Whitney Biennial 2026: Care, Catastrophe, and Private Gestures

The 82nd edition of the Whitney Biennial, titled with a stripped-down italic subtitle, opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 2026, the 250th year of the United States' founding. Featuring 56 artists, duos, and collectives, the exhibition is organized around themes of care, catastrophe, and private gestures. Highlights include Agosto Machado's shrine sculptures dedicated to friends lost to AIDS, including Ethyl Eichelberger; Machado died on March 21, 2026, shortly after the biennial opened. Emilie Louise Gossiaux's 'Kong Play' (2025) memorializes her guide dog London, who died in late 2025. Michelle Lopez's 'Pandemonium' (2017–25) projects a video of windswept newspapers with a viola trio, originally performed at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Kelly Akashi's works 'Imprints' and 'Inheritance (Distressed)' (both 2026) reference doilies lost in the 2025 Eaton Fire, while 'Monument (Altadena)' (2026) is a glass brick chimney replica of her surviving fireplace. Aki Onda restaged José Maceda's 'Ugnayan' (1974/2026), a sound installation originally broadcast on New Year's Day 1974 across Manila radio stations. Maia Chao's 'Scores for the Museum Visitor' (2026) offers instructional performances, and David L. Johnson's 'Rule' (2024–) uses decommissioned codes-of-conduct signs from New York. The biennial also includes a robust performance program, with Chao's 'BEING MOVED' (2026) scheduled for May.