The Whitney Museum of American Art has officially pulled the curtain back on its 2026 Biennial, the eighty-second iteration of the nation’s longest-running survey of contemporary art. Opening March 8, 2026, the exhibition is set to feature 56 artists and collectives who are less interested in defining “America” than in mapping the invisible wires that hold it together.
Curated by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, this edition eschews the rigid thematic containers of years past. Instead, it leans into the “atmospheric,” a curatorial choice that prioritizes mood, texture, and the complex web of relationships—or “kinships”—that define our current moment.
The Vision: Infrastructure and Relationality
If the 2022 Biennial was a reaction to polarization and the 2024 edition a grapple with AI and authenticity, the 2026 show appears to be a study in connection. Curators Guerrero and Sawyer, who conducted over 300 studio visits, have built a show around the concept of “relationality.”[2][3]
The focus is on the systems that bind us: familial ties, interspecies relationships, and the geopolitical entanglements of U.S. power. The curators have explicitly widened the lens of “American art” to include voices from regions deeply shaped by U.S. influence, including artists with ties to Afghanistan, Iraq, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, and the Philippines. This is not just a survey of what is happening inside the country’s borders, but a look at the footprint the country leaves on the world.
“The Biennial has never been a mirror so much as a tuning fork,” the curators suggest in their approach. The exhibition aims to vibrate with the “discord and harmony” of the present, avoiding easy answers in favor of environments that provoke complex emotional responses.
The Curators
The helm is shared by two of the Whitney’s own:
- Marcela Guerrero, the DeMartini Family Curator, known for her groundbreaking work in Latinx art, including the landmark no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria.
- Drew Sawyer, the Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, whose background in social history and photography (formerly at the Brooklyn Museum) brings a sharp eye for how images construct identity.
They are joined by curatorial assistant Beatriz Cifuentes and fellow Carina Martinez.
The Artists: A Generational Mix
The artist list is a compelling mix of the established and the emerging, the structural and the performative. Institutional critique heavyweight Andrea Fraser is a standout inclusion, signaling that the museum itself may be under the microscope. She is joined by pioneering abstract painter Samia Halaby and the genre-bending photographer Martine Gutierrez, whose work dissects gender and pop culture with surgical precision.
The roster also highlights a fascination with digital and physical infrastructures. Joshua Citarella, known for his deep dives into online political subcultures, and Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme, who explore memory and amnesia in the digital age, represent the “technological affinities” central to the show’s thesis.
Crucially, this will be the first Biennial accessible under the Whitney’s new admission policy, which offers free entry to anyone 25 and under. It is a strategic move to place these conversations about “improvisational coexistence” directly in front of the generation that will have to live with the consequences.
The Complete 2026 Whitney Biennial Artist List
The 56 participating artists, duos, and collectives are:
- Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme
- Kelly Akashi
- Teresa Baker
- Sula Bermudez-Silverman
- Zach Blas
- Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien
- Leo Castañeda
- CFGNY (Daniel Chew, Ten Izu, Kirsten Kilponen, and Tin Nguyen)
- Nani Chacon
- Maia Chao
- Joshua Citarella
- Mo Costello
- Taína H. Cruz
- Carmen de Monteflores
- Ali Eyal
- Andrea Fraser
- Mariah Garnett
- Ignacio Gatica
- Jonathan González
- Emilie Louise Gossiaux
- Kainoa Gruspe
- Martine Gutierrez
- Samia Halaby
- Raven Halfmoon
- Nile Harris with Dyer Rhoads
- Aziz Hazara
- Margaret Honda
- Akira Ikezoe
- Mao Ishikawa
- Cooper Jacoby
- David L. Johnson
- kekahi wahi (Sancia Miala Shiba Nash and Drew K. Broderick)
- Young Joon Kwak
- Michelle Lopez
- José Maceda
- Agosto Machado
- Oswaldo Maciá
- Emilio Martínez Poppe
- Isabelle Frances McGuire
- Kimowan Metchewais
- Nour Mobarak
- Erin Jane Nelson
- Precious Okoyomon
- Pat Oleszko
- Aki Onda
- Malcolm Peacock
- Sarah M. Rodriguez
- Gabriela Ruiz[
- Jasmin Sian
- Jordan Strafer
- Sung Tieu
- Julio Torres
- Anna Tsouhlarakis
- Johanna Unzueta
The 2026 Whitney Biennial opens to the public on March 8, 2026. Member previews run from March 4–7.
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