYasmine Anlan Huang (she/her)Born 1996 in Guangzhou, ChinaLives in London, UK, and New York, New YorkMadeleine Hunt-Ehrlich (she/her)Born 1987 in New York, New YorkLives in New York, New YorkSuzanne Jackson (she/her)Born 1944 in St. Louis, MissouriLives in Savannah, GeorgiaIsaac JulienBorn 1960 in London, UKLives in London, UK, and Santa Cruz, CaliforniaLotus L. Kang (she/her)Born 1985 in Toronto, CanadaLives in New York, New YorkAron Kantor (he/him/they/them)Born 1978 in San Francisco, CaliforniaLives in Los Angeles, CaliforniaMary Kelly (she/her)Born 1941 in Fort Dodge, IowaLives in New York, New YorkKite (she/her)Born 1990 in Sylmar, CaliforniaLives in Ancram, New YorkGbenga Komolafe and Tee ParkKomolafe (they/them/he/him/she/her): born 2000 in Port-Harcourt, NigeriaPark (she/her): born 1999 in Seoul, South KoreaLive in Los Angeles, CaliforniaJenni Laiti (she/her)Born 1981 in Anár, Sápmi (Inari, Finland)Lives in Jåhkåmåhkke, Sápmi (Jokkmokk, Sweden)Carolyn Lazard (they/them)Born 1987 in San Bernardino, CaliforniaLives in New York, New YorkDionne LeeBorn 1988 in New York, New YorkLives in Columbus, OhioLigia Lewis (she/her)Born 1983 in Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicLives in Berlin, GermanyShuang Li (she/her)Born 1990 in Wuyi Mountains, ChinaLives in Berlin, Germany, and Geneva, SwitzerlandSimon Liu (he/him)Born 1987 in Hong KongLives in Brooklyn, New YorkMary Lovelace O’Neal (she/her)Born 1942 in Jackson, MississippiLives in Oakland, California, and Merida, MexicoCannupa Hanska Luger (he/him)Born 1979 in Fort Yates, North Dakota (Standing Rock Reservation)Lives in Glorieta, New MexicoNyala Moon (she/her)Born 1992 in New York, New YorkLives in Brooklyn, New YorkK.R.M. Mooney (he/him)Born 1990 in Seattle, WashingtonLives in Brooklyn, New YorkDala NasserBorn 1990 in Tyre, LebanonLives in Beirut, Lebanon, and London, UKDiane Severin Nguyen (she/her)Born 1990 in Carson, CaliforniaLives in New York, New YorkNiillasaš-Jovnna Máreha Juhani Sunná Máret–Sunna Nousuniemi (they/them)Born 1993 in Anár, SápmiLives in Anár, SápmiKaryn Olivier (she/her)Born 1968 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and TobagoLives in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaB. Ingrid OlsonBorn 1987 in Denver, ColoradoLives in Chicago, IllinoisEamon Ore-Giron (he/him)Born 1973 in Tucson, ArizonaLives in Los Angeles, CaliforniaEdward Owens (he/him)Born 1949 in Chicago, IllinoisDied 2010 in Chicago, IllinoisSydney Frances Pascal (she/her)Born 1993 in Nanaimo, CanadaLives in Vancouver, CanadaPeople Who Stutter CreateFounded 2023Jia Bin, Delicia Daniels, JJJJJerome Ellis, Conor Foran, Kristel KubartJulia Phillips (she/her)Born 1985 in Hamburg, GermanyLives in Chicago, IllinoisMavis Pusey (she/her)Born 1928 in Retreat, JamaicaDied 2019 in Falmouth, VirginiaRaqs Media CollectiveFounded 1992 in Delhi, IndiaJeebesh Bachi, Monica Narula, Shuddhabrata SenguptaRiar Rizaldi (he/him)Born 1990 in Bandung, IndonesiaLives in Yogyakarta, IndonesiaMaja Ruznic (she/her)Born 1983 in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Yugoslavia)Lives in Placitas, New MexicoSer Serpas (she/her)Born 1995 in East Los Angeles, CaliforniaLives in New York, New YorkRose B. Simpson (she/her)Born 1983 in Santa Fe, New MexicoLives in Santa Clara Pueblo, New MexicoPenelope Spheeris (she/her)Born 1945 in New Orleans, LouisianaLives in Los Angeles, CaliforniaP. Staff (they/them)Born 1987 in the UKLives in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLada Suomenrinne (they/them)Born 1995 in Murmansk, RussiaLives in Espoo, Finland, and Njuorggán, SápmiAlex Tatarsky (they/them)Born 1989 in New York, New YorkLives in New York, NY, and Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaAlisi Telengut (she/her)Born 1989 in Inner Mongolia (Telengut and Mongolian nations)Lives in Berlin, Germany, and Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, CanadaClarissa Tossin (she/her)Born 1973 in Porto Alegre, BrazilLives in Los Angeles, CaliforniaTourmaline (she/her)Born 1983 in Boston, MassachusettsLives in New York, New YorkChanelle Tyson (they/them)Born 1989 in Greensboro, North CarolinaLives in Los Angeles, CaliforniaZulaa Urchuud (she/her)Born 1991 in Ulaanbaatar, MongoliaLives in Ulaanbaatar, MongoliaCharisse Pearlina Weston (she/her)Born 1988 in Houston, TexasLives in New York, New YorkKiyan Williams (they/them)Born 1991 in Newark, New JerseyLives in Brooklyn, New YorkCarmen Winant (she/her)Born 1983 in San Francisco, CaliforniaLives in Columbus, OhioTakako Yamaguchi (she/her)Born 1952 in Okayama, JapanLives in Santa Monica, CaliforniaConstantina Zavitsanos (any/all)Born 1977 in Reading, PennsylvaniaLives in New York, New York
