The 2014 edition of the Whitney Biennial—the country’s best known survey of the latest developments in American art—will take place March 7–May 25, 2014 and will be the last Biennial in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s building at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street before the Museum moves downtown to its new building in the spring of 2015. This is the 77th in the Museum’s ongoing series of Annuals and Biennials begun in 1932 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.
2014 Whitney Biennial curators Anthony Elms, Stuart Comer, and Michelle Grabner. Photograph by Filip Wolak
The 2014 Biennial will take a bold new form with three curators from outside the Museum offering their unique perspectives on the state of contemporary art in the United States. The curators have selected 103 participants. While past Biennials have been organized collectively by multiple curators, for this edition each curator will oversee one floor of the exhibition. To curate the Biennial, the Museum selected Stuart Comer, Anthony Elms, and Michelle Grabner to represent a range of geographic vantages and curatorial methodologies. Whitney curators Elisabeth Sussman and Jay Sanders, who were responsible for the widely praised 2012 Biennial, are serving as advisors on the project.
Donna De Salvo, Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs at the Whitney, noted: “The 2014 Biennial brings together the findings of three curators with very distinct points of view. There is little overlap in the artists they have selected and yet there is common ground. This can be seen in their choice of artists working in interdisciplinary ways, artists working collectively, and artists from a variety of generations. Together, the 103 participants offer one of the broadest and most diverse takes on art in the United States that the Whitney has offered in many years.”
Stuart Comer (formerly Curator: Film at Tate Modern, London, now Chief Curator of Media and Performance Art at MoMA) commented that his section of the Biennial “acknowledges the complexity of contemporary art practice by including many types of cultural producers: editorial collectives, artist curators, activists, musicians, poets, dancers, filmmakers, painters, sculptors and photographers. These artists often work at the intersection of political movements and personal statements, addressing global shifts in vibrant and variable ways. A keen sense of history pervades their work, even as they are involved in forging new ways to consider identity, nationality, technology, community and genre. Many of them produce artworks that deviate and morph between forms and categories—they champion an art of multiplicity and flux.”
Anthony Elms (Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia) began his curatorial process by trying to answer the question architect Marcel Breuer posed in his notes for the plans for the Whitney Museum on Madison Avenue: “What should a museum look like, a museum in Manhattan?” Elms’s answer for the 2014 Biennial is that “a museum in Manhattan should be filled with a multiplicity of voices and a sense of poetry. It should exhibit works of art from all creative disciplines and challenge the relationship between the past, the present, and histories yet to be written. Ultimately, each singular artistic statement should contain a palpable sense of the plural.”
Michelle Grabner (Professor in the Painting and Drawing Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, who also teaches at Yale, is an artist herself, and oversees two alternative art spaces in the Midwest) noted that her section of the 2014 Whitney Biennial “features artists who have come to the fore as figures of influence, both inside and outside the geographic and commercial centers of the art world. Some are independent-minded creators who feel their work is best served by maintaining a distance from these centers; some are teachers; others are ‘artist’s artists;’ some challenge art institutions. Many of these artists are object makers, embracing the traditional disciplines of craft, painting, and sculpture.”
The full list of artists follows:
Academy Records and Matt Hanner
Founded 2000; based in Chicago, IL
Matt Hanner: born 1971 in Columbus, OH;
died 2011 in Porter, IN
Terry Adkins
Born 1953 in Washington, DC
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, and Philadelphia, PA
Etel Adnan
Born 1925 in Beirut, Lebanon
Lives and works in Sausalito, CA, and Paris, France
Alma Allen
Born 1970 in Heber City, UT
Lives and works in Joshua Tree, CA
Ei Arakawa and Carissa Rodriguez
Arakawa: Born 1977 in Fukushima, Japan
Rodriguez: Born 1970 in New York, NY
Live and work in New York, NY
Uri Aran
Born 1977 in Jerusalem, Israel
Lives and works in New York, NY
Robert Ashley and Alex Waterman
Ashley: Born 1930 in Ann Arbor, MI
Waterman: Born 1975 in Portsmouth, VA
Live and work in New York, NY
Michel Auder
Born 1945 in Soissons, France
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Lisa Anne Auerbach
Born 1967 in Ann Arbor, MI
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Julie Ault
Born 1957 in Boston, MA
Lives and works in Joshua Tree, CA and New York, NY
Darren Bader
Born 1978 in Bridgeport, CT
Lives and works in New York, NY
Kevin Beasley
Born 1985 in Lynchburg, VA
Lives and works in New York, NY
Gretchen Bender
Born 1951 in Seaford, DE
Died 2004 in New York, NY
Stephen Berens
Born 1952 in Fort Collins, CO
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Dawoud Bey
Born 1953 in Queens, NY
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
Jennifer Bornstein
Born 1970 in Seattle, WA
Lives and works in New York, NY, and Berlin, Germany
Andrew Bujalski
Born 1977 in Boston, MA
Lives and works in Austin, TX
Elijah Burgher
Born 1978 in Kingston, NY
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, and Sensory Ethnography Lab
Castaing-Taylor: Born 1966 in Liverpool, UK
Paravel: Born 1971 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Live and work in Boston, MA, and Paris, France
Sensory Ethnography Lab founded by Lucien Castaing-Taylor in 2006
Sarah Charlesworth
Born 1947 in East Orange, NJ
Died 2013 in Hartford, CT
Yve Laris Cohen
Born 1985 in San Diego, CA
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Critical Practices Inc.
