Whitney Biennial 2026

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA

- Lauren O’Neill-Butler

As far as I can tell, there is only one mention of the United States's looming semiquincentennial (on 4 July 2026) in the various materials produced by the Whitney Museum of American Art about its latest biennial, curated by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer.

In the exhibition's accompanying catalogue - a 500-page brick teeming with interviews between each artist or collective and a chosen, trusted interlocutor - Raven Halfmoon remarks to Candice Hopkins: Amen to that. But how do you organize a biennial under a vengeful Trump 2.0? Akin to the 2017 and 2019 editions held during Trump's first presidency, this outing is politically charged but does not include any overt references to extreme conservatism in the US (a choice that perhaps has to do with the politics of museum trustees, rampant cancel culture, unprecedented censorship and fear). Yet in its neglect of this issue, and in its lack of finger-pointing, the show in turn reflects the country's severe polarization - in this case, an exhausted left that refuses to engage with a fanatical right and seeks shelter, safety and love where it can find it.

Even so, it turns out that in 2026, the Whitney Biennial has stepped into a new, important role: as the perfect rejoinder to the various sanitized 'America250' programmes taking place across the nation this summer. While the 2024 biennial, during Biden's term, was largely criticized for avoiding friction (akin to the Democrats today), the artists in the 2026 edition pose pointed questions. For example, here's Aziz Hazara, an artist from Afghanistan, talking with Sohrab Mohebbi: 'When I got the invitation [to participate], I asked myself: What is my relationship with the American Empire?'