Whitney Biennial 2019

The 2019 Whitney Biennial that transcends into New York every two years is always a magnet for discussion and debate. This year was amongst the youngest years for the institution in over a decade curated by Jane Panetta and Rujecko Hockley. Director for Programs and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, said: “Jane and Ru are two of the most compelling and engaged curatorial voices of our moment, with broad and sensitive instincts for artistic and cultural relevance.” This analysis fell in line perfectly with the theme of the Biennial which revolved around the state of American culture and how contemporary artists are responding to the conditions of living in a country with increasingly inequitable social stratifications.

My favorite piece was from Alexandra Bell on the fifth floor. Bell revisits articles from the New York Daily News that reflect the paper’s coverage of the now infamous 1989 Central Park Five case, in which five innocent teenage boys of color were wrongly convicted of assaulting and raping a white female jogger in Central Park. Bell highlights headlines and body text and redacts photos to draw attention to latent failings in journalistic objectivity, and to interrogate how journalism can perpetuate racialized violence through language. Working in media and specifically news, this struck a chord with me as I walked through the exhibit - often times we forget just how influential and manipulative media can be - the power of words is immense - the power of words printed for millions to see… monumental. Its our responsibility as people working in this space to monitor what we put out for the world to believe, analyze and spread and we should not take it lightly.

Additional highlights:

1. Installation view of Ragen Moss’s work 2. Nicole Eisenman, “Procession” (2019) 3. Martine Syms, “People Who Aren’t Friends or Lovers or Exes” (2019) 4. Jennifer Packer, “Untitled” 5. Installation view with a glimpse of Brendan Fernandes’s “The Master and Form” (2018-2019) performance, which is part of the Whitney Biennial (photo by Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)