Founded in 2010; based in New York, NY
Matthew Deleget
Born 1972 in Hammond, IN
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
David Diao
Born 1943 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Lives and works in New York, NY
Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst
Drucker: Born 1983 in Syracuse, NY
Ernst: Born 1982 in Pomona, CA
Live and work in Los Angeles, CA
Paul Druecke
Born 1964 in Milwaukee, WI
Lives and works in Milwaukee, WI
Jimmie Durham
Born 1940 in Washington, AR
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Rochelle Feinstein
Born 1947 in New York, NY
Lives and works in New York, NY
Radamés “Juni” Figueroa
Born 1982 in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Morgan Fisher
Born 1942 in Washington, DC
Lives and works in Santa Monica, CA
Louise Fishman
Born 1939 in Philadelphia, PA
Lives and works in New York, NY
Victoria Fu
Born 1978 in Santa Monica, CA
Lives and works in San Diego, CA, and Los Angeles, CA
Gaylen Gerber with David Hammons, Sherrie Levine, and Trevor Shimizu
Gerber: Born 1955 in McAllen, TX;
lives and works in Chicago, IL
Hammons: Born 1943 in Springfield, IL;
lives and works in New York, NY
Levine: Born 1947 in Hazelton, PA;
lives and works in New York, NY
Shimizu: Born 1978 in Hawaii;
lives and works in New York, NY
Jeff Gibson
Born 1958 in Brisbane, Australia
Lives and works in New York, NY
Tony Greene curated by Richard Hawkins and Catherine Opie
Born 1955 in San Francisco, CA
Died 1990 in Los Angeles, CA
Joseph Grigely
Born 1956 in East Longmeadow, MA
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
Miguel Gutierrez
Born 1971 in Flushing, NY
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Karl Haendel
Born 1976 in New York, NY
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Philip Hanson
Born 1943 in Chicago, IL
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
Jonn Herschend
Born 1967 in Branson, MO
Lives and works in San Francisco, CA
Sheila Hicks
Born 1934 in Hastings, NE
Lives and works in New York, NY, and Paris, France
Channa Horwitz
Born 1932 in Los Angeles, CA
Died 2013 in Los Angeles, CA
HOWDOYOUSAYYAMINAFRICAN?
A global collective; founded in 2013
Susan Howe
Born 1937 in Boston, MA
Lives and works in Guilford, CA
Jacqueline Humphries
Born 1960 in New Orleans, LA
Lives and works in New York, NY
Gary Indiana
Born 1950 in Derry, NH
Lives and works in New York, NY, and Los Angeles, CA
Doug Ischar
Born 1948 in Honolulu, Hawaii
Lives and works in Chicago, IL, and Los Angeles, CA
Carol Jackson
Born 1962 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
Travis Jeppesen
Born 1979 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Lives and works in London, England, and Berlin, Germany
Alex Jovanovich
Born 1975 in Hobart, Indiana
Lives and works in Bronx, NY
Angie Keefer
Born 1977 in Huntsville, AL
Lives and works in New York, NY
Ben Kinmont
Born 1963 in Burlington, VT
Lives and works in Sebastopol, CA
Shio Kusaka
Born 1972 in Japan
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Chris Larson
Born 1966 in St. Paul, MN
Lives and works in St. Paul, MN
Diego Leclery
Born 1978 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Lives and works in New York, NY
Zoe Leonard
Born 1961 in Liberty, NY
Lives and works in New York, NY
Tony Lewis
Born 1986 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
Pam Lins
Born in Lake Forest, IL
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Fred Lonidier
Born 1942 in Lakeview, OR
Lives and works in San Diego, CA
Ken Lum
Born 1956 in Vancouver, Canada
Lives and works in Vancouver and Philadelphia, PA
Shana Lutker
Born 1978 in Northport, NY
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Dashiell Manley
Born 1983 in Fontana, CA
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
John Mason
Born 1927 in Madrid, NE
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Keith Mayerson
Born 1966 in Cincinnati, OH
Lives and works in New York, NY
Suzanne McClelland
Born 1959 in Jacksonville, FL
Lives and works in New York, NY
Dave McKenzie
Born 1977 in Kingston, Jamaica
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Bjarne Melgaard
Born 1967 in Sydney, Australia
Lives and works in New York, NY
Rebecca Morris
Born 1969 in Honolulu, Hawaii
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Joshua Mosley
Born 1974 in Dallas, TX
Lives and works in Philadelphia, PA
My Barbarian (Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon and Alexandro Segade)
Founded in 2000; based in New York, NY, and Los Angeles, CA
Dona Nelson
Born 1947 in Grand Island, NE
Lives and works in Lansdale, PA, and New York, NY
Ken Okiishi
Born 1978 in Ames, IA
Lives and works in New York, NY, and Berlin, Germany
Pauline Oliveros
Born 1932 in Houston, TX
Lives and works in Kingston, NY
Joel Otterson
Born 1959 in Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Laura Owens
Born 1970 in Euclid, OH
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Paul P.
Born 1977 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Lives and works in New York, NY, and Paris, France
taisha paggett
Born 1976 in Fresno, CA
Lives and works in Chicago, IL, and Los Angeles, CA
Charlemagne Palestine
Born 1947 in Brooklyn, NY
Lives and works in Brussels, Belgium
Public Collectors
Founded in 2007; based in Chicago, IL
Sara Greenberger Rafferty
Born 1978 in Evanston, IL
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Steve Reinke with Jessie Mott
Reinke: Born 1963 in Eganville, Ontario, Canada
Mott: Born 1980 in New York, NY
Live and work in Chicago, IL
David Robbins
Born 1957 in Whitefish Bay, WI
Lives and works in Shorewood, WI
Sterling Ruby
Born 1972 in Bitburg, Germany
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Miljohn Ruperto
Born 1971 in Manila, Philippines
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Jacolby Satterwhite
Born 1986 in Columbia, SC
Lives and works in New York, NY
Peter Schuyff
Born 1958 in Baarn, Netherlands
Lives and works in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Allan Sekula
Born 1951 in Erie, PA
Died 2013 in Los Angeles, CA
Semiotext(e)
Founded in 1974; based in Los Angeles, CA
Amy Sillman
Born 1955 in Detroit, MI
Lives and works in New York, NY
Valerie Snobeck and Catherine Sullivan
Snobeck: Born 1980 in Wadena, MN;
lives and works in New York, NY
Sullivan: Born 1968 in Los Angeles, CA;
lives and works in Chicago, IL
A.L. Steiner
Born 1967 in Miami, FL
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Emily Sundblad
Born 1977 in Dalsjöfors, Sweden
Lives and works in New York, NY
Ricky Swallow
Born 1974 in San Remo, Australia
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Tony Tasset
Born 1960 in Cincinnati, OH
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
Sergei Tcherepnin
Born 1981 in Watertown, MA
Lives and works in New York, NY
Triple Canopy
Founded in 2007; based in Brooklyn, NY
Philip Vanderhyden
Born 1978 in Menasha, WI
Lives and works in New York, NY
Pedro Vélez
Born 1973 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Lives and works in Chicago, IL, and Milwaukee, WI
Charline von Heyl
Born 1960 in Mainz, Germany
Lives and works in New York, NY
David Foster Wallace
Born 1962 in Ithaca, NY
Died 2008 in Claremont, CA
Dan Walsh
Born 1960 in Philadelphia, PA
Lives and works in New York, NY
Donelle Woolford
Born 1977 in Conyers, GA
Lives and works in New York, NY
Molly Zuckerman-Hartung
Born 1975 in Los Gatos, CA
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
Filed under: Arts & Culture Tagged: 2014 Whitney Biennial, and Michelle Grabner, Anthony Elms, Donna De Salvo, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Lives and works, New York, Stuart Comer, Whitney Museum of American Art 
